We had the draw in the lodge. It was nice and warm with a big fire roaring away. There was also plenty of food to be be had, they serve breakfast in the morning and lunch, afternoon. They also sell an array of dry baits.
We were fishing on the Club Canal and Match Canal. I payed my fees and drew peg 1 (end peg) on the Club Canal. I was reassured, i had drew the flyer
The water looked very still, like last week, not much fish movement......

I had the whole side to go at, where would i start.....

All the other guys were to my right. Stirzy only came in his T-shirt with a coat

Today, i brought a massive array of baits, only to catch on red maggot all day. The match started and Mark Unsy' was into fish straight away. The others started to catch also. My flyer was doing nothing. An hour passed, my 13s elastic and 4.5lb hook length is not the way to go. I paused for thought and went for the lightest setup i had, 8s elastic, 16s hook and 2.5lb gut. Still i could not make contact with the fish. My final desperate plan was to fish the far corner, spraying red maggot with the catapult. Finnaly i made contact a very small roach which fell off
I stuck to my guns, the roach started to get bigger. These were hard to hook, but at least i was getting something. I moved my float in, nearer the reeds and got a take straight away, something bigger. A small mirror came to the net. This was soon followed by another. Then nothing. I continued catapulting maggots in. After a while, a slow but positive bite, provided me with something a lot bigger. My 8s was stretched to its limmit, soon after this large stripey fish hit the surface. Was i glad to get that in the net. A perch i estimated about 2.5lb....
I hooked and lost another. The third one felt the biggest, eventually i landed it, probably the same size.
The match ended. Five hours of cold. Colin came round with the scales. I weighed 10lb+. The two perch were both weighed sepperately at 4lbs and 4lb 4oz.....

The brace at 8lb 4oz...Thanks for the head-shot

My previous PB was 1lb 14oz, These kicked mine well into touch.....

I had a great day, the company was terrific as usual. But, Please, lets have some warmer weather........