I was going to pass the drawing duty over to someone else, but in the end took the responsibility and drew 17, which is a good draw (how did that happen!!!). It put Paul Faiers on 131, Glenn Calvert on 100, myself on 70, Mark Broomsgrove on 51 and Rich A'Herne on 19 - we'd be disappointed not to be top three from that draw.
After the usual quick discussion and the confiscation of Paul's silvers rigs and bait..... off we went to our pegs. I expected to catch a few skimmers and carp from my peg, without having to revert to scratching round for bits. The dedicated silvers wagglers stayed in the bag and two 12' Daiwa Tournaments set up, one with a Middy Fat Boy waggler, 4lb maxima and 0.16 hooklength, finished off with a 18 PR16 and a band, I like to fish corn or meat by pulling the band into it. The other with a Drake waggler, 0.14 hooklength and a 20 LWG, for maggot or caster.
4 topkits, a 0.3g silvers rig, No6 elastic, 0.10 and a 20 Guru F1, a 0.4g rig 0.12 with 16 F1, same rig but with 0.14 - just in case and finally a full blown carp rig, Malman Roob, with 0.16 hooklength and 16 LWG, that really was an optimistic set up, but I was ready with 25 minutes to go, so why not.
Bait tray was maggot and pinkie, dead and alive, corn, caster and various bits of cubed or punched meat. A simple GB, Tom Thicks Intelligent and some Sonubaits F1 Green to darken it. Two balls of this with caster in at 14m on the all in, then straight out wit the waggler and corn, I was really expecting some indications and bites on this, but after 20 minutes of stationary float, I did have a look over the GB and start up a loose fed caster line towards the rope that divides 70 from 69.
The caster line fishing the waggler at 20m was best for the next 40 minutes or so, as I had a quick burst of 4 perch from 6oz to 2lb. It was typical winter fishing after that, I could describe each switch of line, each observation of what was happening (and the conversations with Gary O'Shea on the next peg, top angler, doesn't miss anything in front of him, he was seeing every minor indication of fish in the area) but it was a case of rotating between caster and corn and an occasional look on the pole, but that was never going to be right on the day.
I relied heavily on the waggler and corn, for a large part of the match, it was well under par from my expectations, I do know the straight waggler was wrong, the bites I did have were such tiny dinks, it needed an insert waggler dotted right down, that was possible today, with no wind and flat calm conditions.
I was putting odd fish in the net on caster or the occasional look with maggot, mostly on the waggler, the pole line never got going all day, finally at 14:20, the waggler just slightly dipped and a strike met with the firm resistance of a carp, a 7-8lb common came in quite nicely and was soon netted. Next cast, similar tiny dip of the float and a bigger more angry common, maybe just over a Barny rubble was netted after a determined fight, I was then looking forward to a hectic last hour, but sadly not to be, I had a 2lb skimmer 2 minutes later and waited until 5 minutes before the all out at 15:30 before the third and final carp, also the biggest came to the net.
I ended with 38.07 for 14 points from 18 and all in all a reasonable return, beaten by one in the section on another lake and 3 corner pegs, not sure I could have done much more. The rest of the team fared well, Paul winning Campbell with 148.06 and second in match, Glenn also with 14 points from Cary, Mark with 13 from Match lake and Richard with 12 from Spring.
That was enough to win on the day as a team and claw our way back into a framing contention place after last weeks poor start, but this is winter fishing and we are taking nothing for granted.
Team Positions on the Day:
1. 2nd Time Lucky - 71
2. Guru Viaduct - 70
3. Team Keyford - 69
4. Future Networks - 61
5. Thatchers Vets - 58
5. Team Amigos - 58
7. Preston Innovation Thatchers - 56
8. Spotted Fin - 52
Team Positions so Far:
1. Guru Viaduct - 134 (2 section wins)
2. Preston Innovation Thatchers - 130 (2 section wins)
3. Team Keyford - 130
4. Thatchers Vets - 118
5. Spotted Fin - 115 (1 section win)
6. Colmic SW - 111
7. 2nd Time Lucky - 110 (1 section win)
8. Future Networks - 106 (1 section win)
9. M5 Angling - 104 (1 section win)
10. Moaning Maggots - 101 (1 section win)
11. Team Amigos - 95 (1 section win)
12. Garbolino BVMG - 90
13. Balti Boys - 72
14. Silverfox - 71
15. Viaduct All Stars - 66
16. PR Floats - 60
17. Wyvern Anglers - 49
18. Fishing Tackle Warehouse - 45
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