Last weekend I was not able to write a blog due to lack of time and flying off to Munich on the Sunday. All the Germans were complaining how cold it was, and where was spring, sound familiar? On Tuesday it snowed all day and the highest temperature was -3C during the day, apparently on the same day in 2012 it was +24C....
Back to the Island (UK) and round 2 of the Acorn Pole only series, I had assumed after the last round that it would be much warmer by now, but it certainly wasn't. I travelled down with Glenn (lucky) Bailey who told me he had 5 numbers on the lottery the night before, and I wondered if his luck would continue at the drawbag. Arriving at the venue there was ice covering all of Paddock except for a little area between pegs 7 and 9. The fishing was obviously going to be hard, so a flyer, or a drawn on the little lake was going to be important. There were only 3 pegs left when I drew and I pulled out 22, which put me in C section on a bridge peg (yay!). My section ran down to peg 12 which itself has a lot of room, Mike Nicholls won the section from peg 12 last round, and this time venue expert Dave Wride was sat on it. Looked like I had an easy section with Matty Toomes on the other side of the bridge, Tony Rixon on 19 as well as Glen Clavert and Mark Bromsgrove to name but a few!
Mr Rixon was very helpful as he threw his ice breaker in my peg half dozen times and then I started the scooping process! Matty had a go with his landing net pole, and broke it, lol! On the other side of me, and slightly hungover, was Trigger, and he said he was looking forward to being on a blog tonight, as well as swearing a lot and calling Tony a few choice words for not lending him his ice breaker for ages! With my peg cleared to out in front and down to the bridge I began to get set up. Three rigs did me today, a 0.6grm pencil float for the deep water against the bridge, a 4x12 rig for across and up the shelf inside next to the bridge, and a 0.3grm rig for the same line in case it got windy (as it was forecast). An 18 PR412 to 0.10 did me for all my rigs. On the whistle I cupped a very small amount of micros and maggots at 8m next to the bridge, the same at 10m to the bridge, and a bigger amount right over across to the bridge. A ball of gbait was deposited in front of me, but I never had a bite over gbait today.
Starting at 8m it was a quiet start, and Matty was the first to hook a fish which was 4lb he said, but he lost it when it put the hook into his keepnet, we didn't laugh. Trig then had a carp and lost 1, meanwhile I was still waiting for a sign and was just about to go to 10m when I had a bite on single maggot. A 1lb common reversed its way into the landing net, yep it was fouled. I was soon out at 10m though as Matty had a couple of carp, I managed 1 small carp from here but then lost a fouler and had to change lines again. The 8m line produced a liner and no more and so I took a look across. This was a good move as I had 3 small carp fairly quickly, unfortunately 2 foulers followed and that meant I had to switch lines again.
I spent most of the match rotating the swims looking for an indication, and in the first 3 hours I found if I was to get a bite it tended to come first drop in. It was very hard though and I think I had lost as many as I had hooked, one was a 4lb fish and I could see it was hooked under the chin, after playing it carefully for a few minutes it came off, grrr! At this stage Trig was still on 1 carp, Matty had I thought a bit more than me and Tony had just a couple of fish, my peg then went stone dead, and for nearly two hours I had nothing, but then neither did Matty. I had starting throwing a few maggots close in next to the bridge, and this brought my only bite in this barren spell, a small F1. In the last hour I took an F1 from close in, 2 more small carp from right across (in two chucks) and then in the last 15 mins had 2 more next to the bridge. It was nice to end with a few fish for a change.
My section was won by Dave Wride with 22lb, and my fish went 19lb 10oz enough for 2nd and a pick up. I also picked a pound up off Matty as he weighed 13lb (Trig said it was the lowest weight off that peg this year and Matty was not impressed!). Tony had 11lb proving how hard the fishing had been today. Trig was in the next section and his 6 carp went 17lb+ he had 5 next to the empty pallet in the end.
Paddock fished very hard today, and I think it was peg 8 that had the top weight (see Chris Fox blog), but the small lake was once again very good, with Paul Faires winning with carp (same peg won section last time) and Glenn just missed out on a next peg battle with Tom Thick, Glenn having 36lb of skimmers, just ounces less than Tom.
Luckily for me today the wind was off my back and to my right, and it didn't get up that bad and at times I actually felt warm in the sun, well warmish!
Sod breaking the ice to go fishing. I've broken a handle that way too, as my dad keeps reminding me, seeing as it was his one. Not quite as hilarious as when slipped in the mud a year ago, falling flat on my mates roller, which he'd leant me, completely obliterating it!
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