“AND WE’RE BACK TO MATCHES AGAIN!”

AFTER another lockdown I was champing at the bit to get out, and the first week saw me out four times... with mixed results.

My first trip out was to Firswood Fishery in T-shirt conditions on a lovely day, catching carp and F1s shallow and on the deck with pellets for top spot with 160lb. Always nice to ease back in with a win! It also helped me sharpen up.

The following day saw a freezing wind and the winter clothing back on. I was off to Heronbrook to film a match for Winning Ways, and drew old peg 7 on the Match Lake. The fishing was great, though. I caught 65 F1s for 148lb using meat – but I was well off the pace.

All that helped me get ready for my first two big qualifiers of the year, a Fish O’ at Moorlands Farm and Match This at The Glebe. On the Fish O’, I felt I had a chance, drawing peg 18 on Meadow Pool. Nothing was caught for the first half of the match, but then bomb and mugging shallow in the closing stages gave me eight carp for 52lb, well away from framing.

Had those mugger fish arrived an hour earlier, I might have had enough to win.

At The Glebe it snowed for two hours and I drew on the lake that never, ever throws up a weight in these matches – Lake 4. I gave it a few hours for seven carp and then wrapped up an hour early, pleased to get the van heater on!

That’s the nature of these matches at this time of year. The good news is that for the next few weeks, most of my matches are on F1 venues where the fishing should be a little fairer.

“That’s the nature of these matches”