For this latest grueller the ranks were considerably depleted with a few sick notes handed in.
Even given the bona fide sick notes, Cotti, Tricast62 and ME were surprised at the reduced turnout, because after the recent ‘big freeze’ which had scuppered the last couple of scheduled outings, they thought people would be ‘eager’ to be out on the towpath given the pleasant conditions …….. 
Arriving early it was decision time. Was it to be a walk up to the ‘kennels’ section or a short walk in the pound between the new road bridge up to the Grove Marina……….?
Well given my form for avoiding ‘long’ (well aok 200 yard walks) I managed to easily ‘convince’ 
the guys who seemingly didn’t sound too fussed where they were pegged. So that was that then - a micro walk today. 
Venue expert Blues4eva volunteered to do the pegging out - that would take all of two minutes cuss as he ventured off with a few paper pegs clutched in his donnie, at that stage with only 4 of us in attendance it was a fiver all in with winner take all. Unusually, Tricast62 hadn’t yet put in an appearance and it was now 8.50am,
However as Blues4eva traipsed back Tricast appeared over the brow of the bridge and Blues4eva nipped back to stick another peg in…………resulting in the end pegs now numbered 4 and 5.
We could also now pay 1 & 2 to ‘make it a bit more interesting’ for somebody I confided in MEExpectations were high today,
as 60% of the field - well that’s Blues4eva, Cotti & Tricast62 - reported that they’d recently fished a couple of pegs Blues4eva had put in and they had had plenty of bites…….The draw was made and the field was assembled as such
PEG
5 ME
1 TRICAST62
2 TK
3 COTTI
4 BLUES4EVA
Cuss Blues4eva couldn’t squeeze peg 5 in between and the road bridge
Well on 2 I found myself on the shortest walk possible
- just to the left of the access point - a peg that you may surprised to hear………. I’d fished loads of time pleasuring to save walking to the flyers
3 rigs were set up
- one for the white stuff at 8 mtrs just going up the gradual far bank shelf, a much much deeper ‘stalking heron’ rig as all the depth was just off my feet and a shallow rig that would double for two overhanging branches at 11 mtrs conveniently situated at 10 and 2 o clock which would see some slop and squatt that Cotti had so kindly provided. 
The off and all lines fed and a look on ‘far’ punch line no 1…………
After a few minutes I hadn’t had so much as a sniff or any indication
so it was dropped on ‘get out of jail’ far line 2…………And it buried straight away - virtually on the drop
And it wasn’t a bad start either as the no2 shot out and the culprit, a 6oz skimmer, was steered away from the feed area and soon ‘netted’
Another look on the same line and after a minute or two away went the float again
Lackie shot out again and a better stamp fish - felt like a 12ozer to 1lb fish - was on this time.
It kited off for the far bank twigs in the water, but was soon under control in the track………….. 
Or so I thought……………………cuss the bugger inexplicably came off
‘That’s crappity smacked that up’ I thought
- ‘bet he’s shot off to tell all his pals and they are half way up the cut by now’ as I slipped on another white pellet and shipped out again.Nowt again instantaneously on line 1 so after a minute or so, the rig was laid back on that other ‘productive’ spot.
A few minutes later and a second similar sized 6 ounce skimmer was gleefully netted.
At this stage - 10 to 15mins in or so, Tricast62 to my left admitted he was still fishing for a bite,
whereas I’d clocked Cotti and Blues4eva both making use of their landing nets - must have been those cock pegs they were sat on Next put in - not straight away though - resulted in another bite, but the culprit this time wasn’t as I initially expected cuss this time a 4oz roach was netted.
So a lb up in the first 20 minutes and I thought I was on for a decent weight. (Well I really thought I’d got about 8oz + at that stage, it was only weighing in that I clocked those skimmers were a tad bigger than I’d given them credit for)
How wrong can you be? Only a couple of micro roach showed to punchline 1 and nowt else came off that more productive line. The stalking heron line failed as well - not only for me, but for Tricast too.
A look on one of those carefully nurtured slop and squatt lines produced an immediate bite
but it turned out to be an ounce wasp. :( A few minutes later things were repeated. ‘Ah well’ I thought, ‘perhaps there’s a nest of them there’………………………… But there wasn’t :(Heinzer popped down to see how we were fairing. ME was having a right grueller
with Tricast a bit less of a grueller as he’d by now avoided the dreaded DNW. However looking to my right I could see Cotti and Blues4eva ‘regularly’ swinging small silvers in. By now I’d been biteless for over an hour - so there was only one thing for it as it looked like those two were battering us. I needed a big bronze un………..so I cupped in 5 potfulls - 2 on original lines and three across to ‘features. As Heinzer wondered off into the distance to have a gander at the boatyard, I thought I’d join him and stretch the legs whilst 40lb of skimmers settled on that white stuff………………
Having stretched the legs for about half hour, surveying the territory and spotting loads of fish down in the clear waters on the boatyard, I returned to peg 2.
And don’t you love it when a plan comes together?
Well I do
Only it didn’t
- those skimmers failed to materialise and all I mustered up in the last hour and half was two bites - one stripey came off the hook whilst the other ouncer joined its mates in the net. :(Meanwhile, Tricast62 was stringing a few fish together and was ‘flying’ in that last half hour despite trying to emulate Bill Yards on a couple of occasions
with the overhanging far bank trees. Along with Blues4eva and Cotti I was sure he’d banjoed me as well, particularly as Cotti had owned up to having a lb when I’d walked past him following my excursion down the cut.I was glad to call the all out after the four hours although Tricast thought it was about 12 (two hours in) and the time had fled by for him
Here’s the tale of the scales............
PEG
5 ME 0 - 1 - 7
1 TRICAST62 0 – 13 - 14
2 TK 1 – 10 - 10
3 COTTI 1 – 3 - 12
4 BLUES4EVA 2 – 5 - 0
On face value that lost lb’er second put in appeared costly to me, but things tend to ‘even out’ as I learnt I wasn’t on my own – Cotti had lost a similar fish to mine early on and Blues4eva had lost a tinca which decided to wake up half way on the way to the net...........
Well done B4E
