Sunday 5th September 2010.
I think this match just creeped into double figures and we were greeted with light showers and a flat calm lake. I didn't bother drawing instead I waited for the last one in the bag and it was a flyer peg 19!!
I still don't have a pole so it took me all 20 minutes to set up a straight lead for the pellet and the conker. Peg 19 is directly in front of the point of an island at about 15-16m. However there is a row of stick ups that runs down the left hand margin at about 18-19m and because i have caught here before this was going to be my starting point. The plan was to once again fish and feed 8 and 11mm pellets with the conker as a change bait. First chuck and the tip went around with a 2lb common and i had 10 fish in the first hour for a brilliant start. Then the wind changed direction and as a result it blew a load of debris next to the stick ups. It was now impossible to cast close enough to the island and my catch rate slowed with a pretty poor second hour. Accurate casting was now really important and i somehow had to get as tight as I could without the mainline catching the debris. I also switched over to 11mm pellet and the conker to give the fish something big to home in on. This improved my catch rate and i was up to around twenty fish after 3 hours. The wind increased in the fourth hour but by varying my feed patterns i managed another 5 fish. By the last hour i was still in front but not by a huge amount and my main line had slowdright down. It was time for a change, so i cast directly in front of me to the point of the island at 16m and the tip flew around!! I couldn't believe it, it was solid and i continued to catch right up until the whistle, only suffering 2 loses. I weighed in 89lb for a comfortable win but I was kicking myself for not trying that other line earlier as i truly believe i could have doubled my weight, there were so many fish there. Still that's fishing for you and I'll be back for another day!!
