Sunday 23rd April 2006.

The Oaks Lakes, Sessay.

Panic came and picked me up looking a little worse for wear. His son had an early 30th birthday party as he was going to be in Italy for the AC Milan game on his actual birthday, courtesy of a present from his girlfriend. Panic was feeling slightly unwell, despite drinking 3 cups of coffee this morning, due to the mixture of alcohol. He told me that Tetley’s, John Smith’s and Guinness do not mix. I took his word for it.

Panic is also getting rid of his van and getting another one. Hopefully one with an accelerator. He is, he said, getting a new van as he is going back to work. I said, “You have been working”. He said “Yeah, but not getting paid for it”. Panic has been helping his son do up his new house. A new house in terms of moving in, but an old house in terms of in need of modernisation.

After an uneventful trip to The Oaks, well we were in the van and Panic was driving, we arrived in plenty of time for a breakfast, without rushing. Panic was on a pairs match, utilising Poplars and Alders Lakes. His partner for the day was Ken Golightly, whose usual partner was away on holiday. Ken was going to be on Alders Lake and Gordon was going to be on Poplars Lake.

Gordon was going to go to his peg first, as they drew at 9:30, set up and after I have drawn, I give him a ring and he will drop my gear off at my peg. Gordon drew peg 35. Pretty much like most pegs on Poplars Lake. He should get a few there.

Pegging

By the time of the draw, there were 65 of us that had paid on the match and 4 people that travel from Manchester all in the same car who had not yet arrived. I put 69 pegs into the draw bag to accommodate the 4 from Manchester, has no one had their telephone number, they had not called me or left any messages at home and I thought that they may have been delayed travelling over.

The only problem with putting in the extra pegs is that there are always going to be complaints about empty pegs, pegs that had not been drawn. Adonis Mitchell had drawn one of the pegs that gave him an empty peg both sides. Most people accept that it is the luck of the draw, but there is always the minority that thinks that the world and god is against them. Where pegging is concerned, you can’t do right from wrong. What would have happened if the 4 lads had turned up just after the draw and they were late due to a flat tyre?? It’s a bit harsh to say “tough” when you have travelled about 100 miles just to get to the match.

2 jackpot pegs were drawn, pegs 39 and 43, neither of which would win the match.

I was hoping for a good draw today, as Perverted was not in attendance, therefore any winnings would not have to be shared. Here goes, I drew peg 23, which although not necessarily a match winning peg, should ensure a days fishing and the possibility of an envelope. Chappy was on peg 23 last weeks and picked up an envelope. I had Gordon (Russ) Abbott on peg 24 and Timothy (Sorry) Moran on peg 22. Sorry had an empty peg on peg 21, so that made and empty peg both sides!!!

Xman had drawn peg 20 and the banter was flowing freely at the start. Pound side bets were stuck with Orc, Poison Dwarf and Reg Melton.

The Rigs

I set up 3 rigs as follows:

Rig 1 was a 4x14 Drennan Roach on .12-diameter line to a Kamasan B911 hook. This was set up to fish near the aerator at the base of the far side slope. Orange hollow elastic completed the set up. This rig was also planned to use on the inside line at 3m.

Rig 2 was a 4 x 12 Colmic float on .12 diameter line to a Kamasan B611 hook attached to white hydro elastic through the no.2 section of the pole. This was plumbed up to fish on top of the shelf.

Third and final rig was for fishing further over, up the slope on the far side and was set up about 10” deep. The rig consisted of a 4 x 12 Colmic float on .11 Preston Powerline to a size 16 Kamasan B911 hook.

Mice

After rooting around in my carryall, I noticed that mice must have got in, as there were groundbait bags with little holes in them and one of my bait boxes had been chewed where the mice had go into the pellets. The boxes and groundbait were okay yesterday, little bar stewards. Maybe I ought to have a word with Xman on how to get rid of the mice following his attempts which consisted of Kirkyboy shooting them whilst Xman prodded everywhere with a stick, giving them some sort of food that was supposed to kill them (although he had forgotten to give them water in order to activate the chemicals in the food that was supposed to kill them).

All in

At the all in, I cupped in some pellets at the base of the far slope on the deep line and I threw some pellets in on the 3m line. I had some 4mm pellets, conkers, corn and worm for hook bait, although I wasn’t planning on feeding worm, it was just a change bait. I went over to the far side with a small Fox Toss Pot of micro pellets and a conker on the hook. I tipped the pellets over on the slope against the mud and waited in anticipation. The conker was critically balanced in order to dot the float down, if the conker went too far down the slope the float sunk, a no.10 shot probably weighed less than the conker.

After about 15 minutes there was no action, Sorry had caught 1 fish and Xman had also caught 1 fish. Russ to my right had not caught anything yet. I came back and put on the deeper rig to fish on top of the shelf. I put some micro pellets in a ‘toss pot’ and a conker on the hook. I went over to the far side on top of the shelf. Tipped the pellets in and waited. After about 1 minute, the float buried and I missed it. Dropped in again, the float dipped, then buried, carp no.1 was on its way, but decided to come off! Ho hum!

