Framfield Fishery. Spring Lake. March 13th, 2005.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well stupidity overcame common sense this morning, as instead of just rolling over and staying under a nice warm duvet cuddled up with the wife when the alarm went off at 6am, I got up and decided to give it a go on my club’s match.

 So at 7am there I was loading the tackle into the car for the drive down to Framfield Lakes just outside the village of Uckfield. Frost on the car didn’t bode well, and the frost on the surrounding countryside got heavier as I approached the venue.

On arrival more disappointment entered the equation as the onsite catering wagon was closed, so no hot cuppa or bacon sarnie to start the day.

Now there are about 7 pegs you don’t really want to draw as you can’t reach the islands from them, so of course I drew peg 60 which is probably as far away from an island as it’s possible to get. Out came the waggler, while the next peg set up a bomb rod, so between us we would see if anything was about. I also set up 4 sections of pole to target a dead reed bed in the margin to my right.

10am and all-in was called, and after an hour the waggler had produced just a couple of tiny Roach, while next door hadn’t had a touch. Also a cold crosswind had sprung up ruining presentation, so it was pole time. Targeting a small gap about a foot square between the reeds, it was a question of feeding 4 grains of corn and fishing a single grain till a bite or fish arrived.

Well apart from watching those fishing to the island catching, I actually managed to winkle a few small Carp out and at the final whistle managed to put a level 19lbs on the scales which was enough for 6th place on the day.

So hard work in the cold and wind, but given the limitations of my peg on the day I was reasonably happy with the result.