Bream to the rescue on Elm

Peg 5, Elm, Fri Jan 31
Fridays is the day when the famous Old Gits match takes place at Decoy, and I was granted a place in this one, fished on Elm and Cedar. And the weather wasn't too bad - cold but not too much wind. Everything would have been better if I had managed to pick a peg farther down the lake, but peg 5 was my office for the day.Chris Saunders was on my right, and his recent results suggested that we would be either in a very good area or a very bad one - Chris doesn't do things by halves.

A cold, dull day. This was John Crouch, peg 6.

Halfway through the match and things looked bad...and stayed that way. Chris hadn't had a fish, and neither had John Crouch on my left...and neither had I. I'd wasted the first couple of hours on the bomb with bread and corn, and had a long look on the pole at 13 metres, with maggot. I think Shaun Coaten, on Chris' right, had a fish on pole, and Chris made up his waggler rod, with no success. Then I found a real fish!

YES!

With nothing doing farther out I looked in the margins with maggot. I doubt if anyone had caught a fish there, but my options had run out. However, first drop on a top two I had a bite. Honestly! Next drop, and my float went down again and a 2 lb bream came in. Chris saw this and also had a look in his margin, but after half an hour when neither of us caught anything he went out on a long pole.

So  that's  what  a  carp  looks like...

A minute later my float went down again - a 3 lb bream. A little later another 3 lb bream came in. Meanwhile John Crouch on my left had a carp on a bomb cast well across, and I saw that on his left someone else just past him also had a fish...then another. John had two more late carp; I had nothing more; Shaun had two or three late ones...and Chris ended with not a single fish. A day to be forgotten.

Winner on Elm lake - Keith Smith with
32 lb 7 oz - second overall on the day.

The weigh in.

Shaun won our four-peg end section with 21 lb 4 oz; I had 8 lb 6 oz, and John Crouch 15 lb 10 oz. The best weight was 32 lb 7 oz by Keith Smith, all on a bomb and corn I think, cast right across.

On Cedar, Peter Harrison won, also on a bomb - one carp on bread and the rest on maggot, for 42 lb 6 oz - the best weight of the day. I was happy enough, even if I am now definitely an Old Git..