For once it was a beautiful and dry but cold day. Most unusual for and Army match. Had my game plan but to be honest it was blown out of the water straight away when I saw the cut; it was chocolate brown like very strong tea. In addition bull rushes and reeds bunched together with the other flotsam to give the impression a thousand canoes had been through.
Oh dear this is gonna be tough. Pushed forward to do the draw, I drew badly for myself and well for both Mike and Dave. Mike seemed please as I drew the same peg for him last time and it is a flier. C section for a change was the other side of the bridge behind Bridge Inn. Me it was over the swing bridge and left up towards the shallows the dreaded A section which some have named the dead stretch.
I looked wistfully at Mikes peg (over swing bridge and 1st on right) but got my head down and started on to mine. Past end peg 14 and counted down to midsectionblues peg a7. Got the platform in and was squared away and ready to go a full 30 minutes before the 10.30 start. Preparation paid of.
Wandered up to see my mate John Dewberry and wish him well. He was on peg 2 very narrow and shallow and didn't hold out much hope. I gave him a pat on the back and reminded him the last match on this section produced good weights for Ben Bentley and Si Irwin. I wandered back to my peg and sat waiting for the all in.
Needn't have been so keen because despite trying a whole range of moves I remained bite less for the first two hours as did my com-padres either side of me.
Eventually the wind dropped and the sun rose high enough to warm the far side of the canal. As the track and the up slope had produced nothing, and I was still bite less 3 hours in. I decided to dig out a squat rig and fish the sunny patch. 20 inches deep I had a fiddle around and placed a shot above the rig to help stability in the wind which was rising again. The float moved side to side but didn't go under. I lifted it anyhow and a two day old pair of eyes with a tail come to hand.
From then on it was a scratching session, 3 or 4 fish then died for 10 minutes and so on. Kept going back to the track and worm lines in the hope I could pick up a big fish but no joy. Rumour had it the end pegs were going well with Bream showing down by the swing bridge; but I was determined not to let it phase me and keep going for good team points. No one around me seemed to be doing any better so there was always a chance.
The all out was called I looked into my net. Looked at my counter, 37 fish not bad considering I didn't start until two thirds of the way through the match and was blanking.
The weigh in began down at peg 14 and worked their way back, and it was mixed news. John told me he had scratched which meant he had done well. Martin " Ships cat" Shipston had indeed had three Bream and the once again Craig Bate was a contender for the frame.
Considering my mid section position I was delighted to have scratched so many fish to get 0860 grams (1 lb 12 oz) on the dead stretch with that colour water was quite a feet. Several guys tied on 320 grams (10 oz) John wins the section with just over 5 lb. Scratched indeed! biggest non bream weight on the day.
My fellow Nomad Mike Poolman on the flier takes section B with a cracking weight of 7 lb + . Clearly he drew all of the fish around him and they didn't really show until peg four where Ivan pushed him pushed him close'ish
C section fished well several kilo + weights and with Dave Docs bagging a Bream first chuck and further bonus fish through the match. Thanks to Ben Bentley for pegging and well done on his second in his section.
To summarise then with the winners on the day. Well done to Mike Poolman winning the three way final in the Natural venue cup. A silver lining for that to got to the Nomads. Well done to Nomads A, with a 1,2,3 6 point finish to win the team event (Nomads B 3rd) and to my mate Docs for making up for his shocker on the river Sunday with a good win.
Roll on match 6 and the start of the 5 commercial venue matches. see you there.
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