Last look at Foxhouses

Yes dear sluicers, today was our last look at the Wharf Lake at Foxhouses -at least for this year.  We were on another of Mick Marsh's matches and it was a much nicer day for it than a fortnight ago when some of us had to battle a hurricane in our faces...

There was much hilarity in the car park before the draw as 'Mickey Maggot' was struggling to get his new phone working.  A bit of browsing through the menus had him on the right track, but the assistance offered to solve that little problem soon brought about another.  A quick bluetooth scan of those present revealed we had a demi-God in our midst - going by the bluetooth ID of 'Nine and a half inches'.

Fingers were pointed all around the car park as various among the Lostock posse looked for this hero.  His identity was never found, but it seemed odd that when Capt. Cock went for a look round the lake, ol' 'nine & a half' disappeared off the bluetooth list.  I'm of the view that it's probably better we don't find out who it is - it's all a bit too scary really...

On to the match, which saw me on the spit, fishing the left-hand side of the lake for the second successive match.  I had Capts. Cock & Strap-on behind me, fishing the other half of the lake.  The slithering Adder was on the peg I drew last time, with the two flyers on the far end both being omitted.  At the all-in, out went the usual cupfuls of worm, caster, pellets, corn, etc.  Then - from behind me came the percussive sound of big jaffas landing in the water.  Not 1, not 2, not 3 - oh no, the Giblet was going for it, big time stylee.  He'd got to the sixth cannonball when Mick shouted across "You can't ball-in Keith - that was your last one".  Then two more landed on the same spot and Keith had pitched 8 in.

Mini-tsunami over with, we got down to the fishing and I struck lucky first dob-in with a tench around 2lb.  That proved to be an early bonus as the same worm produced a couple of small roach and a wasp before I tried a different tack.  On my other line I'd fed soft pellet & corn in amongst the micros, so gave a 6mm expander a go.  Pretty soon it was clear that the decent fish were standing off, so a rethink was required.  I went out a bit further, backed-off the feeding and was soon into small tench.  Going back over the worm line with a similar approach resulted in a few more tench along with 7 or 8 small carp, the biggest being around 2lb.

There was no constant pattern to the fish as you're never more than a bite away from a wasp - whatever the bait.  Dancing between the swims kept some fish coming to the net and at the all-out I was reasonably content with my efforts.  I'd lost two decent fish, but figured that as both had parted quickly, with no slime, scales or damage to baits, they were probably foul-hooked carp.

The Adder did the weigh-in and after doing his side of the lake, he & the angler to his left had the weights to beat - 23lb 12oz & 31lb respectively.  The other half of the lake fished poorly by comparison, with 15lb 15oz being the best weight.  When the scales got to James, he drew with Adder on 23lb 12oz, which included two sniggeries and a very nice looking billy and I squeaked 4th place on the day with 18lb 12oz which got me my money back.  Adder only paid three out of the super pool so I was actually a fiver down on the day - still, mustn't grumble...

Off to the sluice tomorrow night for another worm drowning session - hopefully, the tench will be more interested than last week.  The LTB boys are off down to the Trent practising for the Div 1 National soon, then it'll be practising for the Individual National on the Staffs & Worcs after that, which I'm looking forward to.  There's another league in September with the Sams Tackle Autumn League (teams of 4), which is another one to look forward to - it's all go round here, innit??

Word to the wise, keep checking your bluetooth - he's still out there...