Les said that the bream had been showing well on the ‘resi’ and I was looking forward to this one as I haven’t fished the tip for ages. Apparently pegs in the forties were the ones to draw and I was well chuffed when I drew peg 41. I got to my peg and while I was setting up got two wet feet when I waded in too far and both my boots filled up with water. Was this an omen? I hoped not.
I set up my 12 ft 6 in Drennan Stillwater feeder rod with a 1 oz tip and a Drennan groundbait feeder with a 0.12 mm bottom and Kamasan B611 size 18 at the business end. I mixed up some Van Den Eynde Gold Pro bream groundbait and added some Brasem and some fishmeal and was ready for the off. On the whistle I baited up with two red maggots and cast out to about thirty yards. Word soon came down that Mark Leahy had caught three bream in his first three chucks, then the two pegs to my left started catching and I waited for my first bite. After an hour and no bites I started to worry. Mike Hosgood on my left had several bream and was fishing a lot further out than me at about 60 yards. The guy to his left also had half a dozen slabs and was fishing at about the same distance as me so I stuck with it.
After a couple of hours my mate Andy turned up and reported that the anglers on the dam wall were struggling, Janders was pegged on the dam so it was all still to play for as far as the pound sidebet was concerned. With three hours gone I still hadn’t caught and as the anglers to my left were all still catching I unclipped and went further out to about forty yards. Still no bites and I was resigned to blanking. Alan ‘Picky’ Gage walked up and said that he was blanking so at least that pound was safe for now. He also said that the two anglers to my right both had six bream apiece so I was being right royally battered.
With two hours to go the tip finally went round and I netted a nice slab, I would like to report that they moved in and I bagged for the remainder of the match but it turned out to be my only fish. After quickly packing up the scales arrived and Les said that Mark Leahy had caught 21 bream for just under 108lb, a stunning weight. The other three anglers in that section all weighed 60lb plus. My single fish weighed 6lb 2oz and then the two anglers to my right weighed 56lb and 33lb so I had been stuffed out of sight, not a good day at the office!
Picky had dry netted so at least I could collect my pound off him, or I would have done if he hadn’t mysteriously disappeared. The dam wall section hadn’t fished as well although Janders beat me with two bream for 11lb 8oz so another nugget bit the dust.
Next week we’re back at Perry St so lets hope for a better day then, it can’t get any worse – can it?
