Eighty thirty and everyone’s ready for the round three draw. The team draw was made about 10 minutes earlier and throws up some interesting peg partnerships.
“Roger” I say “you draw peg 10 again and I’ll give you a tenner!”
Draw commences – peg 5 comes out for me followed by peg 6 for my assistant Eric the Viking. Step forward the rest – almost. An apparition appears at the draw – only the top half of Graham is visible as he pulls out peg 21 (the worst peg on the pond – MB). Everyone else is hoping to be in the hot areas as Martin advises the carp have still been rampant all week around the deeps of 16, 17, 18 and 22. Glen pulls out 22, Secret Squirrel has 16, Gary 17 and the ever vocal Byron is on 18. Unfortunately nobody told the carp to stay put as a goodly number appeared to have moved up the pond, as results will show, and were sat in numbers in front of 12, 13 and some in 14. A few had stopped off for a breather in front of peg 3, home for the day for that well known avid supporter of Man United and High Priest of Knacker Tapping, Dave “Knacker Tapper” Parker.
Roger draws peg 10.
The top half of Graham heaves his tackle round to peg 21 and then disappears completely. With no sun to offer any illumination from his head worry starts to set in but we can hear him (boy – can we hear him!!) so all must be well. And he has Byron to his left to provide additional vocal support (as if he needed it!).
Roger sits down disconsolately on peg 10 but is cheered by a few things – one: all his rigs are readied and he does not even need to plumb up, two: he knows the peg intimately (so he’s better off than the rest of us) and three: he’s already a tenner to the good (as he constantly reminded me all day!!).
A light breeze caresses the water in front of peg 28, flirts with the surface from 1 to 7 but looks like it’s b……….g up a few on the far side!!
Kick-off 10 o’clock. Several bombs and other ledgering accoutrements hit the water in various places and the one in peg 22 is almost immediately withdrawn as Glen bags his first carp of the day, the first of three he took in the opening 30 minutes. Paul Brown was also into a fish on bomb and pellet on peg 13. I whacked out a pellet feeder and experienced some huge liners, including one that pulled the tip round nearly two foot and parked it there - but no fish!!! A few silvers coming out around the place and the odd carp. Switch to bomb and pellet and second chuck snaffled a carp but a lot of not much at all is happening. Stick it out for about an hour and a half (too long) and try the long pole line (yes, a proper long pole line at 14 metres) with corn and pellet. It appears my float has been specifically trained to sit motionless!
Paul still catching carp, DP has three on bomb and meat and is now catching carp on the pole and Thomson Senior, on peg 12, is also getting in on the act. Roger (peg 10 – if you weren’t aware) applauds every fish he lands. I alternate between bomb at distance and caster on a 7 metre line, snaffle two more carp on the bomb and about 100 roach (for all of 9lbs!!!!!!!) on caster.
Time called at 3 PM but this time I can’t manage a last gasp carp.
Time for the weigh in.
“Has it been windy up this end?” asks Craig, innocently (yeah!).
Winner on the day (and making a habit of it!!) was Paul Brown on peg 13 with an all carp net of 58lbs plus. Paul also won B section. Glen on 22 has managed 55lbs plus and takes A section. Second in A and third on the day is Mr Knacker Tapper with over 44lbs, just six ounces in front of Thomson Senior who took second spot in B section. C section was won by Andy Scott (also securing his second section win) with over 24lbs from peg 14. Second in C section was Craig with an all silvers net of 14lbs 8oz. Byron let himself down – catching carp of all things (horrible brown things) – in a net just short of 26lbs that did contain 17lbs plus of silvers (maybe he just got tired catching all them little fish).
We have an early leader in the series in Paul Brown who has amassed over 130lbs of carp in the first three matches – not bad for winter fishing! Team winners on the day were Paul, Glen AND ROGER!!!!!!! Well done lads – Roger, you CAN win something from peg 10!!
Here’s to the next match.
Now, a word of caution; I understand that camouflage clothing is becoming very popular for match anglers these days but it does have its downsides. A casually discarded camouflage jacket can be very hard to spot and could be forgotten and maybe lost forever! I would suggest that if we do own such items of clothing that we maybe keep a small checklist in the car so we can make sure we have everything on board before we go home! Keep it safe!!
PS: Roger won’t be with us on the next match as he has to have an operation on his back. We all wish him a speedy recovery. He has asked, however, that peg 10 be removed from all future draws until such times as he returns and can once more take up his rightful place on his very own peg (he has p….d around the area so it is now well and truly scent marked!!)
Anyone wishing to know how he is progressing will be greeted with “Keep tha noase outa ma business, idiot” – so now you know!!!
Cheers Des
