Second coach trip of the Summer and it was full of highs and lows.
Seventeen anglers plus yours truly made the trip to Boldings in Bridgnorth, Shropshire to fish Sycamore pool, we had the fifty peg pool to ourselves so plenty of space for everyone.
All of our party loaded up at 5.30am at our usual pick up point, with first stop en route being for breakfast at our favourite truck stop on the A5 'The Truckers Rest'.
Following some 'carb loading' in readiness for the match, it was off to Boldings. After a 20 minute delay in navigating our coach around the fishery (well done Driver), everyone disembarked and sorted their gear. Having organised the draw a few minutes earlier at the fishery shop we were ready to go.
The match fished 10.30am - 3.30pm under pleasant conditions hovering around 21 degree's a light to almost negligible breeze and the occasional sunny interval.
It took a few hours for the fish to come to life and some pegs it still didn't, however some anglers managed to work the conditions in their favour to get a reasonable net of fish. Bait varied from peg to peg, some had success with caster some with maggot a few with sweetcorn, most fishing on the pole.
Lee Clarke had a great day on peg 8, from where I was sat you would have put money on him winning Golden Peg today (he got the draw today), first one for a few years, but it wasn't to be. Over on peg 48 Rob Healey had a slow start catching bits, for it to liven up later in the day and caught some beasties down the side and enough to edge a win over Alan Lamb over on peg 6 by a mere one pound.
Whilst all the action was taking place, others were having a mare!
Kev Smith fell and broke one of his pole sections which is going to hurt the wallet when he either gets it repaired or replaced.
Frank Davies on peg 40 was being harrassed by noisy Wood Pigeons and the straw that broke the Camels back was the troupe of Swans going through his peg constantly and not being put off by his audible Anglo Saxon rage. So much so he gave up early and packed away. Better luck next time Frank.
The match concluded at 3.30pm with Alan and James sorting the weigh-in, the results are below for all to see. Well done to Rob for winning his first Saturday match with us. Not only that, during the match he caught a lump which weighed in at 17lb 8oz and gives him biggest fish so far this season, with only three matches to go for it to be beaten (fingers crossed eh Rob).
Hard luck to Lee who put a valiant effort in on his Golden Peg, still managed a creditable third place.
So it was back on the coach for the trip home, stopping off at the pub for tea and a pint. This too turned into an ordeal as our original pub had no gas so couldn't cook, our second choice didn't have the capacity to accomodate us, but third time lucky a Fayre & Square pub at Catch Corner, Stafford got us in and fed and watered us, thanks to Dan the Duty Manager and his staff for great service, good food and a decent pint of IPA as well.
To say the return journey was stressful it was for me, it was like having 17 caged tigers at feeding time! Still, it wasn't boring!

Next Summer match, 6th August, Heronbrook


......Tightlines.....