It's been a while, but not much to report :-(
On Sat April 14, I fished the final match in the B Division, which for us in the number three section, was on the low number side of the Woodside pond. I had drawn P3 twice previously, so had hoped for something near P10, but again I drew in the section I call Siberia, P5. :-(
I had Scott McAuley on P4 and Heather Lauriston on P3 to my right and no one on P6.
As I expected, because of the overnight frost, the carp were not feeding, so it was a catch of mostly Ide and Chub that gave me 4lbs - 15oz - enough to beat those to my right (just!) but was off what the guys were catching in on P9/P10 area. Alan Welsh was pretty much fishing on his own on P1 with all of the top bend available to him and he easily won our section, with Scott Laird on P10 second.
Full results can be found here.
On the next day, Sunday 15th, I had a 3 hour session n the Man Loch (P7) to try out a couple of things - Caught mostly skimmer bream with half a dozen carp to 2.5lbs.
Saturday April 21st was the B Division/Junior Winter League Pairs match to be fished on the Island and Woodside ponds. It's like a Secret Santa for fishing :-) After last weekend I was keen not to draw the Woodside, but when I drew P2 on the Island, I wasn't much happier - It had rained heavily most of Friday, and P2 is where the run off pipe feeds the fresh water into the pond - lots of cold water does not mean good fishing at this time of year. I really struggled for most of the 5 hours : with 30 minutes to go I reckoned on having around 3lbs of silvers - but as I had done every 30 minutes or so, I went back to the far bank with 15 mis left and bang - 2 carp in the last 10 mins to get me up to 8lbs - 12oz. I managed to beat those to my left and right, but knew that the folk at the other end were catching plenty. I ended up 11th of 19. Results
On Sunday 22nd I took part in an open match on the main loch where we had 28 competing. After weighing in 3lb - 2oz of mostly roach, I was surprised to find that for most, carp had been absent, and this weight put me 11th (again)of 28! A really tough day - weather conditions were reasonable, but the fish just didn't want to play…..
It couldn't get any worse, so I booked in to fish the Monday night match on the Top Pond. Given my recent form, I expected to draw an unfancied peg and I didn't disappoint, pulling P10 (the deep end) from the bag. No matter, I had a plan, which I'm glad to say worked :-) I caught 13 carp for 17lbs - 10oz giving me second behind Tommy L with 21lb+ and in front of 3rd placed Scott McAuley with 15lb+. Results.
After the match I gave my remaining bait to Alex Mason, who managed a creditable 3rd using it in the Wednesday match - which I missed due to having to work!
