mid section blues: Pewsey - Damage limitation for the one armed bandit

It would be nice to write and tell you I am in tip top health and all in life is well. Lately though its becoming more and more difficult. It sounds like a litany of excuses to hide my under par performances. But its not.

Following the mid week match with the Army I had a pain in my arm. No not a heart attack thank goodness but a lump. I have had the lump for a while but typical of me I avoid going to the Doctor's. Big mistake it seems this lump (which is on the inside of my right elbow) is a fluidic sac formed as part of Tennis elbow; a sort of natural body cushion to the bone. Playing a Carp on Wednesday I felt the sac "pop" but thought little of it. By 8 that evening my arm was swelling big style and become a very angry red colour.

GP was closed so it was out of hours at A and E. Had a rollicking from the Med staff for not dealing with earlier. Their concern the bad infection had not entered the bone or any part of the joint. My concern could I fish today!!! So after two fluid draining sessions. I had a choice to make.

Brian Shutler is 6 point's ahead in the combined lake and canal champs. If he continues drawing end pegs and or winning the match he will get another 15 points. If I don't fish that's zero points and hes then 21 points ahead and hard to catch over the last 20% of the season.

Truth be known I would have rather stayed at home; but not one for "if onlys" I would go. Even if I take the bomb rod or fish the whip left handed. Just needed Brian to draw badly, me to draw around 7 or 8 so I could easily get down the bank to the canal. Whatever happens if i draw 3 or 4 again I will go home.

So to the draw. Brain draws end peg 1. Really yes really. Me I draw peg 3. The air is blue, but I decide to stay and make the best of it. Its damage limitation!

So Brian on peg 1, and on 2 Devizes and Pewsey ace Mike Marsden. To my right the ever present Chris Rushton who has gone so many pounds with different people he doesn't know if he's coming or going. Got to admire his belief in his talent!

Simon B and Leo draw the other end and Martin is on the wires. God has dealt me a blow, but lets see if I can make the best of it. Peg 3 is high of the water so first problem is how do I position the platform to get me down of the horizon with one good arm? Or do I even try? I drop the keep net in and there's barely enough water to cover the bottom ring . So for the sake of fish welfare I have to get closer to the water.

After struggling and refusing a kind offer of help from Mike. I am perched like a referee at Wimbledon on my platform. Lets here it for RCT Rigger platforms. I can safely say if they take a fat bloke like me with no problem they have to the best value around.

So like an episode of the Twilight zone the match commenced with me flailing a 3 mtr whip left handed like a demented Zorro. The bread punch didn't work and I was bite less after 20 minutes. So it was over the track line. At 3 and half feet to shallow and little chance of anything, but top 5 sections is the only weight I can hold in the strong left to right wind.

Mike and Brian to my right and Chris to my left are catching steadily. Me I have just popped a couple more tablets and my arm is burning up. Perhaps I should just catch what I can till noonish then leave the net, Brian is skillfully taking apart peg 1 and Mike is fish for fish with him. One of our Juniors dads stops for a chat which was nice but with him stood behind me the bites stopped.

The fishing is slow on planet Codeine and with Mike talking about Bacon burgers and coffee; my float looks like a hot dog and my pole looks like a curly wurly. Perhaps I have overdone the Codeine and penicillin but the canal is now a lovely shade of pink. The parked boats opposite seem to be going left as the canal tows right, and I giggle to myself manicly. This is great, fishing on drugs.

1300 hrs sees the drug induced Lucy in the sky with diamonds withdraw a little. Si Irwin comes along and I hope for a kind word of comfort about my arm. Instead I get "hows the wankers cramp Gazzer". He's a wag isn't he.

My phone shouts "Broadsword to Danny boy" says Richard Burton - its time for Penicillin. So I respond the clip from "Where Eagles Dare" and pop in the tabs. Looking around for my bottle of drink I realise its dry swallow time; as I have left the drink in the van. Dehydration that's going to help the hallucinating - not.

I am well behind going to have to go for big stuff as fishing ten meters to the boats for sprat's is killing my elbow and at only 12 inches deep the cold water is not offering a lot. The owners of the boat I am fishing too are now making plenty of noise so in a way I had no choice but to come back to the middle line. A big cup full of hemp for a change instead of ground bait lets see what that does. A little red worm over the top and its away to a proper fish .

After a deep fight I drew the fish up over the inside shelf into a foot of water. I could see the 22 hook stuck in the gill plate of the 1.5 lb hybrid fish before it rolled over the hook length snapping it and sending the rig springing into the end of the pole. So there was a right birds nest of bent wire float, shot and bream slime - lovely.

Cursing a little I set up again and dropped over the hemp with another worm surely I would not be lucky again. But I was, bang in again and the elastic rips out. A quick look left and right sees both Mike and Chris with crumpled fore heads praying I would lose it. Again it was hooked in the cheek not quite the gill plate but on the outside of the mouth and a rapid run saw the fish and I part ways. There was an audible sigh of relief from Chris on my left and a chuckle with a hard luck from Mike.

The match finishes thank goodness its cold and I am surprised I have made it to the end. Reckon I might have a pound but I have been roundly thrashed all around me. Just have to hope beyond hope the other pegs have blanked or Mr Shutler will have one hand on the trophy.

The scales man comes along and its not sounding good for me.

Cold Comfort

It must be close between one or two of them as nervous looks at the scales. With quarter ounce scales on the bank we may need that type of accuracy today. So the score sheet.

Brian wins it with a good 4 lb 9 ounces. That's another 15 points for him. Good job I fished. No points would have been a disaster. As it was Mike and Simon shared 14 points, Leo was on 12. Then the ever reliable Marc Kay picking up good points again on 11. Chris pips Spanners for 10 and 9.

Chris winning back his quid from last week. Me then on 8 valuable points not bad from a difficult peg, one handed, and on a different planet. Bringing up the rear and with creditable pound plus weights from tough pegs its father and son team Chas and Martin with Chas taking it by half an ounce .