Team mate Sam Johnson was heading up to Evesham today to try and qualify for the August BH Festival but I had already committed to supporting my Club on the River Kenn.
New Match Secretary Robb Fogg was in charge of proceedings.
There was only 12 of us today as a couple had dropped out due to family commitments.Rob had us spread out more or less every other peg from 6 to 22 so there would be plenty of room for everyone.
When we met in Kenn Rd Car Park for the draw it was pretty windy and the forecast was for it to increase as the day went on. Fishing was to be from 1030 - 1630 which is a long day on the Kenn if its hard (and we know it can be).
I pulled out peg 13 which is a reasonable enough area and after parking in Long Acre Close which is adjacent to the river it was a very short walk.
I had my pole gear, waggler rods and a feeder rod, all options covered.
On arrival at my peg it was pretty calm due to being protected from the high bank opposite.
Due to the conditions I did set up a waggler for fishing across at the bottom of the far shelf where it is around 6 foot deep. The plan was to fish red maggot over maggot on this line. The feeder rod was set up with a small cage feeder and a B560 16 hook to 0.11to fish about 2/3rd's across but slightly downstream.
2 x 1 gram pole rigs were also set up to fish at 13 metres where it was around 7 foot deep. 1 rig had a drennan 20 to 0.10 fluro and 6 elastic, the other a B611 size 16 to 0.12 fluro for fishing worm or sweetcorn, elastic was a 12 hollow.
Sam rang me from Evesham before the "all in". He was laughing and I sort of knew what was coming ... let me explain. I have usually picked disc A5 from the draw matrix board at Evesham and I spoke to Sam at the end of last week and I said pick A5. Before he could say anything I said you've picked A5 and you've drawn peg 36 the current flyer. He was still chuckling away and confirmed I was right. I said your bound to frame from there and said we'll speak after the match.
At the start of my match I cupped in 3 balls of Sensas Black Lake and Gros Gardons laced with dead reds, a few casters and a little choppy.
Starting on the feeder with worm and fishmeal ground bait I fed some maggots across on the waggler line while waiting for a bream. Several casts later it just wasn't happening on the tip although I did get a very small slow pull which was probably a liner. I gave it 40 minutes before picking up the waggler.
The wind was picking up now and although I could get the waggler across ok and have some control over it feeding was hopeless. I gave the waggler up after I went squirrel fishing in a bush opposite.
It was over an hour into the match now and I picked up the light pole rig and put a maggot on the 20. I was long lining with the rig due to the wind and it was ok, it was just the odd gust that messed me up presenting.
It must have been about 20 minutes before I had a blade roach but at least I was up and running.
I was fishing about 2 inches over depth and had a few small lift bites which gave me some more small roach. I fed another soft ball and shallowed up a bit but didn't have a bite after doing this so went back to just over depth again. Boom another bite straight away and a small skimmer.
We haven't seen small skimmers on the Kenn for ages so it was nice to see.
I put a small worm head on and I had a sail away bite on the drop. A good fish and the 6 elastic came rushing out. I did play it out in the middle but when I broke down it livened up again and done me in the rushes, it felt like a big perch.
I decided to put some neat chopped worm and caster in and picked up the heavier rig with a tail of a worm on the 16 hook. Instant response and a net roach. More roach followed averaging around 3 to 4 oz.
Team mate Chris Hook who was not fishing came along the bank and said there was only a few small fish caught below me. He walked up to the other end and when he came back said the guy on the end peg to my left had a big tench and some roach. While Chris was there I had a few more decent roach on the worm.
A couple more guy's I know came walking along the bank and confirmed most were struggling.
It did slow up but I put another few roach in the net before the "all out".
Rob walked past me to weigh in from peg 6. When he came to me the best weight was 1lb 2oz.
I weighed 3lb 8oz so at least I would get the Section.
My catch.
Paul Randell upstream of me on peg 11 weighed a level 3lb. He caught small roach short on the waggler.
End peg upstream of me Dave Nash weighed 6lb 7oz, most of that weight was a tench.
Full results as follows....
1st Dave Nash 6lb 7oz
2nd Ivan Currie 3lb 8oz
3rd Paul Randell 3lbs
A Section Kev Perry 1lb 2oz
B Section Rob Fogg 1lb 2oz
So a nice little £60 pick up.
Back to Sam at Evesham ....... he rang to say he just sneaked in to qualify coming 3rd overall with 7lb plus and a £145 pick up, lovely job mate.
I'm back up Evesham on Wednesday and fishing the team qualifying match the following Sunday.
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