A clear and sunny start to the day, still cold from the overnight low temps and frost. By All In the Sun had burnt its way through any wispy clouds and with little wind it turned out a glorious day.
Peg 23 is over the bridge and on the right hand twang, half way up, the water was well coloured from the run off of all the rain over this week. Open water right across, the far bank a good 40m, an overhanging tree left and straight out with rushes to the right. My 11′ tip rod easily getting close with a tiny 10g bomb or 15g hybrid feeder. Waggler out at 15m was to be my main line for the day, tip during lunch and last hour of the match. Set up with a yellow bristle on my Drennan 2.5g insert waggler, plumbed up with just shy of 6′ of depth. Pinkie on the hook, toss feeding small balls of 50/50 Thatchers dark/likki bread crumb, catting big red over the float. At the ALL IN I tossed in 2 small balls of groundbait and catted in 6-10 big red, first cast and a pommie in the net 👍, no blank for Johhny boy. Making steady progress with small to tiny stamp during the morning. Chucked out my tip with 2 big red on the hook to the far bank while I quaffed a brace of ham and pickle sandwiches, washed down with a mug of Columbia’s finest No3 roast. After lunch I hooked up a pinkie on my waggler, the rod slipped off the rest and as I caught it the hook embedded itself in the back of my hand! The hook being a thin wire #22 micro barbed affair. Options; cut the spade and feed it back through the skin, just grab it with plyers and pull it out the way it went in! A quick look round to see no one was looking and I had a little cry 😂, just before pulling it out the way it went in 😟, that really did smart. The clouds had moved in and the lighting had changed significantly enough for me to change my insert from yellow to black. I felt a bump through my platform which made me jump, a big ~2.5footer, pike had crashed my keep net and was swirling in front of the platform!
Tip for the last hour, which I gave up on with 15mins to go as it was fruitless, pulled in 3 more tiny roach on the waggler before the ALL OUT bringing my tally to 35 on the clicker. Weigh in had me with 2lb 5oz and not last, I think I ended up 6th, with less than a pound between the 8 who weighed. That’s winter fishing on natural waters for you, a great day with amazing company and a good laugh.
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