I was supposed to meet Les and the others at Donyatt village hall at 7:45 and when I got there 5 minutes late and they’d gone I knew it was going to be one of those days. I made my way there after phoning Chris (who was in Belgium!) for directions and was in a foul mood. After calling Les and Janders all the names under the sun, I really wasn’t in the mood. I drew peg 5 which was next to where I was last time and although that end of the pond hadn’t fished then, there were loads of carp moving and my mood lightened somewhat.
I had venue expert Tommy Lee on my left and Picky on my right who was after revenge after I’d taken £1’s off him the last few times we’d fished together. I set up a 0.4 gram rig for fishing at 3 metres over chopped worm and caster and a little Trabucco float for against the island and up in the water. On the whistle I cupped in some choppie on the shorter line and soft micro pellet and corn by the island at 11.5 metres. I started on the 3 metre line with maggot on the hook and was surprised when I didn’t catch straight away, last time there were hoards of small silvers.
It soon became apparent that nobody was catching and it looked like being a grueller, I did hook a small roach which dropped off before giving the short line up as a bad job. Over by the island wasn’t any better and after an hour I was still blanking, as were many others. Picky had caught four roach and his squid was safe for now. I eventually hooked a small carp on corn only for it to come off on the way in and things were looking bleak. I then foulhooked a bigger carp briefly before that too came off!
With half the match gone nobody was catching much even though there were still plenty of carp moving about. I rotated my lines and even fed another line by the island in front of me at 9 metres. After resting it for a bit I went over with corn on the hook and had a great bite which I missed. After another biteless half an hour I tried maggot on the same line and hooked a carp of around 3lb and did all the hard work getting it away from the lilies when the poxy hook pulled out! I did get two perch for about 12oz and a couple of tiny roach. To be honest I just wanted the match to end, Picky landed a decent foulhooked carp and the early pegs were getting a few without really bagging.
Janders had landed a couple of better carp and it looked like I would be losing a pound to him as well. There were carp slurping in the lily pads to my right and I kept trying pellet but they just weren’t interested. I even flirted with pellet up in the water at 11 metres but this was pointless as well. I ended up laying the rig on the pads with the pellet just dangling over the edge and right on the whistle had a carp about a pound and a quarter. I didn’t bother weighing (I probably had around 2lb) and paid Janders and Picky their pounds. I don’t know who won either as I didn’t hang around for the weigh in. Dave Abrams had 2lb and Janders had six carp for 8lb dead and I reckoned he’d frame with that. A really bad day at the office.
Next week is the Chris Patton memorial on the resi which I won last year and I would dearly love to do well in again, bet I don’t!
