A sunny day on the Catteries :)

Banksy organised an open today on Catteries lake 3 but it was a case of 'you should have bin 'ere yesterday' as it fished rock hard. Yesterdays' rover fished really well after a fairly mild week and 'handy' Andy Davies, venue expert, pogged it with 35 lb from the top end of the spit. There were a couple of 20's and several in the teens with no blanks but it was a totally different story today.

I'd been really looking forward to it after the mild spell and I'd set to to make up some rigs in the garage yesterday. To be honest the forecast was for a cold night and temperatures were expected to drop just below freezing again so I kinda fancied it to be hard. To that end I made up a couple of 0.08 rigs with 22's B911 hooks and then a couple of 0.10's with 18's Gama's. They would be fine to handle the F1's, skimmers, chub and ide that had been showing but should one of those big berties put in an appearance I would most likely get smashed off. That was a chance I would have to take and I opted to start off fine and look for a bite or two. I always have a few snig rigs hangin' around anyways, hehe :)

On the way down this morning there was evidence of a frosty night and there was quite a lot of ice on the track leading to the car park. It was good to see Cliffy and Ago there but sadly the Porkster and Big Al failed to show, they obviously though the class field out today was just a bit too good for 'em :) Or maybe after Porky's last in section the previous week at Whitmore he was still sulking, hehe, can't possibly say who told me about that one :)
After a nice brekkie in the cafe the money was handed over and the draw was made. I ended up on 38 on 3b which is not the best peg in the world. On the opposite bank was Grizzly and Banksy, either side of the peg from where Andy won it yesterday. After all the build up the match ended up a damp squib. Banksy won it with 9 lb odd which included seven F1's and a couple of bits. Grizzly didn't weigh but he did catch a couple of roach. He even tried chuckin' his bomb in my peg but to no avail. Ago nabbed second with five F1's for 5 lb summat then there was a 3-4-0 which nudged me in to fourth and the bridesmaid spot with a whopping 2-14-0.
I didn't bother with a tip rod but opted to set up four pole rigs. A couple for fishing on the deck on the long line and one for up in the water. I also set up a beefy rig for down the side just in case but I never had a sniff on that.
I started ok with a couple of skimmers early on. Then it died for about two hours before I managed a tiny perch out at 16 mtrs followed almost immediately by a welcome monkey wrench of about 12 oz or so. After another two hours I nicked a decent roach on my 13 mtr line and that was that.
It was harder than a goats' knee but I do like it up there and we know that it's stuffed with fish, it was just that frost I reckon that put the tin hat on it today.

So that was that, a nice sunny day, bit cold but plenty layers a flask helped keep me warm. Banksy's not running one next Sunday 'cos of some footie match or summat but the Sat'day rover will be on as usual and if the temperatures reach the highs they are forecasting it promises to be a cracker. The next few Sundays after that sees many of the Sunday regulars heading off to Lindholme to practice for the ATWL semi so if I don't go along for the ride I'll be on the look out for a match or two.
The blog's bin a bit quiet of late so if you have been out and about dangling a worm or maybe a pellet, let us know!
'Till next time .... tight lines :)