I must admit I couldn't believe when we thought Brian had drawn center of the bay, but when we got to the pegs; peg 1 was in the bay and my peg 4 was the center flier. Mark to my right,
With a little cat ice in the side, the only fish movement was past the posts as the Pike chased the shoals and the fish bolted in all directions.
The match was very, very slow to start with only me and Kev catching a fish in the first hour both of us having an ounce Roach. Leo then had a couple of ouncers and Kev had his first hybrid. Brian then lost a hybrid. Chas came along for a chat and then came along to sat Chris Rushton just out of the bay on the narrows had a pound plus Perch.
I then lost a big Bream as I un-shipped down to top 6. Kev was into another hybrid and to be honest we were all struggling despite being in the bay. I was slipping into depression as I was clearly not getting it right on the flier.
Mark however, was worse than me 3 hours in and not had a bite. He got out the whip (clever move) and scratched out 5 fish from under his feet. Brian then had a couple of Roach and Leo two more for another ounce.
I went far out on the feeder with choppy and defrosted bloodworm in the feeder, At last tip pulled slowly round and my delight was cut short by a Ladies bay Crustacean. One squashed cray, was dispatched to the field behind.
Brian S had now hooked and landed a Hybrid to go with his two snotty Roach
A little walk at 4 hours to get the blood moving to my blue fingers, saw me summarize the match. Kev Chubb was on 4 and half hybrids caught on bloodworm, Chris was still one Perch pound plus on the end, Tony had 5 fish the biggest being an ounce Ruffe. Bryan Jackson was biteless and Simon had just had a slow bite to find he had hooked a dead Bream. Simon reckoned it had had a heart attack at being caught, as it was the only bite in his swim. It looked like it had been hit by a boat propeller.
Leo shouted 35 minutes to go and then started to slowly pull his pole in. Bloody hell he says I have one on. He dollied it in and I couldn't believe it was nigh on 3lb!!! He reckoned it wasn't foul hooked and as hes a gentlemen I take his word for it.
Leo called all out and I cheered loud at the delight that it was all over and I could get out of the cold and wet and home to bowl of stew and dumplings. Well done to Kev for winning, and well done to all who could work out how to get a bite let alone a bloody fish.
The score sheet is slightly wrong as cold fingers from the scorer put half ounce against Bryan Jackson and not Simon. Leos fish was not three. Kev had 9 lb 1 oz Brian had jumped from a blank early on to second place and secured the Championship.
Chris picked up fourth from his one bite. Me I had a wind assisted 1 oz, Marks 5 fish came to 2 oz, and Simon well his fish didn't register but we gave him half an ounce. Leo making the only real change to the Championship places with his Bream.
We slipped and slide our way along the tow path , helped each other up the slippery slope and onto Ladies Bridge and said goodbye to the place for a while. I gotta say I did really try, different depths, different rigs. I fished most of the day on 1.1 lb Bayer Perlon right through to a 24 hook half a pinkie but just couldn't buy a bite. So I come away knowing I tried and didn't just sit there cold , feeling sorry for myself..........what more can you do?
It seemed Kev had the answer...............Fresh Blood worm.
See you next time
