So on through my village where the river has burst its banks into the road. Just as the Ipod shuffled to Led Zeppelin "when the levee breaks" apt I thought.
The trip to the lake was speckled with floods and horrendous road conditions. Some of the pot holes are impossible to see under the water and were very deep. When this water subsides the roads will need serious work I am sure. There was mixed feelings, some didn't want to be there and others were looking for a change in fortune. It was possible today to do something different from normal. The normal approach of fishing for two or three pounds of silvers and the hope of a bonus Carp. Has really been thrown into the air. Recent double stockings of fish (Carp and Silvers ) by the club has seen a welcome upturn in catches and bodes well for the year ahead. Maybe the season ahead will prove to need a rethink. Not a bad thing as we are all guilty of a "blinkered robotic" approach. If the new 1 lb + skimmers show today who knows what can happen.
Good turn out today; and although we looked like the cast of "One flew over the cuckoos nest" the banter was good and lighthearted a real friendly feeling of mates together. I had a little sadness thinking I was just to far behind Ian to catch him. The words of my pop favorite "Pink!"were whizzing around my head;
"Where there is desire, there's gonna be a flame. Where there is flame someones bound to get burned. Just cause it burns doesn't mean your gonna die, you've got to get up and Try, Try, Try.
Bugger it lets go for it and spice it up by going the quid. He wanted his back - remember - the shiny one that had its own box now!
Then a bit of good news. It appears that this wasn't the last match in the Lake series after all! I mis print meant there was one more to come on the second weekend in March. Could this be enough? I needed to win today and Ian to do badly to have a realistic chance ....... but it was chance. So to the draw and just for a change I drew well. Eat your heart out Frank "Gummy" Gumbledon he was only saying yesterday that I was like him and couldn't draw for Toffee. So it was peg 12 the Pipe swim. Concentrate, get to the peg prepare meticulously and do the best you can. Least then you have no excuses.
Set up a small cage feeder and light waggler for the choice of the long swim. and decided to fish dead depth in 7.5 feet of water at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock at about 8 to 9 meters. Ground bait and pinkie to the right and something different like pellet maybe to the left. In addition to those I set up a mid water and shallow rig to fish on the drop.
The match was a slow start. Chris to my right and PG to the right of him. As at the last lake match I had Jim Broomham on the next peg this time to the left instead of right he had Will Tapper the Carp Kid to his left.
Had to hope Brian Shutler, Leo, Simon Burden and Robin Pearce would put the mockers on Ian and knock him down the points. Couldn't think about that (Yoda - John Dewberry , sat on my shoulder saying - blinkers on fish your own match). Small stuff came to the pinkie, and Chris was starting to pull away, he had a lovely little home grown Carp which was good news shows the original stock is breeding to top up our stocking efforts.
He was pinging loose maggot and now had a skimmer. Came of the pinkie line and emulated the loose maggot approach. It took a while but I managed a small skimmer. Followed by two of the newly stocked Mirror Carp.
As if to re-enforce my concentration and give me a kick up the bum not to relax too much; PG bagged a 5 lb Carp! That's torn it not home free yet. Head down and get on with it. Now Chris was into a Carp and the elastic was stretching away. The look of concentration on his face was a picture. Squeaky bum time.
Panic was beginning to settle in as I lost two good fish, in a row. I was sweating like OJ Simpsons defence lawyer!
Never saw them but based on how they went they were not skimmers! Then as the squally showers hammered down and the turbulent wind swirled around it all went quite on the fish front. Thank fully for all of us. PG and Chris were slinging the "method" with no joy and only Jimmy was still catching small stuff on the worm. I decided to switch to worm on the tip. A to be able to put my hands in my pockets to warm them through, and B holding the pole in the swirling wind was not helping presentation. Looked in the bag. Dammit no worm! Never mind stick a caster pinkie cocktail on and flip it out. Like to say thanks to Ben Bentley at this stage. The new feeder line is magic, every plink is picked up. Not that they were plinks. 30 seconds in and the tip confidently pulled round and I lifted into a 10 oz skimmer. Then another and another. This is a pain, I' m trying to warm my hands!!
The hands did get warm as the next hour was bite-less. An hour to go and I decided to go for it and up the loose feed rate. The darker light conditions and reflecting trees meant it was hard to see the bristle. The bites were the tinniest of lifts, but the Dino long Bream (0.75) floats were sensitive to every movement. Gradually the skimmers came, and despite bumping a few I gradually built a weight. The new Vespe 1.5 hollo is a terrific elastic for skimmers and it had handled two pound Carp as well. I think if I had upped my hook size from a 20 I could have been sure to have landed more; but maybe it would have put the bites off.
Jimmy called the all out and Chis congratulated me on winning. Bit premature I thought, but news was coming down the bank the other section had struggled. So how big was PGs Carp? How much did Jimmy have ? Despite Chris's depression he hadn't done too bad either.
Brian Shutler started with his weight which had beaten Spanners on the next peg. Good news. Just needed the others to knock him down the points rankings. However it was close with a few but no cigar. Leo and Robin Pearce pushed him close but in the end Spanners the machine only dropped one point.
Jimmy weighed in a surprisingly low 7 lb 4 oz, would he rue the Carp he lost or the 1 lb skimmer dropped at the net? My two carp amounted to the expected 4 lb 14 oz, and add in the 14 lb 14 oz of skimmers and small stuff (no Perch today) a lovely 19 lb 14 oz. Looks like I have it.
Must say thanks to all the lads, they did seem genuinely pleased for my win; with lots of pats on the back and well dones all around. A moment in the sun at last! Proof positive of how friendly a club Pewsey is.
Pay out time and I pick up match , my section and the silvers pool the wife will be happy. Would have given up all the money in exchange for Ian blanking but can't have it all.
Leo struggled to hand a quid to Chris as does Ian parting with a second pound in a row to me. Could have been three if I had gone a quid at the Devizes match couple of weeks ago.
Top three below. Jim (left) PG (right) and me. Guess who won the match.
Canal mid week, see you there.
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