Thursday, 16 August 2012

Thursday 16/08/2012 - Bathampton AA Over 55's and Disabled - Withy Pool

I have missed a few of the matches on Withy Pool due to family commitments. As they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I was looking forward to today’s match, especially as a warm dry day was forecast.

Even though we had 24 fishing there were a few regulars missing, including a few of the disabled which meant a greater chance of drawing on one. In to the cloth bag and out comes peg 69 – yep a disabled peg, so a day of physical discomfort was in store. I was joined by Mike Keys on peg 68 and Terry Bruton peg 70.

I set up similar rigs as yesterday, except I planned to fish longer at 11.5 metres (the longest this year) and slightly further out in the RH margin so the paste floats were heavier at 0.5 grams and 0.3 gram for the margin.

I started by feeding a big pot of CW&C with a smidgen of wetted micro out at 11.5 metres and started to lose feed some caster on the Ronnie line whilst fishing a worm on the hook at 11.5 metres. It all started well catching a few small Skimmers and three decent specimens that was until the tiny Perch moved in. It must be the time of year, coinciding with the fry hatch I guess making them more active and hungry. In any case I rather leave for Darren Gillman on the Canal so I came in on the Ronnie line with single caster. It wasn’t until I shallowed up to two foot that I started to catch a few Rudd and then the Perch moved in again. So I decided to mix up some GB and lace with casters and fed four big balls out on the 11.5 metre line. Going over it with worm produced the same small Perch. I tried double caster, but the same again. Out with the paste and I had another decent Skimmer and lost a foul Carp. The wind had picked up making presentation out long frustratingly impossible. So with aching knees due to the restricted room on these platforms I had to get up and have a walk round. A few Skimmers and Carp had been caught around the Lake, back for a banana and more leg torture. This time I decided to pack up the long pole and concentrate the rest of the match in the margin (feeling a bit defeated) because of the ever increasing wind which had blown over the pole roller luckily with no damage. John Smith had the same but broke his number six section. I fished the paste in about three foot of water lightly feeding hard 4’s over the top. I was amazed when the float dipped and I was into my first Carp. I stayed on this for the rest of the match landing another six Carp to 15lb, losing three foul hookers.

My Silvers weighed 13lb 5oz and when combined with my Carp I had a match winning total of 76lb 7oz.

The Silvers was won by Rich Coles (pictured right with the match winner) from peg 42 with 26lb 11oz. Rich caught the majority of his fish on the CW&C fished at 10 metres. This included three Eels that weighed 10lb with one Eel estimated to be pushing the 5lb mark, a PB for Rich – never too old.

Finally, as we are unlikely to hear it from Terry Bruton I have to mention that he was battered both sides today sandwiched between 1st and Brian Sheppard 5th and Terry - DNW.

Full Result:

1.      Mike Nicholls 76-07-0 peg 69
2.      Chris Rolfe 59-02-0 peg 54
3.      Ray Bazeley 39-06-0 peg 66
4.      Paul Haines 32-14-0 peg 60
5.      Brian Sheppard 31-0-0 peg 71
6.      Bob Feltham 29-12-0 peg 46

Top Silvers:

1.      Rich Coles 26-11-0 peg 42
2.      John Bradford 15-06-0 peg 48
3.      Dave Gillard 13-06-0 peg 59
4.      Mike Nicholls 13-05-0 peg 69

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