Anvil Knockup, Lodge Farm – Long Island, 03-12-2006

After being kept awake for most of the night with the gales battering the bedroom window with rain, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this match. Especially coupled with the fact that my information gathering exercise last week had suggested this was going to be a feeder match, chucking tight to the island, not my most favoured method. I was half expecting a phone call off Roger my travelling partner telling me he wasn’t going, especially after he’d been out on a bender Saturday night.

After getting a good soaking loading the car I went to pick Roger up, and after ringing his mobile several times he finally appeared. I think his first words were, "Am I not looking forward to this". Luckily the rain had started to subside and by the time we arrived for breakfast, it had stopped altogether. We had booked for breakfast at 7:30 on site ready in time for the draw at 7:45, which we all thought was early as we weren’t due to start the match until 9:30. Turns out that the draw was at 8:15 but Roger got it wrong. DOH!!! Could have had an extra half hour in bed.

Having never fished this lake before I didn’t really know what a decent draw would be, although in some respects this can be a good thing. I think too many people get affected by the outcome of the draw and their confidence takes a hit before they’ve even got to the bank. The last time we fished here, on field pond, I’d drawn a ‘duff peg’ allegedly and went to win the match. Remember kids, fish swim.

The lake is rectangle but has an island which stretches pretty much the entire length of the pond, hence the name Long Island I guess. I would have thought the end pegs would produce, having the chuck to the end of the island but we’d see. Anyway the draw gave me peg 83, which was bang in the middle of the left had bank.
As previously mentioned the plan of attack was to be the feeder, groundbait feeder to be more precise. I’d mixed a bag of Black Swimstim and to this I added some dead maggots and a few softened pellets. I had a maggot feeder handy and by the magic of a snap-swivel I could changeover if I was struggling. Hookbait was to be maggot, dead, alive or whatever combination it took to catch on. And if that didn’t work, plan B was back at the pub as I’d got nothing else to try. As I’d decided to leave the pole in the holdall as I didn’t fancy breaking it on it’s first outing I also set up a waggler rod just in case the wind dropped and as a backup. The weather had picked up by this point and we were now basking in glorious sunshine, well, nearly.

The all in came and I had a couple of casts with a feeder full of groundbait before attaching my hooklength and recasting as tight to the island as I dare. Two minutes later the rod wrapped round and an F1 about 3lb was soon in the net, shortly followed by another next cast. By the end of the first hour and a half I had about 20lb in the net. Not many fish had been caught on my bank so unless anyone was pulling up any trees on the opposite, I was sitting in a decent position. Things went downhill for the next couple of hours as bites slowed and peg 82 managed to get a lump well into double figures, he continued to catch and pulled into the lead.
While we were sat biteless Roger decided to entertain us by seeing if he could drag the island closer to the bank. This didn’t just happen a couple of times, he was relentless in his pursuit losing at least 6 feeders, not to mention the times he managed to get it back. By this time his headache had kicked in and he was wishing he’d stayed in bed.
Things picked up in the afternoon and I managed to claw my way back into contention and kept picking up the odd fish to put me back in the lead slightly. I kept switching between groundbait and maggot feeder, the hook length and hookbait to try and induce bites and I had some success dropping the feeder a little short, although it was still on top of the shelf just in front of the island. A few had tried the waggler but with no results, which made me think it was worth while persevering with the feeder and picking up the odd fish until the F1′s moved back down again.
All was going well until Roy on peg 82, decided he was going to get another lump, the lucky b*@***d, which although not as big as the first was enough to put him back in front. I had one more fish about 3lb and was pushing to try and get one more which I thought might have put me back in the lead but it was too late and the whistle blew.

The biggest weight from the far bank was about 20lb, so it was down to me and peg82. I was first to weigh and registered at 43lb 9oz. As Roy pulled out his net we knew it was going to be tight. 46lb 10oz was his weight confirming my suspicions that his last lump had just pushed him out of reach.

Results:
1st Roy Nicholls (46.10)
2nd Matt Williams (43.09)
3rd Bob Peck (20.odd)