Gary's day

Today was the second interclub match of the week against Saffron Walden and we were 1 down.

We had a good turn out on both sides so the lake was going to be pretty full. With it being breezy I fancied a draw with the high bank behind me for a bit of shelter. The draw bag gods smiled and out came peg 23, the cruel twist being it gave me a front seat view of flyer pegs 1 and 2.

I got off to a good(ish) start, a quick bite but foulhooked and falling off - early nerves got the better of me and I should have waited for the classic sail-away paste bite and not struck at an F1 style twitch. A couple did go in the net over the first hour once I remembered to wait for a proper bite but it was slow going and I was not alone. It was a case of chopping and changing and a mid-match change to trying to catch anything that swam care of some rather old dead maggots from the bottom of the freezer paid off. At the weigh in I was surprised to tip 31lbs 6oz on the scales helped with some lovely roach and rudd. And even more surprised to pick up second behind peg 1.

1st Roger Phillips 51lbs 5oz, 2nd Gary Pickard 31lbs 6oz, 3rd James Gillard 20lbs 15oz, 4th Dave Knapp 19lbs 2oz and 5th Ray Gibson 18lbs 15oz. It was a tight match with a fish or 2 either way making all the difference - Saffron Walden won the day with 79 points to Bishop's Stortford's 91.

Today's photo has us ready for the all in with flyer pegs 1 and 2 over on the right.