Weight - 41lb 7oz
Catch - 32 F1s, 1 Carp
Weather - Very wet & windy
Match - Club - 3rd out of 10
The attitude of some people leaves you surprised and on this
occasion stunned. 2 weeks ago a club member reversed into my car and drove off
despite the attempts of other members who witnessed the event. The damage was
only very minor and I assumed the driver didn’t feel the impact and didn’t see
a 6ft 4in bloke waving their arms to attract his attention as he drove off. However
after cleaning the car last week the damage was obvious, although probably
inexpensive to repair, so I wasn’t too bothered. Fast forward to today I was
just finishing my breakfast at the venue café, when the member walked in.
Bearing in mind the damage was minor I was quite relaxed about, so I told the member
he had hit my car. What happened next surprised everyone on the café. Before I
could say anything else, he denied hitting me, it was my word against his, he
was on private land so it didn’t count, and I was having a go at an old man. A
couple of us tried to explain there were witnesses and the private land argument
was irrelevant. However, said member got very agitated, saying I can go f*** myself
and the club can throw him out of the club. I actually said very little during all
this, but hoped to have a quiet chat after the match when he had calmed down.
Unfortunately this didn’t happen, another member tried to have a chat to him on
the bank explaining there was witnesses, but he has flatly refused to accept responsibility.
The reaction was completely over the top to a very minor incident, and I was
prepared not to take it any further. However, this is now a point of principle
and I will let my insurers sort it out. Unfortunately the member refused to
provide their insurance details, which just compounds the situation, but the
cost of their excess, the potentially for losing their no claims discount and
increases in next year’s renewal will cost more than an apology.
Back to the match, after the clubs visit in October we were
keen to come back, because everyone had a few bites. Today was originally
booked in for the Harescombe Christmas match, but clashed with another local
match, so the owner asked us if we wanted to fish instead. Only 10 could make
it, with a few late drop outs, but at last we would have plenty of space, but
the weather looked like it would have a big impact with wind & rain
forecast.
Speaking to the fishery manager suggested that maggot was
the best bait and the corner pegs were best, particularly 29 & 30 which
were at the sheltered end of the lake. I drew 18, which was on the far side, 3
pegs from the corner which Kev Millard drew and who would be very difficult to
beat.
Only 2 rigs for today, an Ackoo carbon carrat 0.3g > .08
> 22 B911 to fish the far shelf and 4x18 polar ice for down the track, but I
never had a bite on that. The nice thing about this lake is there is nothing
bigger than 5lb in the lake, with most fish being F1s between 8oz & 2lb, so
you can fish light without fear of being broken by a rouge munter.
Starting on the far bank toss potting maggot & micros I
was soon catching, but presentation was difficult in the strong wind which was
blowing straight down the lake, which meant plenty of lifting and dropping. The
only annoying aspect was lost fish. I lost a few fish using the double 5
elastic, a switch to a single 5 resulted in a fewer loses, but took longer to
land fish and still had a couple of hook pulls at the net. In the end I found
it best to use a size 20 silverfish maggot hook, still with .08 bottom and 6-10
hollow.
I caught steadily all match, except for the 4th
hour when I spend time sorting out rigs (a lack of pre match prep) and disappearing
fish. The last 45mins proved to be best with 7 fish all falling to a single red
or bronze maggot. To keep in touch with the fish I had to keep moving back and
forth along the far bank. An enjoyable day, except for the weather and I was
thankful for my new Gore-Tex which was certainly tested.
As expected Kev won the match from the corner and Andy came
2nd from a very sheltered end peg – I’m not bitter – lol. So 3rd
was the result, which I was happy enough with, but those earlier lost fish cost
me 2nd.
1st 52- 9 – Kev Millard – p16
2nd 44- 2 – Andy Lord – p24
3rd 41- 7 – Ken Rayner – p18
4th 38- 4 – Andy Bradley – p3
5th 37- 4 – Dave Bradley – p29
6th 20- 0 – Tim Allen – p30
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