After narrowly finishing second to Sensas Image in the London League, we (Browning Wickford Angling) were given the K&A as our semi final destination as they chose Monk Lakes. This meant we could continue to use our winter league canal skills from the Grand Union rounds.
At 5am I was picked up from Colchester by Danny Grimsey to drive the 165 miles to Pewsey, which equated to driving half way to Cornwall! We made the mistake of stopping off for breakfast at Reading Services which cost OVER £20 for two distinctly average/poor breakfasts.
In the week I had phoned up a local angler who had given me some advice as to methods and species likely to be encountered. The way he fished it seemed logical, therefore I decided to follow his advice to the letter and adapt it as required for the future matches. I cannot give specifics in the unlikely event that someone from an opposing team reads this blog!!
At the draw I pulled out permanent peg 135, which was apparently an average peg according to the match organiser and a phone call to my local contact confirmed this. As usual I couldn't compete with Grimos in the draw bag as he pulled out peg 127 which although close to me was a completely different kettle of fish as it was situated in a turning bay and a potential match winning peg. In fact Des Ship had apparently won a match from here last year with 20lbs of Skimmers.
Bait for the Day
1.1 pints of joker (the limit)
bloodworm
breadpunch
castor
lobs
My first impressions of the K&A after walking to my peg were of it being the muddiest place in the world! The match organisers had given everyone plenty of room with an empty peg either left or right and with generous peg spacing I was optimistic of catchin a few, especially as the water held a nice tinge of colour.
My match went along the lines of the expectations from an "average peg" and my weight of 4lb 7ozs was enough to win my 5 peg section. My catch consisted of approximately 100 small roach and 2 "gustas". (Apparently a "gusta" is what the locals call a roach/bream hybrid). My gustas were a good 8oz each so were my bonuses for the day.
Other observations about the cut were that it is the quietest in the World, we didn't have a single boat all day and hardly a walker. The lack of walkers could probably be attributed to the swamp like conditions. This is a far cry from the London canals in our winter league which were more like Piccadilly Circus.
After returning to HQ it appeared that we had done ok as a team considering it was the first time we had seen the venue. Out of 11 blokes 5 had picked up section money, including Grimos who won his section with a high 3lb (the skimmers did not feed), Dave Guntrip was our star man with a weight of 8lb plus, just missing out on the frame. I also learnt that I had been in one of the poorer sections of the canal, with 5lb plus winning most sections. I'll be looking forward to going back as there seems to be fish to be caught throughout and I think its sure to be a "method" water, responding to a team plan.
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