As it turns out I couldn't fish but to be honest with the 'flyers' all taken and the weather looking un-inviting, I was quite happy to leave the kit in the car.
A few days previous to this event I learnt that Dave Brittain was looking for a B&B in the area so I offered to put him up on the Tuesday night because I live close to Monks and he could also follow me down there and maybe pick my brains about the venue. After I found out that I wasn't going to be fishing I asked Dave if I could sit behind him (being a top notch angler and all) and he kindly allowed me to nestle down on my net bag close by.
As everyone began to sort themselves out I noticed that Jon Arthur was on the opposite bank to us (the jammy so and so got in on the reserves) and a few guys from our Invicta league were also present, Colin Wood, Russ Evans, Trevor Little and Mark Greenwood, although none of them were on a noted peg.
For the past 2 years peg 113 has won this event and peg 45 was likely to do well also. In any event it would almost certainly be an end peg and more than likely a peg next to an aerator. Below is an aerial shot of these pegs and the 2 that Dave and Jon drew. You will notice that the winner is also indicated, a bit of a surprise really as the previously mentioned pegs did not meet with expectations. At least this gives hope to us all at future events, knowing that it's not ALL done and dusted at the draw bag.
As I settled down behind Dave, a light drissle began (in true Kentish style for match days this year) and I watched everyone either trickling, cupping or dumping bait in. Dave began by shipping out 2 cups of pellets to his 13m line and 2 cups of hemp and caster at 5m as well as a few down the edge. On the other bank I noticed a guy who must have shipped 6 or 8 large cups of bait out to his long pole line, I don't think anyone explained to him how Monks had been fishing recently!
Within a few minutes the guys along our bank towards the higher numbers started to catch and odd fish were coming out here and there. Dave's first came at around 10 minutes into the match, shortly after Jon's. It was a slow start and I was not surprised given the form of these lakes recently (the weather seems to have delayed the usual improvement of spring time sport). With perhaps an hour gone the guys near me would be lucky to have 5 fish each but the higher peg numbers down our bank were fishing a lot better.
As the rain became harder, I decided to go back to the car and grab my brollie and had a chat with the Sky reporter on the way round. The fishing was hard everywhere apparently, with the 'flyers' not fishing as well as expected but reports of fish coming out in other locations.
Back with Dave, under my brollie and sipping on a hot brew, I settled down while he had a look on the short line. One fish later and it went dead! Back out on the long pole and loose feeding maggot, he was now getting indications but not connecting with many. With a few fish topping and the possibility of the indications being liners, he picked up his pellet waggler rod and tried fishing shallow for a while but still no joy.
Back on the pole line and with a few tweaks and changes to his rig, Dave was still struggling but working hard for each and every bite. Jon on the far bank wasn't exactly bagging either but both were probably ahead of anyone up the poor end of the lake.
Dave, being the decent chap that he is, was quite happy to have a natter during the match and we were discussing various reasons for the poor sport. It was clear that the fish were shoaled up down one end (which is common knowledge on this venue, especially in the cooler months) but there must be fish around because there were still odd bites, liners and fish topping. We concluded that perhaps the fish were sitting off the feed in the middle and Dave decided to break down his pellet waggler and rig up a conventional peacock insert. This is a method that can work well here in winter, in fact I fished a match in December and came 3rd, the top 3 weights all being caught on the maggot waggler!
This swap in tactics put a few more fish in the net, nothing spectacular but more than I could see coming out from anywhere up our end. It wasn't long lived though as after a short spell of odd fish the bites dried up and it was back to the long pole line.
Another trip to the on-site cafe brought no real news apart from 113 not bagging up as expected. I also heard that 45 was not in and even 46 and 47 were not doing as well as expected and the rumour was that peg 134 was seeing most of the action.
Back to Dave and it appears that he was now rocking and rolling having put a small Tench in the net while I was gone. We had discussed the possible need for light tackle the night before and because the fishing was now really hard he proceeded to make up a light rig with a 0.12 hook length and started to fish beyond his original pole line at 13m. A few slow dips and lifts suggested again that there were fish in the area but it wasn't until the 2 extensions went on that a few fish started to grace the net. Now fishing at 16m and pinging maggots out at the rate of about 8 or 10 every minute and sometimes quicker to trigger a response, bites became a little more frequent and the action started to pick up a little. During the last 20 minutes the catch rate was probably a fish every 4 or 5 minutes which was the best sport all day up our end of the lake. Jon on the opposite bank had started to catch as well but probably didn't have as much in his net. A couple of Daves fish were carp well over the 1lb mark and he probably had 3 or 4 more fish than Jon anyway.
At the weigh-in it was clear that Monks really had fished poorly for such a prolific venue but there were still some decent weights going up to 100lb with the winner up the bank on peg 134 managing 137lb. Jon had managed to scrape together 17lb odd and Dave pushed the scales past the 18lb mark.
It was unfortunate that some of the first-time visitors to this venue had a bad first day and I hope they return again some time because although the end pegs usually dominate, it is possible to beat them in the summer and at the very least you do get a good net of fish. Even on an average peg half way up the bank you can manage 50 - 60lb but the recent conditions around here really have delayed the start of spring!
At least I had a good day though, it never does you any harm to watch rather than fish and it definately helps to see if a decent angler does things any different to yourself. Next year I hope to get on to the list myself and hopefully the sport will be a bit better.
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