Si Irwins Canal May Day Open match

Fishing again two days running. Love it.  The excellent Si Irwin is now the Open Match Secretary for Pewsey and boy is he doing a good job.  Feeling good after Pewseys win at Andover yesterday.  Nice to put a marker down with local clubs and let them know Pewsey is back on the Match scene.  Having scratched 17 small fish yesterday I was hoping for more regular bites on the Canal.  There were some raised eyebrows though as Si had put in stretches of the canal that are not popular on match days. They are OK for pleasure fishing but put 20+ on the bank and you can struggle. Still the IPOD pumped and U2 sang its a "Beautiful day" which summed up my feelings as I arrived at the bank side.

Fair play to Si though, as its not so long ago, "Opens" were not even happening.  Sign of the success Pewsey is having and the hard work of all members that the popularity of the club continues to rise.  The sun is shining and another warm spring day brings promise of a warm summer ahead.  Sad point in that Spanners is absent.  Unfortunately the loss of his Nan yesterday demanded quite rightly that he remain with family today. Condolences mate.

Its all in the draw they say and just lately I have been waiting to see whats left in the bucket and taking it with some success. We gathered at Wilcot Rd below

The 20 + anglers dived in after the match brief and I let the superstars who had come from far and wide fill their boots.  Two tickets left and Si picked em both out. Up to you mate I said and he gave me an end peg and growled with despair.  That's as good as it got though we all struggled.  Just like last year the canal seems to be going through spring time blues and struggling to recover from the hammering its had as a result of the huge Kayaking competition recently.  Still a little warm weather and get spawning out of the way and it will be fine.

So the match, tried my heart out but had two bites two fish for two ounces.  The pleasing thing for me(every cloud...) was so did everyone else and some of the best canal anglers around and certainly some that had travelled from far and wide also struggled.

A section Bowdens bridge toward iron bridge.  Mixture of dry nets and the top three in the match.

B Section Iron bridge.  Including me on end peg. Midsection blues with 7th from 13. never mind.

As I said its all in the draw  - remember Si growling at giving on giving me an end peg. Yet fate gave him the winner.  Justice I say, nice when you put the effort into organise its nice to get something out of it. Well done mate.