Pewsey and Still water Blue.

A very cold night meant the first match of October would be a interesting.  Would we scratch?  It was disappointing to see only 6 turn out.  I am glad I came I was going to attend a dog show in Devon.  Its difficult when you want to support 2 friends .  I do hope Kims show went well in Devon.

Mark my friend and team mate in the Wx Winter won over so it was fishing instead of dogs.

Still it was nice to see Martin Aris and even the Legend James Carty showed.  Pre match wish list included pegs 3,10 and 15.  But I ended up with 11, a peg I have never fished even in pleasure conditions.

With only 6 Mark decided on 15 back to 9. So he and James drew the end pegs respectively.  The match started well for me with a fish of around 10 ounces in the first 10 seconds. Followed by a copy cat 30 seconds later.  Then a lost fish of around 5 lb hooked in the dorsal.

Then Simon to my right had a run of fish and Mark and Brian to my left started catching.  I made a school boy error in my excitement, in firing in a fair bit of bait.  The thought behind it was I had caught quickly and the others were going just as well the fish must be on it.

Big MISTAKE.

It killed my swim stone dead .  Well not quite, it filled my swim with small fish and for the next 2 hour it was small fish, and I mean small minnow sized Roach.  So as the match progressed those who were more conservative with their feed edged further and further in front.

So that age old dilemma should i sit it out on the big fish line or keep putting fish in the net.  The lake answered it for me in giving me 2 hours without any sort of bite.  I then had 3 puppy carp on a new unfed line.  Proof further that I had over fed.

So there I sat you could have named me after my favourite float - Still Water Blue.  Constantly changing depths trying to find fish anywhere in the 7 foot of water in front of me.  Simon and Brian either side of me; in fact all of us were losing 5 lb plus fish and language levels were rising all around me as those pushing for first place got tighter and tighter .

Both Brian and Mark were fishing the extremity of their poles . Giving them the precision of lowering a rig against the far bank.  Brian in particular was showing a masterful display of fishing 17.5 meters.  That would have killed my back.  It was not possible for me as the lake widens to around 22 meters in my peg.

Brian however was losing out to Mark, because his unshipping point was next to a tree in the water snag.  If he struggled to unship the fish dived straight into the snag; and he lost several elastic stretching fish.

I decided to sit it out on the method I had no choice I was so far behind.  I nearly choked on my scotch egg as the tip belted around and I lifted into a a powerful fish.  I clicked over the anti reverse to play the fish on a back wind instead of the clutch, not normally my style and I don't know why I did it.

What I do know is, in trying to find a place to place my scotch egg down , I took my eye of the fish and my reel .  Resulting in line going behind the spool!!!

A quick unscrewing of the spool under pressure meant the fish went solid in a snag.  Not a bad thing it gave me time to untangle and put back together.  However, the fish was never to come out of the snag but a straightened hook did fly past my ear.

A fitting end to an abysmal performance riddled with basic errors.

The weigh in with James first far end peg. Will next, then Martin then Simon.  

We will not talk about me, it was Brian next.

Some Chubb and Skimmers first followed by his carp. Setting the target for Mark to beat.  So to Mark on the other end peg and he started his weigh in.  He too had Chubb in his silvers but many more Carp

So to the scores on the doors.

Great weights from Brian and Mark .  With Team Russ overcoming an in form Brian.  For this time of the year 70 lb+ of fish in those two pegs is excellent and proof the lake has fished well this year compared to previous years.  A quick word to the committee for keeping the faith and their longer term plans coming to fruition.

Even a guest appearance from the Legend results in a pick up.

I must focus on next week now and Clanfield (Thames) being positive I have fished well really well for 10 weeks ( but I fished like a Knob today) or more so I must stop the rot of the past two weeks.

Bring on the River.