Chiltern Trinity (Ash Lake).

I had a message at the beginning of the week to say Titch Williams was running a match on the canal lake at Chiltern Trinity, I have only ever fished here once a few years ago in the winter & it was shite' but was looking forward to having a go in the warmer months but didn't really know what to expect. Was having second thoughts when I found out their were only five of us fishing! but me & the kit were ready so decided to at least have a go, Titch had to peg us around some pleasure anglers as no pegs were reserved for us" He had to peg a few either side of the bridge which leads over to the main lake but I did make a point of saying not to put one of them in as it was a jungle on the far side, We had the draw & off I went to my peg above the bridge, Low & behold where was I? In the F*****G jungle peg!!" I couldn't believe it, Titch had drawn below me & had a lovely clear far bank to fish to, as were the next few pegs above me & their I was with a bank of reeds to fish against, Don't get me wrong it looked fishy with a bay off to my right but to go anywhere near it would be suicidal as it had a tree hanging into it & stick-ups all over the place, I wanted to chuck the kit back in the van & do one but after parting with my £20 I had to give it a try but had that gut feeing it was going to end in disaster"??, I think Titch thought the two pegs above me were reserved but they weren't as I sat there setting up cussing the fact I could of been on one of them."

I kept it simple, A rig to fish as close to the far bank reeds as I could in 18inches of water where I found a small area around 4mts from the bay & hoped it to be far enough to be safe enough to steer them clear but had my doubts' I had a rig to fish a couple of feet back towards me in the deeper water around 3-4ft & finally a rig to fish down the edge.

This Is How My Day Went!"

I started with banded hard 6mm pellet set a couple of inches off the deck tight over, cad potting a few of the same to begin with as I didn't really know what to expect, I had bites straight away with a few carp to 2lb in the net before I had a battle with a bigger fish which was desperate to get in the snags but got it in around 5lb, A few more small fish in the next 45mins before I had a fish pushing 8lb, I basically hooked it & shipped straight back to my top kit to stop it doing me" Things slowed down after this, but when I did hook a fish they were of better size but everyone made a run for the bay area which cost me a whole rig & a few hook lengths in the process, Titch had managed just two carp & was struggling but below him John page had netted a few, I was already boiling up with the pain of trying to stop the fish when a couple of hours in the inevitable happened" I hooked a lump which bolted into the bay behind the tree branch & before I could even react, BANG" the pole touched the tree snapping my number 4 section clean in half !!!, The fish buried itself under the stick-ups the other side of the tree leaving my top kit, plus the number 4 sticking out the lake". Now I was really P****D Off'...

I couldn't do anything about it at this stage but hoped to retrieve it at the end of the day, The rest of the day was slow fishing but I was still hooking the odd fish but the ratio was around 3 lost to one netted! With around an hour to go I had another decent fish dive in the stick-ups behind the tree, I managed to keep the pole out but it was now tethered around them causing a right commotion & just as I thought it couldn't get any worse it disturbed the fish which appeared to be tethered to the sections I lost earlier & it disappeared" I managed a couple more before the all out was called which I was very pleased to here for a change' I assumed the sections hadn't gone far so after asking for the boat which couldn't be used had to do the inevitable & dive in! I got into the bay area & retrieved a top kit, Just a shame it wasn't mine!" I had a good feel around but nope' it had disappeared...

Well what a day that was.. I managed to win the day with 49lb odd & john was 2nd with 33lb so I picked up £45 in the process, Just a shame the true price of the day would cost me around £250 to replace the three sections! well that wont be happening anytime soon so the high-light of my day was a couple of pints to calm my nerves in the Bristol Bridge Pub on the way home with a few Lads who had been fishing the two day event on the other lake" I shouldn't get wound up but today was totally avoidable if I had just been slightly further up on one of the other free pegs" I Knew from the start the jungle peg was going to be testing, It was that alright & expensive in the process!!

1st Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 17, 49lb 12oz.

2nd John Page (Drennan Thyers) peg 15, 33lb 2oz.