mid section blues: Pewsey - You little Tinca Mike

Pewsey club today first match of the new Canal championship. Wilcot straight section. -3 degrees on the temp gauge and a hard frost coupled with a bright morning. Got there first today. Was a little fidgety, till a few others arrived - because having not fished this bit before, I wasn't sure if I was in the right place.

Asked around as to how to fish it. The response was contradictory. A knock up match two weeks ago had seen only 3oz win the match with 8 out of 10 dry nets!!! Yet this last week with temperatures up to a balmy 18 degrees, pleasure catches were 5 to 6 lb. Enquiries as to the best pegs, I was informed peg 1 by the steel bridge, peg 6 the "tree stump" and anything from 10 onwards looked good. Mike made a few laugh by suggesting the tench might feed, and that it wasn't unknown to see a few small carp!!!! in this stretch.

I drew peg 7. A featureless peg, shelf both sides at around 2 feet deep, sloping gently to a 5.5 feet deep middle track. Cold wind, from the right a few boats moving a little bit of dirty brown colour, no fish sign. In short it shouted tough day ahead. Got the platform in the water and set up; and mixed a little sieved ground bait. Scissored a bit of caster and worm and mixed it in.

Leo (our match secretary) shouted the 10 o,clock "all in". Straight away from the off, Kevin Chub on the tree stump swim started catching and was getting one a chuck. I was a spectator for the first hour.

Leo had a couple of blades, not a tickle in my swim, void of any movement at all. All the pre match hype about caster, worm , pinkie and maggot was looking shaky. Time to fall back on the faithful punched bread. Chris Rushton (end peg) is storming away in my section, everyone else between him and me were struggling. Will Tapper had a nice perch on peg 1 but Kevin was winning section 1 by a mile after the first hour must have had a pound and half in the net.

Seventy five minutes in, sees me with no bites sees me and a change to bread and start rotating between 4 foot inside line and four foot coming up the far bank far line. I started to pull a few roach together. Tried pinkie again and caught the obligatory tiny quarter ounce Perch. So has Gary Hay three pegs to my left his only fish of the day half an ounce but points Gary its points!!

Couple of fish across and then a couple inside is how I was building my weight. Not good enough to catch Kevin, he hasn't had a bite for an hour but must have 2lb in the net. Ian Spanswick to his left is now catching and Mike on peg 3 is also catching. 10 Minutes to go and Kevin's elastic is stretching out for the third skimmer in a row. Its going to be close, for the rest of us but I think but I may have my section, and might even frame. Then a shout of joy to my left as Mike slides his net under Tinca Tinca, the first tench of the new championship. Leo calls the all out and I pack away guessing I have 1.5 lb (27 fish). Kevin has 53 fish! Net Pic below (3lb 10oz).

Top 5 are below. Delight for me as I pip Chris Rushton on the end peg by half of an ounce, (that makes up for the last Pewsey Match at the lake, where I missed out on money by an ounce) my 1 lb 13.5oz taking our section. I am really pleased, a section win outright and not by default, wonders will never cease.