Army 9 Todber-Up the Swannee without a paddle

Army 9, and Todber my favourite.  Invited Dave Moody Reids Tackle to fish as a guest of the Army today. So into Salisbury first to pick him up.  Breakfast and the draw at Sue Skevys Truckers cafe in Wincombe Industrial estate at Shaftesbury.  Sue does a cracking breakfast good value and really friendly service.

Sue in the middle

Draw done and we are on the way.  Unfortunately Dave has drawn White posts lake and I am on park lake.  So I drop him off and go to the tackle shop to pay for the lakes.  Collected the receipt and finally got to the lake.  You have to use the fishery keep nets and there wasn't much choice left for me, being one of the last to arrive.  I'll say now I don't like their nets.  I have spent lot of money on good nets, I am sure my nets would protect the fish better.

I had drawn the wrong end of the lake, peg 24 , guess who on the next peg, yes John Yoda Dewberry again.  Top that, Mick Craddock to my left, so surrounded by a herd of Browning match boys, not good. John reckons he wasn't using mind games, but he was ,boys peg, flier.  But as you can see from the photo below , I had the surface hooly wind from the left, making it really hard to fish the full 16 mtrs.  As you can see Yoda on the other hand , aquarium , mill pool no wind well there's a surprise.

The match starts and I try across but its really hard and only a few roach. No Carp, John on the other hand is sacking already.  Still easy in wind free peg.  Mick to my left is catching pasty size F1s.  There is were the day started to go down hill.  I tried so hard to prove to John his past coaching has paid off and I am getting better.  However, he cant coach my mind.  I just don't have his ability to phase others out and sack like a machine.  But I will one day.  Mick is bagging and so is John.  Me its roach, rudd, perch roach, rudd skimmer, roach, rudd skimmer, rudd.  I am already many kilos behind.

M C Hammer time

Photo below shows the master still sacking elastic well out.  Seconds later the top kit exploded.  You can imagine , he got a fair bit of abuse and not much sympathy from the struggling anglers around him.

Me, I just keep banging away on the silvers.  Tried the splodger the only way to combat the wind and quickly lost two carp.  Both to hooks unraveling   Think I will go back to tying my own.  Tried a little paste down the edge amazingly caught a Perch around 4 oz.  MC said he would give paste a go, and he repeated my Perch catch only surprise surprise his was bigger.

Finally the last hour arrives and I try my edge swim again I have been feeding it all day, and the slurping has begun.  Announcing the Carp have finally arrived.  Three quick pasty carp. 

 Then the Swans arrive and their long necks are long enough to start sweeping the edge shelf clear of the food I have put in.  Unbelievable, the flame of hope is extinguished as the parent Swan's decide to use my baited swim as a training ground for getting their signets out of the lake!!

Up the Swannee the slurping Carp disappear

It was a nightmare , I hissed spat, waved my arms around, cursed, talked nicely to them, offered food, money; everything they just wouldn't go.  The signets clearly couldn't get out, but the parents just kept getting in and out trying to get the signets to follow.  

The clock is whizzing around towards the end.  I have caught a couple more 2 lb - ers but the time was up.  Truthfully I believe I could have made mid section at least if not for the swan's.  The fish were there and in big numbers.  John had run out of bait and they had moved into my swim. The Swan chaos though just drove the fish back along the bank to John.  The float dipped, I looked at my watch shouted the all out and fish on.

130 grams short of 20 kilo. Mass of silvers, just like my last trip to Todber.  Last time caught on 4 mill meat. This time doubled to 8 mill and still I got roach.  Meat clearly works, but its getting the Carp in to the swim and feeding voraciously is the trick.  John takes our section with 52 kilo.  Really I should be glad to catch 40+lb - but without plenty of Carp you are nowhere at this venue.  It is frustrating.

I pack quickly and whizz over to White posts to pick my mate Dave up.  He has taken that lake with an impressive 78 kilo.  Back to Park to do the scores on the doors.  DM is first and Yoda is 2nd. I have done steadily better recently, but today he put me back in the my box today.  I will beat him one day.

My team Orphans didn't have the best of days, and individually my worst of the season.  Will need a good match in the last match at Viaduct on 23rd July, if I am to get my season target of finishing in the top 15 of the league.

Two Smug, but great Blokes 1st in Match Dave Moody (left), 2nd John Dewberry
"Oldies but Goodies"