Sunday 29th April 2007

The Oak Lakes, Sessay.

I arrived in time to sort the rabble out and by the time of the draw, there were 62 of us on the match.

Becky, the tackle shop helper, asked me, why do I call Haircut, ‘Haircut’ and also, who was he? I said to her that she will know when he arrives?

About 10 minutes later, there was a loud shout ‘hey up Mick, how’s it hanging?’. I said to Becky, ‘Haircut is here’. She asked him why do they call you haircut. I asked him to remove his hat. Becky responded by saying ‘do they cut round a bowl when they do your hair?. Laugh?, I pissed myself.

Anyways, back to the match. I put my hand in the draw bag and snared peg 25. I wasn’t unhappy, considering that I framed off peg 26 last week. I arrived at my peg to find that I had Meatcutter Bailey on peg 26, Ian Bowman on peg 27 and Nigel Ward (I think) to my left on peg 24. I set up 3 rigs as follows:

Rig one was the usual DC6 float taking .2g (shotted up with no. 8 and 9 Preston Stotz). The rig line was Preston Powerline .11 diameter with the usual Hoop incorporating a size 18 Gamakatsu Pellet eyed hook. I plumbed up across to the farside and found 18” of depth.

Rig two, was a standard rig, in terms of this rig didn’t incorporate the Hoop, but was set up with the same float as above, with the difference being the hook (a size 16 Preston PR23) and the rig line, Maver Genesis .12 dia. Again, I plumbed up across (to ensure that the depths were the same, due to stretch factors in fishing line, you could be fishing at slightly differing depths).

My third and final rig was a deep rig to fish down the middle. This incorporated a .4g Garbolino DC6 float. I set this up on .16 Ultima Power Plus line direct to a size 14 Preston PR23 hook. I plumbed up down the middle to find that I had 5ft of depth. For this rig, I was slightly over-gunned by using the Pink Drennan Hollow core elastic. The reason for this was that I was expecting to catch a couple of barbel, and this elastic will help me to get them under control a little bit quicker/easier.

For bait, I had some meat and hemp left over from yesterday, some corn and some pellets (micro pellets for feed and 4mm pellets for the hook). I quickly struck up a quid with both Meatcutter and Wardy. I shouted to Bowie, that I wasn’t having a quid with him as he is too much of a superstar.

At the all in, I put a small Garbolino pot full of meat and hemp down the middle. I baited up the hoop rig with pellet and put some micro pellets in a Toss pot and went over to the far side. I tipped the bait in and waited, and waited. Usually, I have managed to snare a fish before now.

After about 10 minutes, the float buried, I struck in anticipation. A gudgeon about 1 oz, lept from the water and shed the hook. Not a good sign at all.

I re-baited, put some more pellets in the tosspot and went back to the far side. I tipped the bait in and waited. After about 5 minutes, the float buried. Another gudgeon. Blinking Eck!!!!

I continued in this vain for the next 20 minutes or so, whilst I waited for the fish to gain in confidence down the middle. I managed to snare one little carp.

I put some meat in a tosspot and baited up the deep rig. I dropped in and waited. Too long!!! after about 10 minutes, the float buried and a carp of about 2lb was going mental. I managed to get it into the keepnet after a brief tussle.

Meatcutter on the next peg, was getting the odd fish by fishing meat across to the far side. Wardy on the next peg, the otherside, was fairing about as well as I was. Not good.

Over the remainder of the match, I struggled for bites. I was getting liners on the deep rig and if I came shallow, I couldn't get an indication. I tried to feed to get them shallow, but nothing would work.

By the end of the match, I could only muster 10lb. Wardy had 11lb, whilst Meatcutter weighed in 54lb. I came away with more questions than answers. I didn't even go to the pub for the after match analysis. I was gutted, how can things go so wrong. I caught on meat last week, Meatcutter caught on meat this week. Where had I gone wrong.

When I think about it, there was no fish infront of me. Wardy had 11lb and the bloke who was next to him, to him, tipped back about 4 fish.

Oh well, there is always next week, if I end up going. Can some one give me a call to ensure that I haven't slashed my wrists.

There is one saving grace, for the 2nd week running I have won the 'guess the winning weight' contest and the pounds that go with it. I had a weight of 82lb 4oz and Minty Whittaker won the match with 82lb 7oz.

Although I am handing a quid over to Chappy, I can afford it with the quids that keep coming my way from the Guess The Weight comp.

Tightlines.

Big Pellet.