Several days before this one the weather was causing a stir as with the humid and breathless heat the storms were created and with that thunder and lightening. However by the Friday it looked like the Sunday match would escape this and all be well except for a flurry of rain . As it was it was a light rain be it for 5 minutes or more , and no adverse weather .
As we travelled to the Anchor Pub over at Hathern just outside Loughborough on the morning of the match we passed over several vantage points of the soar and could see an increased colour in the water which suggested we could be looking at a rise of several inches , it was.
Peg drawn with a little dismay as i had duties for the day and a 500 metre walk there and back plus an obstacle course , but i need the exercise and i don't mind !
Match started well as i caught small fish after the initial bombardment of 7 balls of 50/50 leam/Gros gardonnes laced with chop , dead pinkie and hemp .
The fish however did come in small and i did wonder if it was the right tactic as i noticed several anglers to my left go straight on the feeder and catch , a few lumps ! . Wish i had brought mine along , bad mistake !
However as the match progressed i caught many pairs of eyes and a whole string of species like bull head , minnow , gudgeon , bleak , perch , roach , skimmer , hybrid , chublette. With 2 hours to play and starting to claw back on fish with more bites showing disaster struck as my no.8 joint broke and i spent 3 dodgy minutes rescuing from the surface of the water as for a few heart stopping moments the top 7 and a bit of the no.8 drifted out from the bank . Thanks to Stan piecha to my right for words of encouragement in the rescue process.
On the match section to my left Sean Ashby was performing Tai-chi with his feeder rod as it looked to be his main line of attack which ultimately in the end did prove to be the match winning catch with a staggering 11 kilos ! several bream and skimmers.
Weighing in our section :
The man the myth the legend which is Stan the man Piecha .
Mr Gent with a fine brace of Perch for a section 2nd of 3,6 kilos
Mr .Oakes with a section win of 6,6 kilos
I finished 3rd in section with 2,5 kilos and needed the bonus fish , lost the one decent fish a bream on the flat float so i could have competed on the day but made a bad mistake of not setting up a feeder , silly mistake.
Back in the Anchor and the Joff-Miester handed out the days spoils to the section winners . MrOakes collecting his for our section.
The days master angler with an incredible 11 kilos was Sean Ashby Tai chi master , i reckon this bloke can fish a bit !
Bring on the next round !
