Willinghurst Masters - Round 2

Have you ever drawn a flier on a match, only to find that conditions aren't right for it........a case of right peg wrong day ? Frustrating isn't it ?

Sunday's Round 2 of the Willinghurst Masters was just such an occasion for me. I wasn't really looking forward to the match as when I'd gone to bed on saturday night the wind was blowing a hooley and it was raining rather heavily (to put it politely).

Sunday morning I woke to find that the rain had stopped and the wind dropped so it wasn't so bad after all. At the draw Ian Covey (remember him, the man who spoilt our perfect team score last round by catching some fish when the rest of the team all blanked !) anyway Ian drew us Peg 1 and as I looked down the team draw I soon found myself writing.....Dave Pearson, Cherrytree Peg 1.

In all the years I have fished at Willinghurst, and it must now be over 30 now, I have never drawn Peg 1 on Cherrytree lake. For those who don't know it, it is pegged up an arm of the lake is about 16 metres wide, quite shallow and the far bank is not fished. The far side is all trees and grass making it quite sheltered and for me a yellow tipped float was like a beacon. Oh yes, the peg has also probably won the lake more times than all the other pegs put together !

Despite being a "Summer Peg" they do still catch from it in the winter, however, the management are draining Xmas tree lake at the moment in order to net it and move some fish around the complex. I therefore arrived at my peg to find that the thousands of gallons of water that was in Xmas tree had been flowing through my peg for a few days before disappearing down a pipe about thirty yards to my right. I don't know exactly how much water had run it to the lake but it had risen another 2 inches since I pegged it on the saturday afternoon. To make matters worse, the wind was getting stronger and the usual way of fishing the peg is with 16 metres of pole ! Oh great !

I spent the first hour casting a popped up piece of corn around the peg without any signs at all, let alone a bite. I'd fed three spots over the far side and spent the next hour wrestling with the pole trying to get some sort of presentation. Still fishless, I fed all three lines and then went for walk number 1 to see Alan Harrington on Peg 2 on top lake. Alan had caught one fish on his corn line and whilst I was standing with him chatting he had the biggest most impossible to miss bite ever.........and missed it ! I think it might have been an age thing !

There were a few fish being caught on Top lake and I returned to my peg full of enthusiasm, especially as the wind had just dropped a little. I baited the hook with a piece of sweetcorn and shipped it out to my left hand line which was eaier to fish as it was "downwind a bit. The float sat there for a few seconds before disappearing from sight, and having recovered quickly from the shock, I lifted the pole and a few feet of black hydro came out. With 0.18 line and black hydro, if this was in the mouth then there was no way it was coming off and as I shipped back to the top 3 the fish came in nice and easily. Lifting the pole to bring the fish up in the water I just picked up the landing net and the fish came off ! Oh dear I thought, I didn't really want to do that - or words to that effect. Next put in the same thing happened except this time the fish ended up in the net and weighed 6-4-0.

The match sort of petered out from that high point as although I thought I might have had another bite (or it could just have been the float dragging under on the bottom), the wind carried on blowing until about ten minutes from the end when it stopped completely and the lake was like a mill pond with not a sign of wind on it - Typical.

Tony Plumbridge won the lake from Peg 5 with one carp and what looked like a small whale for 15-4-0, just ahead of Mark Goddard who had two carp and some skimmers for 15-2-0 from Peg 8. Whist my one fish gave me 5 points although it didn't do the team much good as we again finished in 7th place.

Result

Derek White New 8 80-12-0
Shaun Barnett Top 20 59-5-0
Sponge Bob Top 4 51-4-0
Micky Fitz Top 6 29-0-0
Terry Cod Horseshoe 10 28-12-0
Dave Bacon Top 8 28-12-0

Teams

Foxy Five 45
Molloy's Mob 40
Molesey 31.5
Allsorts 30
Willinghurst Muppetts 28
Willinghurst Cabin 27.5
Decca 25
MADGIC 23
Willinghurst Cabin B 15

League

Foxy Five 2
Allsorts 6
Molesey 8
Willinghurst Muppetts 8
Molloy's Mob 9
Decca 11
Willinghurst Cabin 12
MADGIC 16
Willinghurst Cabin B 18

Another frustrating match for me as I think if it had been less windy then I might have caught enough to have won the lake from a decent peg that I probably wont now draw for another 30 years !

I think I'm at Sumners on the silver fish lake on wednesday and am undecided on sundays plans as it will depend on how much rain we have this week and the state of the River Mole.

See you soon

Pikey