Won my my 18 peg match with 22lb 5oz, 10lb was 2nd so i had plenty to spare 🙂 🙂

Fished an Irish Team Qualifier on Newry Canal, drew the middle section and won the section with 43 fish for 1Kilo 150g. A few photos up on my blog.

Had a very good weekend. Didn’t go in to work! Watched my daughter play soccer on Saturday morning. Took the family out to dinner to celebrate her birthday that evening. Cycled from Sheffield to Buxton and back on Sunday.

2 wins. 😀

i got HATMAN’d off the next peg at “POO”l bridge farm !!!! :rolleyes:

@Leaky Lloyd wrote:

i got HATMAN’d off the next peg at “POO”l bridge farm !!!! :rolleyes:

The funniest thing was you believing you had to net every fish, those 1/2oz roach were falling through the holes in your net. 😮 😮

Lousy. Couldn’t buy a bite. Did everything wrong. One Tommy Ruffe for 1 oz. Finished 14th out of 15 and wet through after listening to another cack weather forecast. Blew my chances in the league, I was second, with one match to go.
It’ll be a long time before I’m the subject of the big interview in Match Fishing like the bad boy of angling.

Fished the final match that one of my mates had organised at Woodland View, Ghost pool. I had 126lb for 2nd in the match (first ton of the year). The lake fished its nuts off with 176lb winning and another 2 tons. Lowest weight on the lake still weighing almost 70lb.

Fished a classic qualifier at Larford on sunday.
First time i’ve ever drawn a flier and probably should of won it.
However after a big breakfast felt sick as a dog the whole match and could’nt even think straight.
Came probably 5th or 6th wi 56lb.
Gutted.

DIRE – Fished the R Yare Saturday and managed to draw on the section no-one wanted on the Boards. The fish are on the move and are all above the pub. I managed a cocky ruffe, a perch that took my spinning double maggot just as I lifted the rod to retrive the feeder and recast. Nick Larkin won with 27lb of pole caught roach from 1 peg away from where he wanted to draw – Peg 48.

Sunday it was a team match on the Thurne and Bure. 6 am draw with the venue 1hour 20mins away. We won the match last year so we were full of hope. I was on the Thurne below Cold Harbour and there were only 2 pegs left in the draw for my section when I got there – 51 and 43. 43 being the bottom end peg on the section with loads of form, 51 in the middle. 50/50 chance and I drew 51. Peg 43 was never drawn, the guy didn’t turn up. Peg 42 had 18lb of skimmers on the feeder. 7lb on 41, 4lb on 40 and then it just got worse. I weighed two pair of eyes for 3oz!! The team match was on weight so I didn’t help much. Nick drew a reasonable peg at St Benetts on the Bure and weighed 17lb including some skimmers and quality roach.

Why is it that good anglers draw the good pegs they don’t need and the rest of us who do struggle to pull more than one or two a year? Still, undaunted I will be on the Bure tomorrow and Thursday for a 2 day match prior to the Broads Champs on Saturday. 9 hours driving over the next 4 days to fish waters where we know the fish are already heading towards their winter quarters.

Hopefully they won’t have moved too far on the Bure and the Gods of the Draw will be a little kinder to me.

A draw at last 🙂

Because the breakfast took so long to arrive this morning there were only 2 pegs left in the bag again when Nick Larkin of Nisa Feeders and I got there. Knowing how badly I have been drawing recently Nicky suggested I drew first and like an idiot I did. I drew 31 and Nicky said it was OK and I would have a few, Nick drew 37 near to South Walsham Pump where some dog bream often hang out. When I got to my peg I discovered that it was an end peg just above the stile that you need to get over to get to the pump section. There is an area that isn’t pegged because of the reeds below me then you go into the good bit.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I ended up with 24lb 8oz won my section and I think I was only beaten by a couple of pegs on the pump section. I even managed a lump of 5lb 8oz and Brian Weavers on the next peg helpfully pointed out “if you have got one you can bet they are catching them on the pump!” 29lb on the pump won the match but as it is a points match based on sections I stand a chance of an overall spot tomorrow!

Let’s hope that my drawing arm holds out although I have used all my worms and most of my casters so I’m running some off now and bought 4 match packs of worms at Lathams on the way home.

My 24lb was enough for 3rd on Wednesday, so that has paid for the 2 days 🙂 .

Thursday the match was on the Thurne at Martham, home of big bream, and at Potter Higham, also on the Thurne. I drew peg 16 at Martham which wasn’t the best end of the section for lumps but it was an end peg with a bit of a gap as two guys had been fishing for a week from a bungalow opposite the missed pegs. What I didn’t know was that of the 4 section winners from day 1, 3 were in my section with another 3 second placed anglers! Most people set up a feeder and a pole with a selection of rigs in case the larger fish didn’t feed. I wish I had as at high water I really struggled for a bite and put nothing in my net for about an hour whilst others put small fish into their nets. I ended up 4th on section with 11lb 4oz only enough for 5th in the section.

Nick Larkin won the match on Thursday with 20lb from peg 3 at Potter on the pole, fishing a flat float and a 3 gramme one catching mostly hand size skimmers.

Kevin Painter the other section winner from Wednesday who lives at Martham and has fished the river for 40 years was on the peg above me but 3 away. He won the match on Wednesday with 29lb from the end peg down past S. Walsham Pump. He won his section with 14lb so had a perfect score from the 2 days. There were ties for 2nd and 3 tied on points for 4th so weight decided the top 5 in the end.

Another day tomorrow on the Broads Open. Probably 90 maybe 100 plus anglers again on the Bure at St Benetts and the Thurne at Martham and at Potter. I am not sure where I want to draw to be honest. Normally Martham or the S. Walsham pump un the Bure would be best but with the larger fish not liking the weather too much at the moment maybe Potter would be as good as anywhere.

myglass eyes just fallen asleep !!!!