We were all safely through the gate nice and early as the members ‘responded’ to the call to be there for 8.15am...........but having ‘locked us in’ there was one problem............
Nobody would take responsibility and look after the key just in case Heinzer mislaid it again resulting in another ‘lock in’
Big Col and Blues4eva had assumed the role of pegger outers and dropped pegs 1 to 9 on the wides (well 3 to 9 really as pegs 1 and 2 were just past the cables near to ‘Joffies bend’)
Pegs 10 to 20 went in ‘south’ of the turnover bridge
With us all locked in, the draw was made earlier than usual and with a couple of pegs left in the bag (the usual drawbags had all claimed the fancied wides)
I pulled out 15.Hadn’t gorra clue where it was, just hoped it wasn’t a jaunt.
Peg 15 wasn’t a peg I’d fished before, but I fancied it for a few – just hoped there were a few bremes lying in that track........
But then all hopes of a bagging session vanished into thin air..............down the towpath plodded the ‘Kiss of death’ (KOD to the uninitiated) and dropped on peg 16
And here’s proof of the nightmare next door
Whilst to my right I’d got the bagging master Yamo
The off and lines fed. A look on the punch resulted in just a few tiny roach, not the expected bremes. Looking to my left, I could see that Carlos on his first visit to the cut was having his lackie tugged a bit as he flew out of the blocks in that first hour, netting a few.
The KOD was getting worried about his reputation
– someone catching of the next peg to him! ‘Face the other way’ I shouted down to him – he was obviously using all his ‘power’ focussing on me and Yamo whilst fishing to his right with his back to Carlos. 
Anyway, to cut a long story short. The sun shone, the birds sang and the five hours flew by in as pleasant a surrounding as you’ll find anywhere. Not to mention the two proud swans that paddled by, accompanying their seven cygnets.
As for the fishing. Knowing a few tincas had put in an appearance I spent most of the time dragging a worm about or sitting on the caster. Slip a pinkie on and it was a fish a chuck............only problem they were 150 to the lb. Augurs well for the cut though if they manage to grow on.
So it was 15 mins without a bite on worm or caster, and just to relieve the monotony of a stationary float (thats when I wasn’t working it) a quick snatch of a dozen fish, then back to the w & c...........which sadly failed to produce.
Enuff of the tale of woe – lets have the tale of the scales
First up on end peg 20 was Trevor B who’d put some silvers together......
Blues4eva next door had fared a bit better
Debutant Carlos had had a lackie stretcher on the punch too
Onto the wides, Tricast62 had a couple of tinkers on the pellet
Whilst in ‘dump mode’ Big Col had made his worm and caster work much better with 8 tincas – enuff to walk it – without the 10 beasties he admitted he’d lost
PEG
20 TREVOR B 2.7.2
19 BLUES4EVA 9.6.10
18 ZORRO 1.13.12
17 CARLOS 6.1.0
16 KOD 0.7.2
15 TK 1.7.9
14 YAMO 0.9.15
13
12 OBI 1.14.1
11 DAZ W 1.5.6
10
9 PHIL B 0.4.13
8 MR V 3.1.2
7 COTTI 0.0.8
6 TRICAST62 7.9.13
5 HEINZER 1.6.8
4
3 MIKE E 2.9.12
2 BIG COL 23.0.9
1 MGB 2.0.8
And The Ripleys ‘Believe it or Not’ of the day?
Cotti fed the punch, caster and pellet. First put in and a micro roach. ‘Sod this’ he thought, ‘Its time for the caster’ and spent the next 4hrs 59 mins biteless on the caster and pellet
– two baits he puts to good use on his many outings down there. He was loffing when he told everyone as he weighed in – but I reckon it was the shock coming to the fore........2nd best loff of the day – with all the ‘knocking’ in his reedbed opposite, Yamo admitted with 20 mins to go that he’d been ‘chasing two coots about all day’
All in all, not a great weight for TK, but he’d enjoyed it........
now 
