22 regulars turned out for this one which is part of the series of six rover matches. The river was low and fairly clear and most expected it to fish hard. The three top weights came from the long walks upstream, while 4th spot was an impressive 12lb by Pat Galpin in the lock cut. Most anglers caught fish, mainly Roach, with samples to over 1lb. Roger Trask and Austin Battell shared the fish of the day prize with a Roach each of 1lb 4oz. Derek Butcher took the other fish of the day prize with a cracking 2lb 1oz Perch.
Top spot was Austin Battell with a mixed bag of Roach and Chub for 16lb 4oz and ten points towards the Cup. Second spot with another impressive mixed bag, which included some rarely seen Dace, was Derek Butcher with 14lb 12oz. In third place was the consistent Steve Parker, also with an impressive bag of mainly Roach for 13lb 6oz.
Hi, as a member of Maidstone Victory for 25 years and being an ardent river angler I have got t o know there stretches of the medway very well . three years ago I decided I wanted to explore different stretches so joined Tonbridge. Up to now I have only fished hartlake up and down on a few occasions with limited results. I noticed the good results in the hartlake up match and would really appreciate some advice on how and where to fish this stretch. when I joined Maidstone at 50 years of age I obviously had more time and energy but mow 30 yrs later I am looking for some short cuts. so I would really appreciate some advice from the likes of Austin Battell and Dereck Butcher. Of course if the club had a forum it would make interaction easier .I would be quite willing for them to have my mobile no or we could be friends on facebook and pm each other. I will understand if they would rather not communicate at all . regards George howson
Hi George,
Thanks for your enquiry.
As a member, you can apply to be one of our Facebook members. There is lots of useful information and reports posted on there regularly and everyone is very helpful. In regards to Hartlake Up, most swims will fish well on any given day, but unfortunately the colder months are not so productive. On that particular match myself and Derek walked along way upstream to find those fish. I walked the furthest which was about a mile i reckon.
Short walk swims that can be productive are the first one above Hartlake Bridge and any that are between the little footbridge and the lock gates as that is mainly a gravel bottomed stretch but the swims can be a little precarious. If you fancy some quality short walk fishing, my advice would be the Sportsground as I’ve had Roach bags well over 20lb this season. Another good venue is Weirwood resevoir, especially between April and August. The fishing there is like fishing in Ireland.
If you have any queries, by all means you can ask me directly or via our Facebook page as that would be your quickest way of getting a response.
Hope this helps for starters and good luck.
Kind regards,
Austin.