Pawlett Club Day Out, Mathern Mill Fishery, Chepstow. 10-09-16

The club's once a year day-out was on Saturday,  a new venue for all of us as Vic Bush tries and finds somewhere we haven't been that is within an hour or so from Bridgwater.
This year we headed off across the Severn Bridge to the outskirts of Chepstow, Mathern Mill. But on route it was brekkie, this was had at the diving and outdoor centre a few miles away. It was very nice and the staff had everything ready for us. 23 of us made the journey.

So food done and 5 mins later we were there, and what a nice looking venue it is, sensible pegs and a road around both lakes so you can park behind or next to your peg.
We all paid our dues, got a little wet from the rain and had a laugh and joke while the monies and payouts were sorted.
Not knowing the venue properly I had spoke to a couple guys on the place and found a few nuggets of info, some rather large carp to 30lb are in the lakes, a good head of silvers but they show better in the cooler weather when the carp are less active.
Also the carp come in to the edges, can be seen and tend to frustrate the angler, but catching from the edge and on a lead tends to be the favourite and winning tactics.

Into the hat and I have the 4th from end ticket, peg 13 on the top lake is my location. I drive round to the peg and find it doesn't have an island chuck and is set in a bay/leg area, I guessed it would be a less consistent area as I find these sort of spots a bit more hit and miss, I did hope that they shied away from the main bulk of the lake and moved into my corner during the day.
Opposite I had Kev Crouch and to my right was Steve Fouracre. I could see Derek Beard and Vic Bush who were to Kev's left but had island chucks, unlike us 2.

Peg 13, Mathern Mill, looking left....

Mathern Mill, the island I didn't have to fish to.

Peg 13 at Mathern, looking in front,

I looked at what to do and taking the info I had gleaned I went about sorting my kit.
First up I set up a lead rod and a method feeder for chucking down to my left and in the vicinity of the empty peg 14.
3 pole rigs all on 0.20 to 0.16 and size 16 B911 hooks and 14 laccy.
The 1st was for a 2+2 line where I would feed maggots and a few grains of corn.
The 2nd was for topkit to my right where I had around 2.5ft of depth, here I fed just corn, but I never had a bite off this spot all day.
Lastly a rig for my left at 2+2 aound 1.5m off the bank where I found a flatish area before the lakebed sloped away. I would feed groundbait and maggots, plus a few grain of corn.

Bait was a couple kilos of groundbait, a few pints of maggots, corn and some pellets which I didn't use except those fed over the lead/feeder line.
There were a lot of fish cruising around and there were signs of those margin fish as I had a few come right in by me when I was setting up.....this could be good I thought, but fish can be fussy and peculiar at the best of times. Frustrating is appropriate.

The rain was still falling, not heavy but enough to annoy and make the maggots escape.
The luggage stayed in the car all day which was a bonus.
Elsewhere it was believed that Keith Clapp had an out and out top peg on the lake behind me (the bottom lake) and pegs 10 and 11 on my lake were good, consistent areas.
The all in was called and I fed in front and to the left and right also, I began on the feeder, just to get some bait in that area more than anything. An hour passed before any sort of indication, I had a foul hooked fish on for a few seconds. It was fishing slow on my lake, I only saw 3 carp get caught in the first hour. Though Keith was catching well and was up to around 8 fish in the same period.....writing on the wall?

The second hour came and I went out to the 2+2 line and plucked a few small silvers, I didn't fancy doing that to be honest so soon came into the left hand swim, where again I remained fishless despite my efforts and obvious signs of carp feeding. I started on maggots but baby perch were hanging themselves so binned them for the more robust corn.
Nobody was catching consistently from those I could see on my lake. Just people with 1 or 2 carp each.
Actually it was around 2.5hrs before I had my 1st carp, from the left hand edge, where despite my initial stubbornness and being advised not to, I had come in tight to the bankside in 18" of water. The fish was around 12 or 13lb so a good stamp. Another of similar size followed 40 minutes later after I dropped the bait on it's nose as it left the margin. I also went and got the radio.....only to listen to my beloved Man Utd lose the Manc derby.....pfffttt!!

These fish were definitely aware of their surroundings and any movement of the rig often saw them bolt out of the peg. But I persevered swapping between the lead and the left edge, the right edge remained motionless and the long line just gave small silvers. My 3rd fish came at around 2:50, but a proper beastie of 18 to 20lb was netted after a dogged fight. I did foul hook and lose a couple throughout the day, but it wasn't too bad. Kev Crouch had only 1 carp on the lead to show for his efforts and Steve was on 3 or 4.

So by 3:30 I had 3 carp, maybe 45lb, I hoped for a mad last hour, which to be fair never occurred but I started feeding maggots heavier and corn also, just feeding the groundbait less once I knew fish were coming in more regular. This seemed to do the trick as I had 4 carp in the last hour, well 3 came in the last 20 minutes when I switched back to maggots on the hook, they were taking the bait as it fell through the water, typical, suss it out too late. Steve commented on the same.
Below me on the other lake, Keith Clapp hadn't stopped catching all day and Eric Fouracre I could see picking up a few pretty regular. On my lake a few of us had what I thought would be similar weights, myself, Vic, Rich Coles and Steve Fouracre had a handful of fish each, Jamie Cook had been catching all day I was informed and looked to have over 130lb, so he'd win the lake at least.
The all out was called and I packed up. I ended up with 7 carp I think and a couple pounds of silvers.

With the car loaded I chatted to a few of the guys who all said they liked the venue and that if we were up to speed then we'd have done better. I never followed the scales except the see what Steve and Keith weighed. Looking at the sheet and I could see that Jamie had 140lb+ and Ziggy Slowinski had 30lb of silvers, turns out they were all palm sized skimmers, nice fishing. Rich Coles had 62lb so less than I thought.
I watched Steve weigh and he popped 68lb on the net, I knew I would have close to that and maybe those first 3 fish could prove vital.
But the scales trundled down to the other lake to weigh them before coming back to me and then finishing the top lake. Keith weight 1st on that lake and was admitting to 180lb, well he was close...179lb 15oz and the winning weight, he caught half down the edges in the 2nd half of the match, the other half came on a pellet feeder tight to his island.

When the scales got back to me only Eric had 100lb+, 111lb he had including nearly 30lb of assorted silvers which had a couple big chub in the catch. So 1st, 2nd and 3rd were sorted as was the silvers.
So I hoped to pip Vic and Steve to win the section money, thankfully my 2lb of bits were added to 73lb of carp. Kev dnw'd his 2 carp as did Derek. Vic weighed next, it'd be close and so it proved with his net exactly 1lb 1oz less than mine. He had suffered 5 lost fish in the last hour, maybe foul hooked.

So that was that and I had at least won my section which was a bonus, but feel I should have doubled my catch, well in hindsight that is.
We headed home and had an enjoyable evening at the legion with buffet and cider.....I let the wife drive!!

Results:
1st, Keith Clapp, temp peg 26 on the lower lake. 179-15
2nd, Jamie Cook, peg 2 on the top lake, 149-13
3rd, Eric Fouracre, temp peg 29 on the bottom lake, 111-05
4th, Lee Williams, peg 13 on the top lake, 75-01
5th, Vic Bush, peg 17 on the top lake, 74-00
6th, Steve Fouracre, peg 11 in the top lake, 68-06

Silvers:
1st, Ziggy Slowinski, peg 4 on the top lake, 30-03
2nd, Eric Fouracre, 29-15

So an enjoyable day and I will go back at some point.
Next up was Sunday at Shiplate for the Teams of 3, first round.

Until later.
Lee