Ah I know, I’ll start at the end for a change……………
Having packed up, I wandered down to MrV two pegs away and said ‘I dunno, if this is what fishing has come to, I’m taking up golf’
MrV’s retort was ‘Well I aint fishing the next un, Alan Rounds running some matches on the Trent - I’m going to fish that instead’
‘Think I’ll come along too’. I replied.
‘You can’t you’re top of the aggregate’
‘Spose so’ I mused ‘but next season I’m going to pick and choose my matches like some others do - I’m just doing the cuts and rivers, sod the commies next year’
Note - I would add at this point that I have nothing derogatory to state about the fishery - it’s seemingly well run, no ridiculous rules in force (just two nets and barbless) - perhaps it was just my state of mind having experienced another
on a commie, which most readers will recognise are not my first love, possibly coupled with a bereavement in the family during the week……….. but enjoy myself I did not 
Rewind some nearly 6 hours earlier………
I was originally looking forward to this one to some degree - my appetite was whetted by news from Big Baz that he’d ‘bagged’ there on Thursday - loads of skimmers on the pellet at 8 mtrs, and the margins were heaving for the last hour where he’d done 50lb plus in that last hour of tench, skimmers, carp and a 4lb barbel.
‘It’s a mixed fishery - absolutely stuffed, but you will need carp to win it’
Well I wasn’t bothered about ‘winning it’ - a decent day on a commie for a change, a day when I might enjoy myself for a change
The draw made and I found myself left on peg 14, almost in the middle of the one side of this triangular shaped pool.
Gazing across I, amongst others on our bank were of the opinion that the ‘end pegs - nos 1 & 26 where going to be difficult to beat today. Not only was the wind blowing into that ‘corner’ but Zorro on 1 and Mancub on 26 appeared to have ‘acres’ of the pool to themselves…… ..well perhaps not acres, but it looked like a a fair bit more of the pool to ‘go at’ than most.
What made things worse - from a treasurer’s perspective - was that Mancub had drawn the elected golden peg 26. But being a ‘visitor’ he wasn’t eligible to enter it so the designated GP as usual ‘moved’ up one to the next member - and with no peg 27 in the bag, that meant peg 1 with commie crack Zorro on it.
Big Baz had given me ‘all the gen’ - what to feed, how to feed it and what to expect……………
So 5 rigs were set up to suit - or so I thought
The off and lines fed………..
FK opposite is soon into skimmers whilst my pellet - yep pellet
appears untouched by any of the resident fish. Now I know what you sceptics are probably thinking - ‘It’s no wonder TK’s pellet remained untouched, he aint got a clue about pellets, probably prepared em all wrong’ 
Well I hadn’t
- I was using a selection prepared for me by Big BazBig Geoff to my right had had a couple of skimmers too, presumably on his beloved worm, before my float dipped I struck and a skimmer was on………………only trouble was I was just about to net it and the hook pulled.
‘Great I thought, that’s 6oz that aint hit the safety of the keep net’
Skimmer no 2 did and then 20 mins in I hook a ‘proper un’
After a few minutes playing it on my top 3, the fish is ready for netting. It’s bigger than I was expecting - Big Baz had said carp to 4lb, this ones going 6lb plus …………….I’ve got his head up, 
he’s had a few gasps of air, the net is ready as I steer him towards it ………………….And then the bloody hook pulls
………..the fish just lies there for a second or two as I have a stab at it with the net but it’s just a few inches out of reach Aghhhhh - what a great start - three bites and 6lb odd so far not gone into the keep net.
Some half hour later (I think), Big Geoffs chop is starting to work as he’s put a couple of 2-3lb fish in the net and I hit another - however this time its successfully netted
This is followed 10 mins later by a crucian/hybrid around the lb mark, but I’m way behind Geoff. Cotti to my right is having a grueller though and is still dry.
I’m fishing pretty ‘tidy’ or so I think to myself as I hook my next lump, but it screams off and snaps me - tidy that is apart from I aint putting owt in the net.
Bite no5 and it’s an awkward fight - I’m playing it on my top 3 but having some difficulty with it. ‘I reckon this is foul hooked’ I say to Cotty and a minute or two later I pull out of it as it powers off to my left and all I’m left with is a scale on the hook - my suspicions appeared to be right.
Two hours in and Cotti is still dry,
I’m struggling for a bite, 
but Big Geoff is powering ahead with ‘manageable’ fish in the 2-3lb bracket……. 
I say manageable because as the day progressed I hit another fish that sees me off as soon as I hit them ‘ You aint gunna stop them when they go off like that’ is Cotti’s observation to the fleeting glimpse he’s caught of my lackie screaming out and bottoming out.
Still fishing tidy, apart from ‘dumping it’ twice in an attempt to stimulate some action,
the good news is that I net another two carp. Big Geoff is out of sight now whilst Cotti snares a couple of carp in that second half of the match to go with a tinca or two, plus skimmers from his margin swimsMy margin swims
Produced zilch. Nowt. Sweet FA. Not a bite
Heinzer calls the all out at 3pm.
Cotty reels in his bomb and snaps off his hook length. I’ve shipped back, cheered ‘Thank god for that’, chucked the top kit up the bank and I’m just taking my landing net apart as Big Baz ‘advises’ that we are fishing til’ 3.30pm because the fishery are weighing us in.
‘Bloody hell’ I wanna pack up and go home and have my tea………..but reluctantly ‘start again’
Well not a lot happened in that extra half hour either………….well not for me anyway, but having been battered by the chop to my right, Cotti to my left now took me apart,
finishing with a flurry of 3 carp (or was it 4?) in that last half hour as they found his meat on the bombI’m really down in the mouth as I pack away, haven’t enjoyed myself at all, been battered both sides and presumably from all around the pool…………….bombed out big style, got visions of being in the bottom 2 or three.
In fact I’ve been that bored and brassed off waiting for bites
I just couldn’t be bothered throughout proceedings to get the camera out of the box to take a picture or two - sorry JoffieTo conclude, rewind to the start of this report and the conversation continues ‘What ya got MrV?’
‘Bout 8lb tops - you?’
‘Might do double figures if I’m lucky’
Well lets just say MrV, that wasn’t a bad 8lb after all
……………….as here’s the tale of the scalesPEG
1 ZORRO 19.7.0
2 BIG BAZ 18.14.0
3
4 DEAD PEG 47.5.0
5 HEINZER 10.6.0
6 HOTLIPS 9.5.0
7
8 MGB 4.0.0
9
10 RICH C 12.9.0
11 YAMO 14.8.0
12 MRV 11.10.0
13 COTTI 24.3.0
14 TK 19.2.0
15 BIG GEOFF 44.3.0
16 MICK KENN 1.8.0
17
18 HAHA 16.13.0
19
20
21 KOD 18.10.0
22 FATTY K 7.7.0
23 MILLIE 17.6.0
24 HARRY THE HITMAN 20.10.0
25
26 MANCUB 21.13.0
Well that’s yet another trophy that will see a new name on it this year - well done DeadPeg
- see you at the presentation night ……………..that’s on the presumption we bother to have one this year - attendances have been well down and to be brutally frank ‘poor’ this year - if we cant get club members on the bank for matches - what chance have we got of getting them out to a presentation evening I ask myself 
:(
or he'd probably have been another 10-15lb weight - and Harry had just the 5 fish for his 20lb
