Pipped to the Post

Another thoroughly enjoyable match at Lindholme this weekend, with plenty of bites which I suppose is all you can ask for at this time of year. I spoke to Joe who had been the day before, and he confirmed that the match was to be on Bonsai and Beeches, and he fancied being on Bonsai as Beeches had fished crap the previous day.

After a hearty breakfast and a Jelly Pellet making competition, me and Matt descended on the venue, and managed to sneak a decent place in the draw queue. In went my hand and out came peg 48, the same peg I was on last week!

I was well chuffed with that, and felt I could probably improve on the previous weeks results, as conditions were much better and I hoped to exploit the pole line. Matt also drew favourably, I must admit I felt sorry for him though as the Barnsley lads didn’t half lay it on thick, “That’s the best peg on the complex young un, you should win the match off there today”. Nothing like a bit of pressure! To add even more stress and tension to proceedings, we decided whoever had the lowest weight out of me Matt, Joe and Ben would be buying the drinks in the pub after. I also had a £1 side bet with Mr Carass, so the stakes couldn’t have been higher!

I had been pestering Joe all week to make me some little inline feeders, he had sent me some pictures of ones he had made and they looked very sexy! He did me a few, and so I decided to base my approach around fishing these up to the island, and also hoped to catch on the long pole late on in the day.

It was one of those most unusual days in fishing where everything went according to plan- or almost everything. As predicted, I caught well on the feeder early, though I had some trouble with fish coming off on the way in with the feeder bouncing the hook out. I felt the feeder line moving away from me as the mid point of the match drew near, and so I tried the pole, and was pleased to find a few fish around here as well. I took a few off it, then felt the fish backing off, so I decided to feed and rest my pole line and go back on the tip.

In the last hour, I caught really well on the pole, as I had been careful not to over exploit it through the coarse of the day, and so the fish were feeding confidently. I ended up with 51lb 14oz, which put me sixth out of the 54 anglers that fished. Frustratingly, I didn’t win any money however, as the kid who was fourth was in my section, so he took the money by default! I was gutted that I had lost those fish early on the feeder however, as they really cost me. Considering 59lb was second on the match, and the picked up £180, I wasn’t far off a nice pay day, and the peg was definitely worth second place. Must do better!

Joe and Matt both won there sections with 40 odd pound, and poor old Ben was last in our stake with 38lb. He was nearly crying when he got his wallet out to go to the bar, and moths were flying everywhere! To his credit though, he was very unlucky to be pipped for his section, and he must have fished a good match as he beat Alan Scotthorne off the next peg.

Return To Ranskill

There is a teams of four league starting at Ranskill on Saturday, and so I decided that a midweek practise was in order. We fished a rover match, and I was sixth to choose, so by the time I got to pick my peg all the form pegs had gone. Still, there were plenty of good uns left in, and I chose peg 28, I have drawn the peg twice in the past, and won the match both times, so I fancied it for a few fish.

My plan of attack was to fish a bomb up to the island in front of me, and fish the pole at 13 metres at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock for skimmers. I also planned on fishing a short line to see if I could make it work, despite the clearish water.

I struggled to put a run of fish together, and really had to work to get bites on all my lines. I knew Mark Holmes and Les Richmond were catching well on the two form pegs, but I was content to keep plugging away and try and learn something for the team match on Saturday. I had an enjoyable days fishing however, and ended up with 16lb, which put me 5th. . Again, must do better! I will update on how I get on at the weekend on Monday!