Following a couple of tough weeks at Willinghurst, I was really looking forward to the "Match Fishing Scene" match at Holly Farm as although I'd only fished it once before - about 6 years ago, I knew it was full of fish and even better, I knew I could catch on paste. Having sorted my gear out and packed my passport, Jaap Stam (most of the people on fishing Forums have silly names) picked me up at 6am for what turned out to be a 2 hour drive north via the M25 roadworks and M1 !
After a hearty breakfast, aptly named "The Belly Buster" and having met a few friends and new acquaintancies, it was time for the all important draw. Talk on the streets was that you wanted to draw the early or late pegs so in to the draw went my usually lucky right hand and out came........Peg 12, right in the middle of the match length ! To be honest, I wasn't too worried as I didn't know what to expect anyway and at least I had Animal at the next peg who is a very very nice man !
Whilst we all say that these events aren't about winning, it's about having a day out and meeting up with mates both new and old, we all still want to do well don't we ? I was therefore a bit disappointed to find that my peg was on the inside of a bend and when Animal one side and Deano the other plumbed up across to the far bank reeds, their floats were only about 4 metres away from mine, if that - I think Animal described it as "Intimate" !
Anyway, there was nothing I could do, so decided to fish a paste line at 7 metres as nobody else seemed to be targeting this line and also in the edge to my right with hemp and luncheon meat.
With every peg in and the weather being hot and windless, I thought it might be a bit harder than most expected but after 90 minutes I had nothing in the net having lost 3 foulhookers and as I was being beaten off the next peg by Animal (he asked me to mention that), drastic action was required. Fortunately it was the same depth tight across as it was in the inside edge so I attached a piece of luncheon meat to my edge rig and shipped it over - this involved using some of the sections of my pole that have writing on - a feat which some think never happens !
Anyway, I was getting a few liners across as I think that the bright sunshine had forced the fish to avoid the open water and head for the santuary of the rushes. Fifteen minutes later I'd had a small ghostie of about 1-8-0 and an ide of about 12 ounces but progress was very slow. Looking up and down the lake either side I couldn't see a lot being caught so decided to set up another paste rig to fish right up against the rushes and just try to pick off the odd fish. I had seen a few fish being lost in the rushes by anglers using black hydro so decided on an 0.18 rig with purple hydro as thought this gave me the best chance of getting any hooked fish out.
Sure enough, by fishing within inches of the rushes I could get the odd bite or two and with the purple hydro I had little trouble keeping the fish out of the danger area when hooked. One problem I did have was that a lot of the fish I caught had "parrott mouths" so I switched to using smaller pieces of paste and my catch rate increased slightly as the fish found it easier to get the bait in their mouths !
With 90 minutes to go I saw Jads catch a fish down the middle two pegs to my right and made sure I kept an eye on him should he start to catch on that line as I had fed my middle line consistently throughout so if the fish started to come away from the rushes then I might have caught there as well. As I was catching a few fish across still, I stuck to that especially as Jads fish seemed to be a "Lone Ranger".
With 5 minutes to go I had my final fish - a ghostie of about 2lb and thought I might just have enough to win the section as those around me had struggled. However, as the scales came along the bank, my 30-8-0 put me in third place behind Dotteddown (I told you they all had silly names) with 53-12-0 and Kev34 with 40-6-0.
Result
Dotteddown ............53-12-0
Kev 34......................40-6-0
Dave Pearson..........30-8-0
Mostmaverman.....28-2-0
First Peg..................26-8-0
Shallowman.............21-14-0
ANIMAL...................7-9-0
So, not the fishing that we expected but another most enjoyable day none the less, I hear that Jads is going to book the whole lake next time and the pegs will be well spread out - if so my name will be top of the list !
I'm not fishing next wednesday as I am on Holiday with Mrs Pikey, nor on Sunday as I am working at the Wildlife Aid Open Day but will endeavour to find a couple of guest bloggers to give you all your fishing blog fix !
