Had some paddle boarders on the Great Ouse at Willington on Sunday .... one lady had a small dog on the board with her that seemed very calm. It’s navigable there, so can’t grumble ...
i’m posting one of my infrequent reports as I fished one of my favourite matches of the year on Sunday (the Bedford Hospital Cup) ... but I’m rushing ahead!
saturday saw me at Bewdley for a Riverfest qualifier on the Severn. 3 feet of extra water in the river made it an out and out barbel match... but sadly I drew the best dace peg on the whole river (gutted or what?) a handful of tiny dace and one barbel for 6:10 was my lot ... so no qualification this time.
Sunday was a reduced Bedford Hospital Cup. this is a favourite match for me because
a) the fishing is good as it’s usually on oakley to Queen’s Park, which are prolific
b) there’s a good turnout of 60-80 normally
c) it raises money for a great cause (my gran and dad have both had good cancer care there) with part of the entry fee and a big raffle.
d) the prize fund is boosted by Blunham AC who add a few hundred to the pot.
only point c applied this year ... and without the raffle. It was a reduced entry of 50 on willington only, but still raised £500 for the hospital so worth attending and Willington is fairly even, if not so prolific as Kempston for example.
I arrived a Few minute late after roadworks shut my route in Milton Keynes so I had to detour quite a way to get across the M1. most had already departed for their pegs, but there were still four pegs in the draw bucket. I drew out peg 40 on the day and was told that it might be on the “concrete block” - which is a noted flier that I also drew back in October last year and came 2nd in a winter league match. feeling hopeful I went down to the river and confirmed that I had indeed drawn the flier (as usual some would say!).
i set up to feed 3 lines ... just over the marginal weed for perch and bits with maggot, down the middle with hemp & caster for roach and then tight across to the reeds with caster hoping for some chub late on (Although the barge that was moored there previously has gone away this year). I alternated between the first two lines for 3 and a half hours, but never felt like I was building any weight, as the fish were tiny ... an ounce roach was big! the hemp fish were even smaller than those on caster. A handful of slightly better perch helped.
with an hour 20 to go I picked up the waggler for the far bank line for the first time , immediately catching little chublets with a few slightly chunkier ones, but still felt like I was going nowhere fast!
next step was to up the feed, so from 10 to 20 samples per cast I upped it to a pouchful of hemp & caster every time and shortly after hooked and landed a chub around 3 pounds . Shortly after that I had two more about 10-12 oz. so with 40 minutes left I thought I needed a couple more decent fish for my 14 pound target weight (I estimated that I had 9-10 at that stage). But nothing more was forthcoming so I was regretting not doing full justice to the flier.
i was pleasantly surprised when the scales arrived and I lifted the net out (“there’s twelve here“ I thought). Even better when the scales settled on an ounce short of the stone! So despite feeling like I was chasing the match all day I’d achieved my target weight (all bar that ounce).
i was fortunate that this proved to be the best weight on the day, for my second win in the event (5 years after the first).
well chuffed!
