David Hall Memorial
I was really pleased to fish the David Hall Memorial yesterday at the Glebe Fishery. I really do owe a considerable amount to David for helping me get to where I am today. It was lovely to see anglers of all levels at the match while raising money for a very worthwhile cause, MacMillan Cancer Support.
My morning didn’t start well, but I just about made the draw in time and was quite happy to pull peg 106 out of the bag, which is three from the far end on Lake 7. However, upon arriving at the peg it resembled the North Sea! I couldn’t believe how cold and windy it was. While stuck in traffic I’d even put on sun cream thinking it would be a nice and sunny day. Erm… nope!
That cold wind was hacking up our end of the lake and after an hour of shivering with just two carp on the feeder to show for my efforts I was not going to need the extra keepnets I’d brought!
A good thing about Lake 7 is that you can stand up and look behind you and see how everyone on Lake 6 is getting on. These two lakes always fish similar and some top names on good pegs were clearly also struggling on there.
After 90 minutes I eventually found a few fish on pellets at 13 metres and had a nice run of bites. It was really hard work holding the pole, though, and several potentially pole-breaking gusts later I decided to pack the MTX5 away and get my MTX2 v2 off the subs bench. No point ploughing a field with a Ferrari!
It got windier and windier but no one was catching on the short pole, so I went back on the feeder. No bites, so I tried 5m further to my left. No bites, but reeling in I was fixed solid to something non-fishy and extremely heavy. Not a clue what it was but I somehow managed to drag it at least 10m before losing the lot. That was the far-bank action for the day. Just too cold over there I think…
Last 90 minutes I found a few carp short and then, finally, a few down the sides, which was probably the most sheltered part of my peg. All day it just felt like one or two fish were coming in each time and they were mostly 3-4lb with not many bigger bonuses. Last two down the edge were nicer 8lb commons, though, and I was playing one when the final whistle blew, which is always a nice feeling.
I must add that the new Matrix Slim Wire floats were great today. I used 0.5g for the long pole and 0.4g for short. Definitely a wire stem day as the lake was towing like the clappers!
I thought I’d got about 100-110lb, so I was really happy to total 133lb for a comfortable lake win. Lake 6 behind me was only won with 119lb and it was a surprisingly tough day by the Glebe’s high standards, with the more sheltered lakes faring best. In fact, my weight was 8th best on the day, but well behind Jim Hall’s winning 194lb from corner peg 110 on Lake 8.
I felt good all match, had a laugh with everyone and really enjoyed it, despite the weather. However, I clearly overdid things as pushing my barrow back I had yet another funny turn. Thanks to the guys around me for helping me out. Really appreciate it. I went back to the results to clap the winners but had to leave early as I wasn’t right… 🙁
Anyways, the most important thing is we all paid our respects to David Hall and did our bit for a great cause. Well done to David Haynes for such a well organised event and also Roy Marlow and his team at the Glebe for putting on an excellent match at a special venue for a special man.
