I ought to be taking over from Mystic Meg - I said I'd like peg 7, 8 or 9 for the JV match on Six-Island, and it was won on 8, with 7 and 9 not pegged. That's two weeks in a row for me - The New Mystic Mac. Think it suits me?
The forecasters didn't get it right, though. Before I left home I checked the local weather online, and it said Wind South moving round to SW. In fact when I got to peg 4, which faces South, the wind was roughly there, but even as we tackle up it moved round to South-East. Now fish like a wind with South in it about as much as Ed Milliband likes bacon in his sandwiches, and this cool South-Easterly kept weights down.
The temperature was also much less than forecast - 14 degrees feeling like 10 was the forecast; it was more like 6 feeling like 2. But at least for some of the time I had a Raspberry Ripple, thanks to the ever-increasing wind.
I had looked on in horror at the draw as all the pegs I fancied came out of the bag, and my name didn't. I just hoped I wouldn't get 22 again, and mercifully it went to Peter Spriggs, last out of the bag. My peg 4 can be good, but not, I fancy, as good in cold weather is in the heat of Summer. However, I was happy enough. It has an island at about 11 metres, but I didn't fish there as presentation would have been difficult in the wind, and I've never had much there in the past.
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| A fish plays John Garner - Mystic Mac says it was foulhooked! |
I put out a quivertip rod with a bomb at the start because I hadn't finished getting my stuff together. A 1 lb F1 came on bread after about five minutes, by which time John Garner, on peg 17 to my right, had been playing a fish for about four minutes, hooked in the margins. I couldn't resist changing to the pole, and did that as soon as the F1 was in my net. John's fish turned out to be foulhooked, but he got it in.
I started at 2+2 and immediately saw one or two tiny touches, but it took 20 minutes to get a 2 lb mirror on corn over micros. I had primed a little cut-out in the right margin with corn, which was the deepest spot in my swim, and when no more fish came I had a look there. I remembered that last season in this margin swim I had a lot of strange bites on corn which I missed - all of them. And it happened again now - obviously liners. However I hit one, which turned out to be a foulhooked 3 lb mirror which took my hollow 13 elastic round the corner, but somehow or other remained attached until I netted it..
No more from that swim and that was the story of the day for me. John hit occasional fish, some of which were foulhooked and came off, and I saw him switching from the margins and the long pole, so obviously he couldn't get fish feeding properly. I then rotated from the 2+2 line to that right margin (which never did produce another fish), then to the platform to my left (where I also blanked) and finally to the closer left margin, where my first drop with cat meat saw a big bite which I completely missed. But it gave me hope.
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| Peter Spriggs was third from my bogey peg 22. |
Cat meat on the 2+2 produced a foulhooked 4 lb mirror, and a few roach and a 3 lb F1 on maggot, and as I started top get touches in the left margin, about a metre from the bank, I fished mainly there for the last half of the match, getting little runs of liners now and then, and the odd fish.
For or five nice plump F1s around 3 lb took mussel, corn or cat meat - there was no pattern, and I lost about three fish which must have been foulhooked, I think. Then, no more than a minute from the end, mussel saw me catch my best fish, an 8 lb mirror. I got the feeling that they fish were more interested in the bigger baits, but not really hungry.
On my left Mike Rawson, now well recovered from his stroke and very welcome back, stayed on a feeder and towards the end started catching the occasional fish. Meanwhile John Garner had been hooking and losing the odd one, but he clearly had more than I did.
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| John Garner couldn't help foulhooking some very big fish which came off. He ended fifth with 44 lb 10 oz. |
The weights were fairly even all round, with only two having less than 20 lb. Neil Pass on peg 8 won with 61 lb 15 oz, and like everyone else had had to scrape around his swims to get that weight together. Round on 14 Trevor Cousins had 59 lb 12 oz for second. He took his first four fish on pole-fished bread off bottom - I had intended to try that but the strong head wind didn't allow me to do that with any confidence. Trevor had back wind, and at one point felt warm enough to take a jacket off!!
Peter Spriggs, on my bogey peg 22, was third with 50 lb 3 oz, mainly on cat meat with Peter Harrison again framing for the umpteenth match in a row, also on cat meat. I ended with 35 lb 9 oz, which was sixth out of 12, and I was happy with that. My next match is Sunday on Willows, a lake I like because it has some proper margins. I don't know which pegs are being fished, so my crystal ball will stay firmly in its pouch.
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| Second place for Trevor Cousins from peg 14. |
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| The winner - Neil Pass with some cracking carp from peg 8. |
THE RESULT
4 Mac Campbell 35 lb 9 oz
6 Mike Rawson 29 lb 4 oz
8 Neil Pass 61 lb 15 oz 1st
10 Bob Barrett DNW
12 Shaun Buddle 20 lb 9 oz
14 Trevor Cousins 59 lb 12 oz 2nd
17 John Garner 44 lb 10 oz
18 Martin Parker 12 lb 9 oz
20 Peter Harrison 47 lb 3 oz 4th
22 Peter Spriggs 50 lb 3 oz 3rd
25 John Smith 32 lb 6 oz
A good blog mac thank you Peter Barnes
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