Thursdays 17/04/08 Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Withy Pool

What a difference a day makes, back to winter with a bitterly cold 25 mph Easterly wind blowing. Another good turn out. I drew peg 56, which is just at the back of the furthest most island. Not too disappointed with this draw, but would have preferred to have been out on the main body of the lake for silvers fishing. Started at 7 metres with 4mm expander over ground bait and caught small 4 oz Skimmers for two hours, after which the Skimmers did a disappearing act and on came the Ronnie Roach. So I decided to switch to caster on a new line. I stayed on this to the end catching some quality Ronnies to 12oz until the end.

I weighed 25lb 6oz for top in the silvers, just pipping John Bradford by exactly 2lb! This also gave me joint fifth overall and a pick up of £25 (not bad for a £5 bet).

Nice to see my good mate Terry Bruton (pictured top right with scale perfect Common) back in form. Terry won the match with ease (practice makes perfect) from peg 50 with 98lb 10oz of quality carp. Terry fish hard 10mm drilled pellet over loose fed 8mm hard pellet out to the end of the island, down the shelf and also down the shelf of the right hand margin.

Full Result:

1. Terry Bruton 98-10-0 peg 50
2. Pete "The Meat" Bryer 50-0-0 peg 68
3. Pete Philips 42-0-0 peg 43
4. Phil Coulam 34-12-0 peg 47
5. Mike Nicholls 25-06-0 peg 56
5. Terry Church 25-06-0 peg 51

Top silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 25-06-0 peg 56
2. John Bradford 23-06-0 peg 61