I came back, re-baited and went back over. Carp no.1 was soon in the net. Lynx were running an Internet advert to get one of them ‘clicker things’ that Ben Affleck uses in the adverts and if you registered with Lynx, you received a free clicker. I was using this today to try to guesstimate my weight as I was going along, and my first fish was just over a pound, one press of the button registered my first ‘lb’.

I persevered on top of the shelf for the next 20 minutes or so, adding the odd fish, but keeping an eye on Sorry in case he started bagging. After about 45 minutes I had 3 fish for approx 3lb and Sorry had 4 fish for about 5lb.

I decided to go back over to the far side with a big Toss Pot full of micro pellets, with the intention of trying to force the fish to feed. I dropped in and waited and waited and waited. I got sick of waiting. I came back and dropped in on the deep rig, the float settled, dipped then buried. A carp of about 12 oz was soon in the net. 2nd drop in resulted in a carp of about 1¼ lb, so I added 2 to the clicker to account for 2lb. The clicker was working, after about 1½ hours I had about 7lb.

The middle of the match was pretty much uneventful, with me adding only the odd fish now and again and Sorry wasn’t faring any better. Russ was probably doing worse than both Sorry and I.

Edge of the platform

After about 3hours of the match, I was bringing in a fish and was about to net the fish when a cloud of mud appeared just of the corner of my 3ft by 2ft platform. I netted the fish, re-baited and dropped in at the corner of the platform, the float was about 12” away from my feet. Sorry shouted “are you winding me up?” but before he could finish the sentence, 6ft of white hydro was soon heading for the middle of the lake. An F1 carp of about 2lb (2 clicks) was soon in the landing net.

I went back over to the far side, caught a fish, then repeated the edge of the platform process. Another F1 (2 clicks) was soon in the net.

I managed to keep the odd fish coming over the duration of the match except for a very quite last 25 minutes of the match. Throughout the match fish had been topping at the aerator. I dropped in with the shallow rig and waited. The float buried, nothing. I dropped in again, the float buried, nothing. After about another 3 more of these, I sacked it as a bad job.

After 5 hours, I shouted for the match to finish. I had 5 fish from the edge of the platform, 2 fish down the middle, 3 on top of the shelf and the remainder came from the ‘mud line’.

The clicker and my weight prediction

All through the match I was adding what I thought to be the weight of the fish to the clicker therefore calculating my weight. At the all out, I looked at my clicker and assumed that I had about 25lb. Sorry was saying that he was not going to weigh, as he had not caught, so I started celebrating beating one of the resident superstars off the next peg. The scales had soon reached Xman, and Topshop was the best weight so far with 60lb 4oz. Xman weighed in 55lb. Sorry must have had a change of mind as he decided to weigh in and put 31lb on the scales, he had beaten me according to my clicker. I lifted my net out and thought that there must be more than 25lb there, but had I done enough to beat Sorry off the next peg? Yeah of course I had, I had over 32lb. The clicker is broken at the first attempt of using it. Russ Abbott on peg 24 weighed in 15lb, I had beaten both sides, which in fishing terms is sometimes ‘doing your best’. I should have had a quid with Sorry!

Topshop’s Weight

After the match and finished and all payouts had been paid, I passed the weighing sheets out so that people could have a look at where the weights had come from. Big Mark informed me that whoever had written the weights on the first sheet couldn’t add up as they added Topshop’s weights (41lb 12oz and 18lb 6oz) and came up with 60lb 4oz. Young Adam was writing the weights on the first board and his excuse was that he is studying sport at school and not maths and that he thought that there was 14oz to 1lb. Well, what do you think of our future leader?? It is up to the individual to check his/her weight.

My Quid’s

Panic weighed in 21lb, and although I had beaten him refused to give me a quid, as ‘we were on a different match’, so when I win, I still loose. Reg Melton had driven off without paying, he did admit to having tipped back about 20lb (and when he came past me, I hadn’t yet weighed in so told him that I had about 25lb). Poison Dwarf went without paying me, again, and Orc went without me giving him my quid.

Mal Bailey followed his terrific form at present and won the match, which followed a win at Woodlands yesterday, with 66lb. Alwin ‘Maggot’ Ingham was second with 65lb.

Official Result

1. Mal Bailey (Garbolino Elton), 66lb 9oz. Peg 61. Pellet over to the island.

2. Alwin Ingham (Bob-Co), 65lb 4oz. Peg 59. Maggot. Peg 60 was an empty peg (one of the pegs in the bag that were not drawn).

Joint 3rd, Dave Topham (Waterline Wibsey) and Robbie Minikin (Harrogate Angling Supplies) both 60lb 2oz (amended result)

5. Pete Rambow (Snr) (Diawa Cleveland), 59lb 5oz.

6. John Chapman (Garbolino Elton), 58lb 11oz.