No post for a bit due to not going fishing, ( circumstances beyond my control ) sorry about that but normal service is now resumed! You can tell I haven't blogged for a bit because I keep forgetting to take the camera! Oops! Words will just have to paint the pictures for me! ( I hope I don't bore you to tears! ) Having walked the bank last week, and with Andover still leading the league, I was looking forward to it especially having not going out for a bit. The canal around Bedwyn had fished well the previous round, with some good weights, just a couple of sections seemed to be fishing hard. I had prepped my gear, tied numerous rigs, and loads of hook lengths, all systems go.
At the draw Barry had pulled peg 4, all the team on 4 just different sections, A4, B4 etc. I had F4, in a section known as the Beeches, it had fished well the previous week, with the winner coming from this section, catching some sizable perch, and with good back up weights of small fish. When I got to my peg I was next door to the match winning peg from the previous round, I had reeds at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock on the far bank, with a gap in between that went back to metal piling's. Info from the John who was in this section last week was that it would be a fish race, apart from the end peg flier. Plumbing up I found no depth at the piling's, I had 18" at the reeds at 2 o'clock and 2ft at the 10 o'clock reed swim, both theses swims were at 14.5m. These 2 swims I was going to fish positively with chopped worm and caster, hoping that some of the big perch in the area would make an appearance! I set up an Image dibber on 0.10 straight through to a 611-16,to a nice soft pink hollow elastic. I had two other swims, one at 5m in front of me which was for the punch, a Garbolino 0.4 gram DS9, 0.9 to 0.7, 511-22 to a 1-2 elastic, and a squatt and ground bait line at 11.5m at 10 o'clock so to speak, a 0.3 gram Preston classic, 0.9 to 0.7 511-22, to a 3 elastic.
At the all in I fed a small pot of liquidized bread at 5m, 3 balls of ground bait laced with squatt and a few caster at 11.5m and both the two reed swims got half a pot of chopped worm and caster, I was going to have regular looks on the reed swims all day so I decided to feed it from the off. In on the punch line, bites straight away from small roach, but it was not as quick as I was hoping, a couple of bites and then nothing for a few minutes, I soon realized what the problem was when I had strike from a pike! After a few bite less minutes I re-fed and left it, by this time either side of me were catching a lot quicker than I was. A quick look on the reed swims produced a couple of small perch, so I fed those again and went onto the squatt line. This proved to be crucial as I started catching very quickly, catching up the two anglers either side, I was loose feeding squatt regularly and getting a bite a chuck. After 45minutes I fed a small ball of ground bait and had a quick look on the other lines.
I had a look on the 5m punch line, whilst I had a few fish it was nowhere near as quick as the squatt line, even so I kept feeding just in case that pike showed up on the squatt line! Over to the reed swims, I had half a dozen 2 oz perch, before it went quiet, not the size I was hoping for but not to be sniffed at. I re-fed these 2 swims and went back onto the 11.5m squatt line. The squatt line was still fishing well and I caught regularly for the next hour before this slowed a little, I gave it a couple more balls of ground bait before having a look at the reed swims. Just over half the match had gone and I was doing ok, I think I was still behind those either side of me but only just. First put in on the 10 o'clock reed swim resulted in a small perch, I shipped back out with another half a worm on and the float buried, and this time I was met with something a lot bigger. Playing it carefully I slipped the net under a perch of just over the pound, back out again and the next bite resulted in a perch of similar size, it is funny how they come along in two's! The chap to my right had just landed a big perch to, I was now well up in the section, only a couple of small perch off the other reed swim so I re-fed and went back onto the squatt line.
I was still getting regular bites off the squatt line, putting a few fish in the net, I kept having regular looks on the reed swims but this only resulted in small perch, I kept feeding hoping for another couple of big uns! The chap to my right had another couple of big perch, putting me second in section as far as I could tell. I kept swapping between the squatt line and the two reed swims for the rest of the match, a minute before the all out I hooked a lump on the squatt line, I played it carefully shouting fish on at the whistle, a couple of minutes later I finally saw it, a 5lb Pike, I was hoping for another big perch! I pulled for a break and that was that. At the scales I weighed in 8lb 11oz for second in section, very pleasing for my first match for a while. The chap to my right won the section and finished second overall, the peg is the proverbial flier! Another great team performance saw us third in the match, still first in the league overall with one round left, looking good!
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