Well we all know what the weather has been like over the last couple of weeks – incessant rain at times with cool temperatures and cool north easterly winds. The cut had started walking up a few weeks ago in March when it warmed up for a week or too, but things now appeared on ‘hold’ and things looked somewhat bleak.
And so we turned up at Fishley, intending to fish the wides and the lower section. But once again the best laid plans were scuppered. Heinzer had checked out access the week before – no problems. But we found out in that intervening week, someone had again superglued the lock.
So I pointed everyone off in the direction of Wood Lane whilst I waited at the gate.............. to redirect those members still to arrive who hadn’t handed in a ‘sick note’.And I waited, and waited...........giving the no shows ::) plenty of time before setting off on the trek back along the towpath to Wood lane, where I passed Big Baz and Big Col in the opposite direction pegging out.
KOD had also done the honours on the ‘treasury’ front.
So it was draw time. The place to be was the ‘high’ nos on the wides...............but of course I didn’t want a long walk back it was with some consolation that I pulled no 11 out, with Brambles on Golden Peg 1.
Arriving at 11 it was a little further down than I expected to be – the first 5 or 6 pegs from Wood Lane had been ‘excluded’ and I was in what I believed to be a ‘decent’ area. For company today I’d got KOD on 10 and The Condensed Milk Kid
to my left on 12.The off and lines fed and a look short on punch. Nowt. That spelt trouble. A look longer on it and 20 mins into the match a bite and roach no 1 was gratefully dropped in the net to avoid the dreaded DNW. KOD was still dry, whilst I learnt that the Condensed Milk Kid to my left was having a bite a put in and was blowing me away.
And blow me away he did as bite no2, and fish no 2 didn’t materialise until 1hour 20 mins into the match.
By this time KOD came down for a stroll – he was dithering in the cold wind that was whipping through. We were joined by FK who reported that Brambles was walking it with a slab the size of a dustbin lid and a tinca. Well that sounded like the golden peg might be gone again today unless someone on the wides was having a few.At 12.30 with no more bites forthcoming and with the Condensed Milk Kid owning up to having 30 odd fish, it was time to try the choppy. So it was introduced and I stretched my legs to let it settle for 5 mins...........
Down on the wides, with 2 spare pegs going which hadn’t come out of the bag – just look what I left in there when I drew – things were a little better. Tricast was wheedling out some silvers, whilst Mike Elcock, Cotti and MrV had both snared tench with Gudgeon Basher having been ‘seen off’ Cotti had also landed a pike which had frightened the death out of him when he came to unhook it.
Back to try the choppy..................but I couldn’t entice a bite.
A look on the inside punch line and a bite – fish no 3. Another look and straight away fish no 4. The Condensed Milk Kid looked worried
– was a TK comeback on the cards??????Bite no 5 a few minutes later and fish no5 was on. This felt different.............and so it was. A one ounce stripey was the culprit – on the punch!!!
And that was that – fight back over as I couldn’t tempt another bite.
A bit more more choppy was introduced on a nearer line the back of a weed bed that I’d previously punched. Let it settle for 5 mins and a look. Dragged that worm this way, that way, lift, drop,...........but nowt. A look on the other lines – nowt. Back to the choppy and after a minute., bite no 6.
Was it a tinca? Was it a slab? As it a 2lb stripey?
Nope – it was a ‘bonus’ 3-4oz roach.
And that was it for TK – no more bites, but at least a 100% ‘strike rate’ – 6 bites, 6 fish.
The all out and was I glad to pack away – it was cold and windy and we’d had a few spots of rain – aok it could have been worse, it could have chucked it down.
Onto the tale of the scales.............
First to weigh was Zorro who’d got this feature in his peg
(click on the pictures to 'blow em up')
Zorro had also managed to snare a tinca and a few nice rudd
But MrV had fared somewhat better and managed to subdue 5 tincas
And finally in order they were weighed in
PEG
20 ZORRO 3.7.13
19 GUDGEON BASHER 1.0.12
18
17 MR V 18.11.0
16 MIKE ELCOCK 3.8.0
15
14 COTTI 3.5.0
13 TRICAST62 2.7.14
12 THE CONDENSED MILK KID 1.10.9
11 TK 0.10.8
10 KOD D N W
9 DAZ WILLIAMS D N W
8 HEINZER D N W
7 SMART MART (FK) D N W
6 YAMO 0.2.0
5 BIG BAZ 1.3.8
4 ME D N W
3
2 BIG COL 0.2.0
1 BRAMBLES D N W
Not the best of results, but could have been much worse on a cold wind swept canal – plus a few tincas had been lost by anglers that could have ‘shook’ the final placings ‘up a little’
and well done to Mr V brill weight 
carnt wait till next one 
Tried a caster over the lillies and had a 2 oz rudd, then hooked one that looked about 12 oz, which shed the hook as I was about to net it.
That made the rest of the match fairly easy for me as I then decided to batten down the hatches, wedge the butt of the pole across the spray bar and into my nether regions and hang on for the odd bite. One fish actually caused me considerable pain when I lifted into it, trapping the family jewels against my seat and leading to me having to play it out with tears streaming down my face while trying to keep the fish out of the host of lillie beds. Not easy, I can assure you 
