On Saturday I was at Partridge Lakes near Cultcheth for the last match in their Winter league series. This venue hadn’t been particularly kind to me at the drawbag this year, but it’s a lovely venue so I was looking forward to the match anyway. Maybe this was my turn to be on a flier! The draw was made by my Drennan Northwest teamate Mike Rogerson, who drew me peg 83 on Covey lake 4, a decent peg at last – so I couldn’t wait to get going. On my right I had the brilliant Andy May for company, the winner of the previous round. The wind was favourable and I was quite excited…

I assembled four rigs, a Drennan Carp 6 0.1 grm for tight across, a 0.2 grm for slightly deeper water (about 3 feet), another Carp 6 0.1grm for down the edge with stronger mainline and hooklength, and my favourite float for the track – a 4×14 Drennan Roach. All rigs had a bulk of shot, with three no11 droppers. My edge rig had 0.14 mainline tied to a 0.12 Double Strength bottom with an 18 Silverfish Pellet hook, the other rigs all had 0.13 Team England rig line to 0.10 Double Strength, the new Kamasan F1 size 18 hooks completed the set up.

The match got underway and many anglers, including me, were quickly into fish – mainly F1s and Ide. Swapping and resting lines seemed to be the best method and after dumping around fifty or so maggots in the track I decided to give the edge a try. This switch proved to be very fruitful as first drop in, a five pound Mirror was followed by about a dozen or so smaller samples!

I finished with an estimated 50lb and after the usual banter about who had beaten who, the scales eventually arrived. The best weight up to this point was 48lb, and hoping to beat this I placed my fish on the scales; and beat it I did! This venue has a strict 66lb per net limit (the scales limit) and to my horror my fish bottomed them out! I’d never imagined I had that weight as I could easily have put another net in and split my fish. The scalesman called “66lb sorry mate”. To rub further salt into my wounds the match was won with only 69lb by my mate Wayne Cerney, relegating me into second place. I had been so wrapped up in concentration about catching my next fish I hadn’t noticed the weight I was building, illustrating how even experienced matchmen like myself can make mistakes.

Definitely one to put down to experience!