There was another match planned on pegs 1-8 so the café bank was out, but with the wind blowing into the corner of 13 we decided to fish from peg 12 along the dam wall and across the top leaving the shallows for someone who requested a coaching session from one of the Alders Staff.
I collected all the monies and paid the peg fees for the day and set about organising the draw. There were 12 in attendance and a lot of new faces to me. However, the fancied pegs were 12 Terry Lancaster and 15 Trevor Price with the wind blowing into them. Pete Archer had secured a good shallow peg which would suit his style. I drew peg 21, the tree peg and a good area. I had someone (Sorry cannot remember your name) on 20 but no one on 22.
I set up my usual 2+2 rigs and noticed on plumbing up the it dropped off around 6inches past my pole tip so hastily set up another rig to fish slightly further out if required. I also set up a shallow rig in case the fish came up in the water as they sometimes do.
At the all in I threw a dozen grains out to 2+2 and did not have to wait long for my first bite. A couple of fish came to the 2+2 line before it went quiet for around 10 minutes. A look with the deeper rig and another section added saw me getting into a rhythm, although I was cursing the amount of foul hookers and lost fish from this line, it was still more productive than the 2+2 line. Everyone was catching well and although I was getting 2lb with the odd 3lber, I was regularly putting fish in the net.
After 2 hours I reckoned on about 70lb and thought I could keep them coming. Another "iffy" spell saw a change from a bulk shotted rig to a slower strung out rig which again brought a response. It was a case of get your head down and keep going. I was picking off odd fish, then have to make a change, be it rig or shotting pattern. I did try a shallow rig for one fish but it did not feel right.
With 4 hours gone I was sitting on 52 fish and thought I had around 140lb. I could see Trevor's landing net going back and forth so knew he was catching. The pegs to my left were catching but not as quick. My neighbour on 20 was now getting some paste fish down the edge and was "in the zone". It would be close at the end between us. Pete Archer was bagging on the shallow line and getting plenty of fish to come to his pellet hook-baits, Terry had started well but dropped off the pace as the match wore on.
It was at this point that I should have changed tactics and gone down the edge, a lesson learned today. I thought about and never did it. As someone once said to me about fishing" if you think it do it" and I didn't.
Instead I tried to make a dying peg work until the end, I still caught a few but knew it was wrong. I was still foul hooking fish and losing a few off the hook but still odd fish were coming in.
Overall
1st Trevor Price Peg 15 295-09 Maggot
2nd Pete Archer Peg 18 200-11 Pellet
3rd Keith Ashby Peg 21 160-02 Corn
4th xxxxxxxxxx Peg 20 149-06 Paste
5th Terry Lancaster Peg 12 140-05 Maggot
Yet again the lake had fished well. The decision to put peg 15 in was justified, as when the wind blows in the fish tend to follow. My match left me frustrated, I had enough fish on the hook to do 200+ but could not keep them on. Still I was third and had a days fishing in good company. Roll on next week.
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