The weather was fairly mild when we left Colchester with no night time frost. However, as we neared our destination it was clear it had been much colder further south west with evidence of a heavy frost. We hoped the canal would not be frozen as we had not bought ice breakers, in fact out of the whole team only two people had bought them! Rumours at the draw suggested the canal was part frozen, therefore breakers would be needed on some pegs.
I got my wish and pulled out a different section of canal, this time at Pewsey Wharf, permanent peg number 74. The match organiser suggested it was a good peg and in a better area than where I had drawn last time, so I had some grounds for optimism. Danny faired less well pulling out peg 131, this was four pegs to the left of where I had drawn last match with ex Essex County star Richard Taylor managing 2lbs odd only from it that day.
After arriving at my peg I quite fancied it as I was next to some wires which gave me a big peg to my left due to the "no fishing" zone created. Also, the cut was wider than average here, with it being a good 15 metres to the far bank. The canal was iced all the way across and of course I did not have an ice breaker, unfortunately it was also too thick to break with a pole cup. It soon became apparent that I was in the majority as everyone had been caught out by the cold snap and there were only 2 ice breakers out of about 15 anglers. One was severely improvised, a seat box leg was tied to a piece of rope as thick as my arm, unsurprisingly I could only launch it about 6 metres! I managed to get hold of the other breaker which flew out well, but was hindered by only having 11 metres of rope. Ideally I wanted to break out to 13 metres, but had no choice in the matter. Lesson learnt, always leave your ice breaker in the car!
My match was a definite match of two halves, for the first three hours I caught consistently on both bread and bj and the last two yielded hardly a bite. The downturn in action coincided firstly with the ice melting and also with a run of boats. With every boat the fishing seemed to get progressively worse until everyone was left scratching their heads. At the weigh in I recorded 4lb 11 ounces which was mainly small roach and the odd bonus "gusta", this was enough to win my 5 peg section. The only downside was the walk back through the mud which had now thawed out. Some anglers were forced to abandon their trolleys as they became stuck fast in the sludge!
The match was only won with a high seven pound as the sudden cold snap obviously knocked the canal on its head. We had several section pick ups, with the star man for the second match running being Dave Guntrip. He weighed in 6lb dead taking 5th place in the match, his catch consisted mainly of bits and bobs, but he had the added bonus of a pound skimmer first put in. David's day took a sudden turn for the worse on the way home as he relieved himself of his winnings as a result of some haphazard driving on the M4. Dave's version of events goes along the lines of him being dazzled by a driver up his arse, which caused him to swerve and collide with team mate Mark Campions car. Campo is now wing mirrorless, struggles to open his drivers door and has a big dent on his front wing, somehow Dave's car escaped unharmed!
Another story from the day involved Starlets Dan Ashington. Apparently Dan had succesfully broken out his peg and was just getting his box into position. As he was adjusting his footplate legs he slipped on the ice and ended up in the drink dragging his Rive box in with him! I bet he wished he done it before breaking the ice! Luckily for Dan another angler had a spare pair of trousers in his van and heroically Dan fished on and even won his section!
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