Plummers duly arrived for breakfast as instructed at 8am which was a major surprise as I still expected him to be 30 minutes early as usual, and after a coffee and bacon roll breakfast, we made our way to the ponds. Plummers drove whilst I walked as it would have taken as long to load and unload the car as it takes to walk there !
Being the generous chap that I am I gave Plummers choice of peg and he chose Peg 3 which is in the corner and has won three of the last four matches. With someone already fishing my favourite Peg, I chose Peg 5 which for those in the know is the waste paper bin peg and one I framed from 2 matches ago. The peg has a lovely bay in the rushes which lay over the water and although I also intented to fish straight out in front, the bay would be my main line of attack.
Rig wise there was only one, a Hillbilly Pikey Paste float on 0.18 G Line to a Size 14 Gamakatsu Pellett hook. Baitwise I intended to fish small pieces of paste but also had some 4 and 6mm expanders, some Marukyu JPZ pelletts and some micro pelletts and Marukyu EFG130 to feed. Ray had started fishing and already had a few carp so I knew that they were feeding and was looking forward to netting a few fish. I fed both lines with some micro's and some loose EFG130 and shipped out with a 10mm size piece of paste. Although no bites came in the next 5 minutes, I knew it was only a matter of time until the carp found the bait and sure enough, I then had 2 in 2 put ins.
Plummers was still biteless and with a 2-0 lead I thought I'd be sociable and go and have a chat. After a bit of banter which mainly involved how rubbish he was, I returned to my peg to continue the thrashing ! A number of fish followed (like this one) all on paste before the score soon became Pikey 10 Plummers 0 and I started to feel a bite sorry for the lad............well almost.
By this time I already knew that the match was won and was getting a bit bored. I knew I could still keep catching in the edge but spent a while trying to catch straight out in front, just to give the edge a rest. After catching a few there, another visit to Plummers was in order and whilst there he netted his first fish - Hurray ! Another decent hour of weather followed but with the score now being 20-6 the heavens opened and we then had an hour and a half of heavy rain. By 3pm we'd both had enough and with the final score being 25-8, I was declared the winner. We didn't bother weighing the fish but estimated I probably had 60lb odd so not a bad winters haul at all. And, if you are wondering what Plummers £10 note looks like, then here it is - and now has a new home in my wallet !
