Meatloaf is not everyone's cup of tea but from Bat out of hell in the mid seventies through to Bat out of hell 3 the monster is loose in 2006 Meat's collaboration with Jim Steiman has been one of the back ground soundtracks to my life.
Thought I better kill the vibes as I pulled into the meeting place as Meat had skipped to " I would do anything for love" was to risky. Risky because as great as my fellow anglers are; mention I'll do anything for love and there eyes sparkle in a leery sort of way that makes you feel like you are the only virgin in the Blue Oyster bar............if you know what I mean. See below
Thankfully there was no "Paradise by the dashboard light" as we decided to get a wriggle on as parking at the draw venue is at a premium. Once there the first task was a toss up between getting breaky down my neck or sorting out and distributing the teams bait order. Think I need to say at this point thanks from all the team to Reids Tackle Salisbury, week after week its consistently quality bait.
I have no problem with this part of the day. Pools are sorted, draw is underway and we wait with baited breath, and a little prayer to the gods for a flier. I just wish the after match admin was quicker. Shouldn't really complain as its good of Pete Gilbert to keep this league going for 47 Years, but the checking and rechecking and checking again drags on a bit. Its just an opinion and I am happy to be shot down and told to get back in my box; but consider finish fishing at 4, weigh in 5 o'clock back to draw venue and results sometime around 630. Then an hours drive home unpack by 8 its a long old day. Still suck it up Princess.........
The peg everyone wants (above ) Lechlade bridge. Today in my section, section C7. Unfortunately, my peg was well up stream at peg 3. Look at pic below my peg is a dot on the horizon.
If anything there were too many options with a long cast to a side stream opposite or perhaps the feeder / waggler to the blue boat pictured right. I set up a 4 mtr, whip, stick float, waggler, and 14.5 mts pole line which was around 6 to 7 feet . Shallow on the inside and far side and very shallow in the side stream. The match started with a blinding ripping bite which was the first of 3 trout on the day. The fish seemed to want a little ground bait so I put in 5 balls 20 minutes after the initial one at the start.
This led to a run of gudgeon and the second trout. Big baits like worm and and flake resulted in tippy tappy tugs. So I settled into trying to find the right combo for the hook bait which after a while was clearly either two caster of two bronze. Red maggot or pinkie just bought Gudgeon or bleak.
Lee Pollard was downstream of me home venue for him. In fact he works in the tackle shop by the bridge, so just a long cast away. So not so much of a home peg, more like his front door mat!!
He was lobbing a feeder against the boats opposite and was bagging on the tip with the landing net slipping in and out regularly. Clearly he was setting the pace, with some chunky fish.
The match went remarkably quickly as I tried to overcome the small bleak and gudgeon and get a bonus fish. The obligatory Pike was in the shadows of the swim with bleak leaping skyward to avoid his hungry jaws.. I did hook a bonus fish twice in two drop ins, but on both occasions the maggot rolled on the point of the hook and was spat out. Would it cost me.....?
It became a battle of wits between me and Esox Lucius. It was put bait in, hook fish then zig zag the withdrawal of the fish as the Pike snapped away at the tail of the fish. Lee is in again and Mick Rosier above me are both in to big fish. Damn it. Lee landed his and Micks thank fully was trout. I couldn't see clearly Radcot Man Chris Bowen on Peg one by the footbridge; but he appeared to be bagging on the whip.
I just couldn't buy that bonus fish. The stream opposite had nothing and appeared to be around 18 inches deep, the waggler line was a nightmare trying to get the bait down past the bleak. So i changed tack put on a heavier rig and nailed the double bronze down with an olivette.
This seemed to work and I had a run of 4 oz Roach, about thirty seconds to go and I hooked a 6 oz Roach which - as the whistle went and I called fish on. Mr Pike took advantage of me and grabbing. Played it for 2 minutes before losing Roach and the hook length.
To be honest it looked bleak, Lee had me I was sure, and god knows what super weights had come from the Bridge end of the section by the pub - normally 10 lb swims. I had no idea what I had but guessed at 4 lb of little stuff.
My heart sank when I saw Radcots Chris Bowen lift out his net. About 6 lb of small stuff gudgeon , all whip fish, and a bloody dog of a Perch taking him to 8 lb 10 oz. Swindon Mick Rosier next and again a bloody great bag of little uns. I was in a spiral panic, and starting to think of excuses for my fellow team members convinced I was going to be on 1 or 2 points.
My net next and it was a massive shock and relief to see what I had amassed. I was genuinely shocked to see below, I knew I had caught fairly regularly but was convinced the fish were smaller than they were.
On to Lee next and amazingly his fish were hollow. Surprise surprise his bigger fish didnt have many others with them, so I had him by 2 oz, I wasn't expecting that. I suppose it would all go badly wrong now as we were getting closer to the fliers opposite the pub.
Thank you god, the weights were not as big as I thought they would be and miracle on miracle I had another second in section the third this week!! and 6 team points.
Brian Shutler came through from the other side of the bridge to announce he had second in section too with 7 lb 11 oz. That's two seconds and with Chris Rushton adding a third the team had only dropped 3 points in 3 sections.
However as Spanners came through to give me a hand with my kit back to the van, horror stories of Bream bags over 17 lb and 12 lb here and 10 lb there meant Spanners had a third and I was unsure of Leo and Mark Russ. After a quick round up in the car park it looked as if Leo and Mark had both struggled. So it was down to how well Radcot and Swindon Teams had done.
I was bushed and asked to be excused the post match gathering and headed for home with Leo promising to call, with the final scores on the doors.
True to his word the Captain rang through and the results after three matches are as follows:
Radcot a magnificent 37 points on the day Total 99 points
Pewsey Blue 28 points on the day Total 98 points
Lechlade Dreamboys 28 points on the day Total 83 points
Swindon ISIS A 24 points on the day Total 82 points
Pewsey Red 22 points on the day Total 55 points
Lechlade all stars 18 points on the day Total 47 points
Swindon ISIS B 8 points on the day Total 21 points
Next round in two weeks on Radcots home water. Tight at the top.
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