Nearly didn't turn out today. It threw it down last night, and after that bag of bream yesterday, I was wondering if I could be bothered. Like most venues, a pleasure chuck is completely different to a match so I went anyway to see whether I could get further up the pegs.
Arrived at the car park and Wrighty still had that bloody t-shirt on - he then gave us an account of why he will now be called Stanley. I could tell you the tale, but he might end up needing a cake with a file in it...
Onto the match, and I've definitely got the drawbag hex on me this year. Peg bloody one a-sodding-gain. It's like fishing in a bloody filing cabinet - no room to put your stuff down, you can't get off your box because there's no room around it to stand up - a nightmare. I've always had my stuff setup for fishing right-handed, and with no room on the left, I had to fish the match cack-handed so I could reach things - that peg wants dismantling and then rebuilding properly.
Nowt new with the tactics, but there were no signs of life from tench or bream so I bitted it for the couple of hours. I had a few small hybrids and a couple of roach and then a couple of decent hybrids. After that it all went a bit crap really. The pumps stopped and so did the fish. I went on a 'hunt the fish' expedition for the last hour and while Dave Humph was sat behind me, I had a couple of skimmer and I thought I was back on a run.
I went in again after the second one and had another slow (but sure) bite. As I lifted into it, it just sat there - a bonus fish, at long last. Within the time it takes to lift the pole up & start to ship back, the fish was off to the far bank on my left. Humph made a rather prophetic statement at this point, something along the lines of "you won't see that again". Surprisingly, it flopped over just before the reeds and headed straight back at me. Back came the pole and it stopped dead almost where I initially hooked it; strange behaviour. Humph was as surprised as me - then it tore off across the sluice again - this time to my right. Elastic flew out and before I had a chance to ship back out, the fish was in the stick-ups and I had a straightened hook.
I went in again after the second one and had another slow (but sure) bite. As I lifted into it, it just sat there - a bonus fish, at long last. Within the time it takes to lift the pole up & start to ship back, the fish was off to the far bank on my left. Humph made a rather prophetic statement at this point, something along the lines of "you won't see that again". Surprisingly, it flopped over just before the reeds and headed straight back at me. Back came the pole and it stopped dead almost where I initially hooked it; strange behaviour. Humph was as surprised as me - then it tore off across the sluice again - this time to my right. Elastic flew out and before I had a chance to ship back out, the fish was in the stick-ups and I had a straightened hook.
Good, close fishing with some very respectable weights.
RESULT:
1 Dave Wright 9lb 9oz
2 Mick Taylor 8lb 15oz
3 Paul Clayton 7lb 15oz
Sections: Mark Rimmer, Colin Cliffe
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