Through To The Next Round

I have just had a nice and eventful weekend. Saturday was the Fisho qualifier at Tunnel Barn. Been fishing this venue for over 20 years and a couple of pegs have really eluded me in all that time, so I was pleased to finally draw peg 1 on New Pool! Deep down I didn’t think it was a winning peg on the day as the wind had been blowing towards the 30s all week, but still a great peg on the lake and nice to finally make acquaintances with it.

Sadly conditions were against us all as it was bright, hot, no wind and the fish were thinking about spawning, so the fish were moody to say the least. Like most people, I felt you needed to catch shallow to win, but they were having none of it. My best line was down the edge to my left where I caught on pellets early, then worms.

I’ve ended up with 85lb for a decent day’s fishing, but as only 97lb won our lake I felt that was achievable if I hadn’t spent too long trying to force my shallow lines to work. Well done Jimmy Brooks qualifying with 117lb from peg 6 on Jennys. I got home to discover I’d got a section prize by default… which was a nice surprise!

Today was my Fishing Association knockout against Daniel Eaton at Packington on Siblings A and Siblings B. Dan drew peg 15B by the rope and I drew flyer 10B on the point, so it was nice that we were both on the same lake and could see each other. It had been blowing down to peg 1 all week, so I was well chuffed to see it had now flipped around and was blowing straight into my peg. With the wind like that it was a bit unfair really as my peg was solid!

I’ve ended up having a lovely day, mostly on casters shallow, to win the match with 159lb. With 60lb being 2nd that tells you all you need to know. It’s nice to finally draw a rocket ship and make the most of it. Although we were only five pegs apart my peg was ten times better than Dan’s on the day. I must add he was a great sport throughout and a pleasure to fish against.

For me, it makes up for last year’s disappointment on Round 1 when I drew terrible and lost out by one fish! So a decent couple of days, edge fishing on Saturday and shallow bagging on Sunday.

Hope you all had a nice weekend too!