Anyway, After a brief stop at the Truckers Cafe on the A5 for a breakfast that even I struggled to finish, we arrived at The Glebe at just after 8am to find that the weather “Up North” is not only colder but also a lot windier that the tropical south we had left just a few hours earlier. Fortunately for me I had drawn one of the more sheltered "little lakes" (there were waves on Lake 1) and as I approached the Lake 6 draw bag my thoughts were firmly focussed on picking out Peg 86 (known as “The Little Girls Peg” because it is so good !). Unfortunately Graham Avery got there first and although I had to settle for Peg 87 I was still quite happy. All the talk in the previous weeks had been about starting on the feeder on all the lakes but I had already decided that my approach for both days was just going to be pole at 6 metres ish and in the edge, depending on where I drew.
As we tackled up we were hit by a short sharp rain (but nearly hail) shower and this turned out to be the pattern for the day as every 20 minutes or so we seemed to get another dousing. I set up two rigs, one to fish paste at 6 metres and one to fish in the edge where after a bit of gardening that Alan Titchmarsh would have been proud of, I had a lovely looking edge peg which just screamed fish. After 3 hours I was regretting the fact that I had left my feeder rod at home in sunny Fetcham as I’d had one small carp and a skimmer whilst Graham on Peg 86 was nicking the odd fish on the feeder and a few in the edge as well just to rub it in. A quick wander a long the bank to check how my Pound bet with Animal was doing revealed that I wasn’t too far behind the others in the section.
The second half of the match proved slightly better as I started to get a few fish on the paste line but the superb looking edge peg was still barren despite constant feeding with copious amounts of hemp and corn. It wasn’t until 15 minutes from the end that I had my first sign of a fish in the edge and then had two lumps in the last 10 minutes, one of which I was still playing on the whistle. Although the lake hadn’t fished well by Glebe standards, our section proved to be quite tight with Fishy 007 winning with 67lb, followed by Graham with 56lb and me with 52lb whilst the others all had weights in the 40’s, including Animal who I duffed up by about 7lb – Thanks for the pound mate !
After Day 1’s match we all went back to the marquee to pay out the section money and draw for Day 2. This time I was on Lake 1 in the section with Pegs 25-30. I’d never drawn the end peg on Lake 1 before and knowing that it was a flier (or could be – I don’t think a lot was caught off it on the Friday) in went the hand, a quick rummage around and out came……………..Peg 30 !!!! To make things even better, I had Sconeeee a the next peg and as I knew he wouldn’t be on the Perrier water with a bed time of 10 o’clock, I quite fancied my chances of giving him a right tuning, despite him being the new local ace !
Friday night was as usual a good laugh (especially Animal on the Karaoke) but at 11.30 after copious amounts of alcohol (well alright 4 Bacardi and cokes and a bottle of Magners) me and Hathers sneaked back to the travel lodge as Graham A had offered us a free “Taxi “ ride and we had been up since 4am !
Next morning me and Hathers made our way to Morrison’s for breakfast before he dropped me at my peg and it really seemed odd not meeting everyone before the match for a draw. I ‘d spoken to a few people who gave me some ideas about where to fish the peg but when I sat and looked at it, the line by the big pipe to the right that you can fish to was a no no as about three million gallons of yesterdays rain water seemed to be spewing out of it ! Just as I was about to start tackling up I heard a noise the other side of the tree to my left and shouted “Is that my neighbour arriving ?” The reply I received was just what you would expect from a short, fat, bald bloke who had not gone to bed until 3.30am and spent the previous night trying to drink Leicestershire dry ! He then spent the rest of the day burping and saying “I was nearly sick then” !!!
Anyway after whinging that he wouldn’t be tackled up on time cos he still had to deliver the scales and boards, I volunteered to sort them out with him and within 20 minutes we were back at our pegs.
Luckily on my travels with the scales I had bumped in to Holwell who I think fishes the Glebe a bit and he told me that on my peg they fish long to the rushes on the end bank – and despite still being quite windy, I decided that this would be my main line of attack, feeding corn and hemp.
I did also fish a couple of lines in the margins but didn't catch on either.
I started the match slowly with a few small "Buddy" carp (as Sconee calls them) in the first half hour or so but as the match progressed the fish got bigger and a pattern developed where you would catch a few fish then they would disappear for a while before returning for you to catch another couple. Before the match me and Sconneeee had gone over to the "Eco Pool" to the right of my peg and when he threw in about 4 pints of pellets they disappeared within minutes as the fish ate the lot. I think it showed how much you can feed when carp are in the mood, and in hindsight I feel I should have fed more.
In the last hour I started to catch really well and courtesy of Zinky's camera, can be seen here playing another fish - For those who often suggest I never fish further than six metres, please note the writing on the butt sections of my pole ! As the match finished, Sconee and I grabbed the scales and made our way round to Peg 1 to begin weighing in.Top weight up to our section was about 78lb then Fishy007 placed 112lb on the scales to win the lake (again - well done mate) and apparently added 60lb of that in the last half hour !
Sconee then weighed 32lb - yes,that was all, not good from the local ace especially as Herbie beat him to his left so when I weighed 97lb it meant he had been proper "Harry Ramsdened" - battered both sides !
So, despite the weather I'd had a brilliant couple of days at a superb fishery in the company of some good mates - roll on next year.
Sunday saw me back at Willinghurst for my Annual Rainbow Trust Children's Charity match.
Due to a problem with fitting in people to fish in the teams of 4, I had opted not to fish but having just been away for 2 days, I wasn't actually that worried and it did give me time to not only sort out all the money and raffle prizes but also wander around and take the Pxss out of loads of anglers !!!!!
Thanks to everyone who helped raise nearly £2,000 through sponsorship and the raffle. Ross won the match from Old Lake Peg 22 with 122lb on the method feeder. A big Thank you should also go to all the money winners who very kindly donated a percentage of their winnings to the Charity - Yes I know that some needed a bit of persuasion, especially Woody who I thought was actually going to cry !
Must go as I am off to Willow Park now for a Leatherhead DAS club match and will report back later.
