Catch up

Ok so it has been a couple of months since I last updated my blog and for that I apologise, but I am know in my new job and home and shall have a bit more time to update this.  Over the last few months I have taken part in the Division 2 National that saw Browning Andover miss out on promotion by the narrowest of margins so I shall start here.

For practice Dave George and I travelled up the week before the match to try and sort out a few things to help the team, what we found was that the venue was full of small gustas that would eat almost anything, and very few better bonus fish. So our plan largely revolved around trying to catch as many small fish as possible.  It worked for a few of us and didn’t for a few, Ian Ross and Stu Dabbs both had good days picking up coin and Ian even got a section winners medal.

Then back to reality and I fitted in a few opens around the area that I can hardly remember before the Winter League started with a gusto, First round was on the Thames again and even though I drew reasonably both on the practice and the match, conditions and pegging let me down. I ended up with 4 fish over the 2 matches for a combined weight of less than a pound, but this was still better than some people and this made me feel better.  Next round was on the K&A around Devizes and I ended up on a marathon walk for a couple of pounds, this was not last in section but not far off, I was let down this time by a decision to try and chase skimmers that would not settle and the guys around me had better days. Round 3 was on the Bristol Avon and saw me draw a peg in the park at Melksham, I decided against the grain to bosh the grannie out of it and was rewarded with a mid section 5 ½ lb, beating the guys on both sides. I should have done better but as I was getting into a rhythm catching decent roach on caster I bumped a fish and did not see fish of that class again. Whoops.  I missed the last round on the due to other commitments but I have managed to fish a few matches at Whiterington Farm, drawing both Selwood and Cottage on 3 occasions and I am yet to beat 20lb on any of the 3. Twice I have had the winner of the lake in the next peg emptying it whi;st I have struggled for a bite but I have a better idea of what they have been doing differently so I can now improve (Hopefully). And that is us up to date. See you on the bank soon.