I’M BACK ON THE BANK BUT I NEED TO SCRAPE OFF THE RUST

I’VE GONE from twiddling my thumbs for weeks to pitching straight back into battle with big qualifiers and a well-attended midweek open, and it was great to be back doing what we all love!

I blame rustiness for missing the chance of winning a 60peg midweeker at Heronbrook Fisheries, Staffs. I ended up third with 143lb but fished badly, made poor decisions and fed too much.

I drew peg 12 on Meadow Pool, and caught a few fish across, shallow and in the margins on pellet, but I felt like I’d left a few fish still in the peg at the end. Perhaps not trying to break the venue record would have helped.

Saturday was a Fish O’ qualifier at Partridge Lakes and I got peg 10 on Spey Canal. To be honest, I’m no fan of knowing the peg in advance – you run through too many scenarios on your way down to the match and it always changes completely when you get to the peg anyway.

Next time, I’ll only look at the email with my peg on it when I get into the fishery car park!

Low water levels forced me to fish down the middle and in the margins and I finished with 118lb, miles off Connor Barlow’s winning 190lb.

Next day it was Larford Lakes for the Golden Reel match. Peg 10 on Arena Lake filled me with dread and five hours later, I’d caught four carp and had almost every rig I set up trashed by fish in the reeds dotted all around my peg.

I should have packed up early, as I’d well and truly lost interest by the end. You can’t always draw a good peg!

“I’m no fan of knowing the peg in advance”