7:00 am in the morning and I was in the garage packing my
gear ready for a day on Campbell. So, brolly-check! Waterproofs-check! Ark-
check! Animals, two by two….
Our current inclement weather was offering a morning of
steady dampness. At the Viaduct the HLS crowd were upbeat considering this; even
to the extent that Horny Beards was pretending to be Gene Kelly splashing
around in the puddles to demonstrate his new Guru boots. It was also good to
see the Rossiter Bros.
Previous competition weights were very encouraging but they
did suggest that the aerator end was best. So, what peg did I draw, Peg 121. I
was billy-no-mates on the end bank with the rain blowing straight in the face!!
To my left I had George Fletcher on 119 (can’t seem to get away from the little
Lanc man) and Paul Bowyer on 118.
To my right was Steve Kingy-of-Frome on 123 and Horny Beards
and his gay boots on 124. In fact, I had a grandstand view of the whole lake.
My approach was, SET THE BROLLY UP, then a tip rod for
fishing just 15 metres in front of me. Then, two rigs, one to fish at 9 metres
in front and a margin rig for either side considering I had the whole bank to
myself. I fed the 9m line with a carpet of hemp and casters and fished meat,
corn and pellet over this. With the tip I use the same hook baits but obviously
just that further out. On retrieving my first cast I had a foul hook which I
lost near the net. A couple of casts later I had a 6lb mirror on meat. No more
on the tip for 30mins and I noticed a lot of blowing over the 9m line so went
in and had another foul hook that resulted in a nice mirror scale on the hook.
A changing to corn and I had a 3lb mirror. Nothing more for an hour and so I
tried the tip again. I tried a meat and corn cocktail and the bait didn’t reach
the bottom before a mirror pulled the tip around. Sadly, apart from a number of
further foul hookers, that was my carp for the day. In my left margin I snared
three good skimmers and a tench and was smashed up by a good carp. That ended
my count for the day. 19lb 4oz Carp and 6lb of silvers. Well behind the field I
reckoned..... In fact, I ended up supporting the lot of them!
As I said before, I was able to witness what was going
happening on the lake and it did appear that the Aerator end was doing better.
Dave Allen was catching well, so was Ninja Eric, Steve Meaker and Roge Coombs. There was the
usual blaspheming from that man Fletcher as he kept losing bream (so he said)
which was poor show on a Sunday, especially when Chairman Bob was trying to
lead the singing of hymms and prayers. There was a frightening moment when Horny
Beards threatened to jump in naked if he landed a double figure carp on black hydro. Well, he
landed it but we were spared the site of his ex-naval arse!! Danny had again
brought along his magic maggots and was winkling out a winning bag of silvers.
My view for the day was.....
To my right....Beards(displaying his double) and King
1st Overall - Roger Coombs(128) 154lb 1oz
2nd.............. Dave Allen (111) 134lb 1oz
3rd............... Eric Searle (132) 110lb 5oz
Silvers
1st - Andy Danahay (129) 36lb 3oz
2nd.. Bob Pascoe (112) 31lb 7oz
3rd.. Rob Eagles (115) 30lb 1oz
The results sheet....
