Gary's day

Today was the first leg of the Stort Cup so it was a trip to the Backwater. We were met with a clear river but it had a little flow so hope was not all lost.

It was peg 12 again for me but thankfully with us spread out a bit more today so peg 11 below was empty. After catching micro roach last time, today I was going to fish more positively to see if they could be fed off. A start on bread punch got me some quick bites but from 1/2 oz roach and, given the number of bites I was missing, I suspect the average size was much smaller in my peg. Tony and Rob above me and Steve below were having an equally slow start with just small fish. A try over by the boats had me getting some very odd signs and strikes met with half a worm coming back. It looked like I was sitting on some crayfish.

A try on maggot got me the occasional bite but the fish were no bigger. The odd look over by the boats finally got me a perch but one only one of the 3oz babies.

John walked past from peg 18 about halfway through to get something from his car and mentioned he had about 1 1/2lbs and was getting plenty of bites. I was way behind this.

Rob and Steve had some fun and games with the pike with Steve managing to land a couple but they don't count in our matches. No pike for me but plenty of fry jumping out of the water now and again as something spooked them.

A swap to pinkies when the bites tailed off as the cloud cover disappeared kept bites coming but the fish were getting smaller. A couple more small perch from near the boats helped but it was a lot of effort for 2lbs 4oz on the scales.

John took out the match with 5lbs 12oz from peg 18 with the rest of us hovering around the 2-3lb mark. Next was Mark Halverson with 2lbs 14oz and 3rd Phil Whitmill with 2lbs 10oz. Pic today is Phil with his hard day's work.