Army Group 2 Christmas Fur and Feather

Day off today to fish the Army Fur and Feather at Witherington Farm.  Past years have seen us break 4 inches of ice and white stuff (snow not Peruvian Marching powder)  to fish the F and F, but not this year.

Just a grey December morning.  The IPOD was shuffling through the songs and rather poignantly that goddess Stevie Nicks sang soulfully about the trials of a Soldiers wife. Quickly followed by the "Young Rebel Set" singing about a soldier going of to war and Jumping into "the Lions Mouth".  Spookily this was followed by Miss Nicks again doing "Edge of Seventeen".

 It made me think of the Army Families this Christmas, young lads some only teenagers who will never come home or see another Christmas.

 Rather than focusing on the negative (cold miserable day on a commercial) it gave me a determination to enjoy the day with my Army colleagues; and be bloody grateful for the opportunity to share some happy moments with the these great lads.  After all it could be mine, and hopefully not their last Christmas.

The excellent Rachel and Glenn were churning out the Breakfasts and the Moody Clan were manning one of the best tackle shops around. Advice was being sought (from Dave Moody) even from the better anglers, which meant the Snake must be fishing tough.

I wolfed down my Breakfast and chatted to John Goddard amongst others.

 Our Chairman and all round good bloke Kev East, brought some order to the proceedings and did the match brief and started the draw.

A section was on the inner Snake, B section the flying pegs (permanent pegs in the 40's and 50's) and C section was Cyanide stretch.  An unfair name I have always thought there can be some good winter pegs, particular in the middle of the stretch.  Summertime they move to the ends more.  I sat and waited for the draw to near the end and see what was left.

I drew C section much to the delight of the people who wanted me to blank.  Turns out it was perm peg 18 not a bad peg. See below.

I decide to fish bread punch in the clearing water to my left squat across with maggot on the hook across to the corner.  If things got tough I would try the feeder across to the bridge, and possibly toward the end some soft pellet down the edge.  I had some good anglers in my section such as Mike Poolman, Si Irwin, Danny Jones, and Chris Perry.  So it would be hard to pick up today.  It would all be about where the Carp had shoaled up.  They shoal tight in winter.

The match started well, 6 oz Crucian first drop across followed by 4 Roach.  Then nothing for an hour.  Still no worries nobody I could see was catching, Si (Perm Peg 25 I think)was quite and out of view, but I figured the way Danny was looking to his left Si must be catching.  He would be determined not to lose 3 pound coins in a row.  Sorry 2, he had to pull out of the last match.

Mike Poolman got up for his customary walk around to warm and stretch a damaged spine.  He mentioned that the guys to his right were catching Carp and he had had one.  My heart sank. They will be packed tight and unlikely to come my way.  All I could do was try and beat the guys around me.  I could see Danny was catching a few but a couple of the new guys either side of me had not had much.

I really tried hard to catch, working hard making small incremental changes to my rigs, moving shot around coming of the bottom etc, going back on the bottom.  Punch had provided a bite less hour so I baited a new swim with a small amount of ground bait and a small tin of hemp.

Fishing two red squat on a 22 or a single pinkie. It was tough but I scratched out a weight.  The most fruitful bait was a pinkie cut down to about 2 mill fished over neat hemp area.  I would catch a few and then they would back off.  So I would move over the little ground baited area and catch a few more then move back when that dried up.  With five minutes to go Paul Lilley on my right who had fished the bomb all day caught a Carp.  We exchanged pleasantries, and I bemoaned the fact that I had grafted and he would probably beat me with one Fish!

My Bag. 43 fish.

The weigh in happened quickly,

 and the section sheets are below.

"A" section. Inner Snake

The Green biro makes it difficult to see, but clearly a few Carp Caught.  Browning's Mick Craddock takes the section with Pewseys Brian Shutler taking second.

B section the Fliers ( pegs in the 40s)

 Graham takes a quid of me. Kev East wins again with Neil Gaff pipping JD (Yoda - surprisingly he didn't try the Jedi Mind games on me today) out of the money for a change.

C Section cyanide stretch so called. (Perm pegs 8 through 27)

 Si takes his quid ( shit I haven't got it , will have to offer double or quits on the next Pewsey match). Managed to pip Mike Poolman and Danny, and Paul despite his Carp. Its MIDSECTIONBLUES AGAIN. CP has a creditable 3 kilo.  But its Glen, Gav and Si Ogden fishing in the tightly shoaled carp pegs who take the cash in our section.

 Gav with his 11 kilo Danny and Si stand by and admire. Well I think they are admiring, Danny looks a little too aroused!

 Si Ogden with his 23 Kilo.  50 pound plus on a Winters day, you think he would look happy wouldn't you?

 So its all back to the Cafe' for Chicken soup and a roll; and the results of this fun match.

Soup digested the results are given out .  Everyone gets a prize, which is good.  I have enjoyed the day with a good turn out of 33 anglers, its been a success I think.

Well done to top three. Kev East, Si Ogden and Graham Houghton.  Double red maggot or "dead maggot over micros appeared to be the winning combination.  So much for punch.

Back on the Pewsey Championship hunt this weekend, Merry Christmas to all serving Military and their families around the world.