Gratton Shield - Burscough

There was a bit of a nip in the air this morning as we gathered at Stanley Court car park for the draw.  The sun was out and there was only a very light breeze which augered well for the match. There was the usual pre-draw banter, of which Porky seemed to be the target (from all angles).  Keith and Pete seemed to think Porky would struggle to get a team up for a pairs match, but Paul took it in good part.

I got drawn on possibly the narrowest peg on the match - on the reeds by the railway bridge.  I had Kevin Stothers on one side and Sean Wharton on the other - none of us fancied our chances at all.  There were large fish moving in the reeds, but it became pretty clear that these weren't Carp or Tench; they were spawning Pike - some of their movements being very noticable with mouths, fins and tails all coming out of the water.

My match started with a few small roach and skimmers down the middle (of what bit of water I had) on the butty, which was quickly put to a stop by the first boat of the day.  That line instantly took on all the characteristics of a door-nail, so I went over to the reeds for a go with the worm.  I was rewarded (if that's the right word) by a micro-billy straight away, followed by a slightly larger tommy ruffe.

I then had a thumping bite on the worm which resulted in a 'trap your elastic under your foot and pull for a break' situation.  Thankfully, the rig came back without piercing me anywhere...  The very next chuck the same thing happened, but while this was going on nobody else anywhere near me was troubling their landing nets.  I went back down the track and snaffled a couple more roach, then went back to the reeds.  I managed to hook (& keep) a good billy on the worm, which made it safely to the net - relief all round.  Not long after, Kevin hooked the fish he'd been sitting it out for - a nice big skimmer.  Pressure back on, I kept plugging away on the worm, but no more fish showed.

Trevor brought the scales down the bank and my little collection brought 2-1-12 up, the billy being over a pound and a half, which saved my match really.  Kevin Stothers managed 1-5-summat for his big skimmer and I packed up and set off after the scales. Alan Whalley was further down our section at the end of the veranda and he weighed 2-2-0 so I lost out on the section by 4 drams.

Ne'er mind - the Spring League starts next week and our team's star man (on today's form at any rate) must be Derek Fairhurst who sent the scales round to 4-4-12 on a day that had plenty of people in the bottom half of the match struggling for bites.

I didn't stop for the result, but I did hear that Gordon Houlibecq (Bolton) had bagged over 11lb - if he did, well done Gordon.  Colin Brunt (Ted Carter Preston) was second with 5-8-0 and Derek Fairhurst  (BAS) was third with 4-4-12.  Mick Charnley (Mosella Lostock Tackle Box) was fourth with 3-9-4.

Onwards to the Water's Edge at Appley Bridge next week for round 1 of the Spring League.

Dunno how Team KMG went on at Spark Bridge; I suspect we'll find out during the week.  The french lad wasn't practising for the Spring League at Burscough so I dunno what's going on there...