First match since my lay-off, on Beastie.

 Peg 4, Beastie, Suinday, Dec 17
My first match after the op on my bladder and prostate (thanks for asking - everything is settling down, but it will probably be some weeks before it's near-perfect) and I really didn't want pegs 3 to 6 on Beastie, as they have not been fishing well. The pegs opposite, in the early 20s have been THE draw recently. But it was good to be back.

There were 12 on Beastie in this JV Christmas match, and ten on Horseshoe. And although the official forecast on the tele was 'mild' the forecasters wouldn't have though that if they'd been sitting in the teeth of the South-Westerly, which cut across my peg and that of Jim Regan on my right. I had to put on my padded Imax jacket before the start and it never came off.

Peg 4, with the wind cutting across through that gap on the left.

A lonesome F1
I started on a maggot feeder with two reds, casting three-quarters of the way across, then right across to the island, then halfway, then finally a quarter of the way out, which saw a 2 lb F1 nearly pull the rod in. But he was a lonesome F1, and no more came from there. So after about 90 minutes I had a look on the pole at 2+2, which brought a roach and then, when I veered towards the right with the wind, under the overhanging tree, some leaves and twigs. Almost every drop in near the tree saw me hook rubbish.

Jim Regan stayed on the hybrid feeder and took bream casting to the island.

Closer in on 2+2 a few more small roach came in, with slightly less rubbish, and when the wind became stronger, a 2 lb bream on 2+one-and-a-half. Meanwhile Jim, on my right on 5, had been casting a hybrid feeder with wafter to the aerator and had taken three or four fish - slow, certainly, and it seemed he was waiting anything up to half-an-hout for a bite.

I went out on a hybrid and red wafter to the reeds, which was a bit hairy, as some of them were leaning over the swim. Nothing, so I put on two red maggots and in came a small bream and another of 2 lb. Jim, though had a few more towards the end, mainly bream. I hadn seen Shaun Buddle, on my left, catch just one, but as we weighed in he hinted that he'd got a few.

That good carp made up more than half of
Chris Saunders' total of 15 lb 8 oz. taken on the pole.

The weigh-in
We had just the section of four to weigh in, starting with Chris Saunders, who had 15 lb 8 oz, all on a pole, which included a carp that was probably 8 lb. He had had a similar problem to me - wind gusting as the feeder was in the air, taking it off course (though a cast before the match had seen him foulhook a carp (on a bare hook), which came off halfway in!) In my case I had a problem getting the feeder right up to the reeds, which is where my two bream came from. 

Jim had 19 lb 9 and I assumed he would win the section, as my fish were a measly 8 lb 7 oz. But Shaun then said he had 20 lb, and he was right - 27 lb 13 oz of bream, all taken on two white maggots on a maggot feeder, cast right to the edge of the aerator. If he dropped short he couldn't get a bite, and he never had a single bite on red maggots.

Shaun Buddle won my section with 27 lb 13 oz of bream.

Then my mind sort of clicked into gear. Bream are the most finicky of feeders and on the Great Ouse Relief  Channel you often had to use coloured maggots, sometimes in a certain order, to get a bite. I once had a conversation with Boston angler Roy Jarvis (who won the Nartional on the Witham) and he said he had found the same thing - colour was very important. But it's so long since I targetted bream that I hadn't thought of that, while Shaun has been much more on the boil, deliberately getting a handful of whites in his reds so he can ring the changes. Lesson remembered.

The weights opposite were a bit better, and Eddie McIlroy won off 22 with 45 lb 2 oz. On Horseshoe the favoured pegs led, with Rob Goodson on 10 taking mainly carp, on the bottom, and a few F1s, totalling 72 lb 7 oz for the win. I ended two from last, but the club provided a prize for everyone, so I didn't end empty-handed. 

Marks out of ten
I give myself six for trying! At least I had a respectable catch in difficult conditions. Next match Wednesday on Pidley, for their Christmas match. Peg 33 on Magpie would suit me!

THE RESULTS

My section on Beastie

The rest of Beastie

Horseshoe