I picked Alvin up and got to the pond expecting it to be blowing hard but it wasn’t too bad. There were the usual six of us and I pulled peg 17 out of the draw bag which I was chuffed with as it’s a peg that’s been kind to me in the past. I mixed up a little groundbait (Sensas Roach) and set up the usual whip rig. After the last Sunday match I decided to also set up a rig to fish for eels. With no worm I was going to dump a load of caster and dead maggot at 11.5 metres and fish over it in the last hour if the whip line slowed.
I had quite a bit of space with the only other angler on my bank being Alvin, Fieldy, Justin (who hadn’t turned up yet) and Moses were all opposite around the far corner and Rob was on peg 4. Rob signalled the start with a single toot of his whistle (oo-er missus!) and we were off. I cupped in my eel feed on the long line before tossing in a nugget of groundbait and flicking the whip rig out. I was loose feeding little and often (far less than I did last match) and was soon into roach and perch.
I was catching pretty well although I did suffer a spell of bumping some better roach, after the first hour I had 60 fish (which was better than the last evening match) and I’d also netted a perch of about 8oz. The second hour was pretty much the same although I kept trying caster and would get the odd better roach or rudd. I’d nick a couple of fish on caster before going back to maggot and after the second hour I had over 100 fish. Steve Hurford turned up again and we remembered the good old days and put the world to rights. Hurf reckoned I was catching quicker than Fieldy and I hoped he was right. While he was there I had a couple of fish that dropped off as I was swinging them in and they rolled back into the water (this happened four or five times during the match).
As the light started to fail I was struggling to see the float tip and Hurf told me to try his glasses, the difference was staggering and I think I might need a trip to the opticians soon! The last hour was steady although I kept trying caster for longer periods but still ended up with 156 fish. In the last evening match I had 110 for 7lb 10oz so I was hoping I had a bit more than that this time. Just as I was finishing packing up, Alvin turned up and asked if I’d struggled like he had! He had still found two decent perch though and knowing Alvin, his idea of struggling is a lot different than most.
I caught up with the scales at Moses, Robin had weighed 4lb 2oz, Fieldy had 7lb 13oz (which I thought I’d be close to), Justin didn’t weigh in again (but he does keep turning up late!) and then Moses weighed 9lb 7oz and the venue expert was back on form. As I pulled my net out I thought I might be close to Moses, the needle flickered between 9lb 6oz and 9lb 8oz and Alvin eventually called it at 9lb 7oz and I was left cussing those fish that had dropped off. I still thought Alvin might push us down to joint second but for once Alvin was close to his estimate and weighed 5lb 14oz. So me and Moses had jointly won!
We picked up £25 each and Fieldy was third, Alvin tossed his pound coin to see who would take it, I called heads and of course it was tails – typical! So after three matches and dropping the worst result, Alvin and Fieldy lead the way with 2 points.
1 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 9lb 7oz
1 – Moses Holbrook (Ilminster) – 9lb 7oz
3 – Graham Field (Taunton) – 7lb 13oz
Still, it was nice to get back to winning ways, lets hope I can keep it up for Perry St on Sunday.
