Round 4. Stockton Reservoir.
Saturday 29th July 2006.
What a great day out.
I pulled into the car park at Stockton around 10·30am in glorious sunshine, and a quick look around found the yorkie's Dave & Tim wandering around with Nick(monkey) along with Neo and Brian with Darren(badatfishing) in tow.
I thought that the water looked spot on, but there again I really like Stockton as a venue, although I know there are a few that really hate the place.
With a bit of time to kill before the draw we adjourned to the garden of The Blue Lias for a pint or two where we were joined by John(Bucko) and his good lady, who though they weren't fishing had decided to come down and meet the lunatics who fish
The Jinx Series.
Anyway at around noon we were back in the car park for the draw.
Now at Stockton any of the pegs between 1-15 and 22-25 have a feature in the form of reed beds or islands to fish to so of course i pick 20 with absolutely jack in the way of a feature, unless you're crazy or desperate enough to try tempting them out from under the boards.
Setting up it was obvious that if nothing else the company for the day was going to be good with Dirk, Simon(Me) and Neo to my left and Paul with his better half, Malc, Keith and Matt to the right.
Setting up was pretty simple as I had decided on one approach that I was confident would get me a few fish. Pole at 9mtrs to fish paste over pellet in 4feet of water.
Last time we fished the same pegs I found that the tow could be a bit of a problem as it can be quite exposed, so I had made my paste up stiffer than usual to stop the hook being dragged out.
1·30pm saw the all-in so a ball of paste along with a few GOT 4mm sinkers was shipped out and I was ready for action.
About 10 mins in and the float buried and I was attached to one of Stockton's residents, a nice Mirror that gave the usual good account of itself before it was safely in the net. As usual the "support and encouragement" from those around me was outstanding and set the tone for the day early on.
For anyone that hasn't been to Stockton, it's hard to appreciate just how fit these fish are and what a good account of themselves they give, also they are without exception in stunning condition which is great to see.
About an hour in and the sun vanished as the wind brought in an ominously grey sky with the threat of rain to come, however apart from a couple of very brief showers, it thankfully didn't materialise though the sun struggled to put in an appearance for the rest of the match.
After about 90 minutes I'd had 3 carp and was into a 4th, however this one led me a merry dance and dived under my platform, however I managed to get it out but before I could net it, it got under again and out round my keepnets. Needless to say I lost it. I'd like to say thanks for the sympathy shown by my fellow anglers at this point, but I think you can probably guess that it wasn't forthcoming.
Looking down to the right I saw Keith finally get of the mark, fishing double cat meat he soon had the fish under control and in the net.......................... a 2" Rudd.
Paul was fishing The Method with his little red men as hookbait, and only a lightning reaction saved his new Preston Carbonactive going for a swim as he was finally into one. Now they reckon you can't lock up a Carbonactive, but Paul seemed a tad reluctant to try this theory out despite encouragement from the rest of us.
Meanwhile Simon(me) was devastating the resident Perch with paste while studiously avoiding any nuisance Carp, leaving these for Dirk on his right.
After my carp under the platform out came the bung and a foot and a bit of elastic removed and I soon had a common in the net. However I then had a spell where I pulled out of three fish. Sympathy and advise flowed freely of course, telling me that I'd removed to much, Malc even offering some superglue so I could stick the discarded elastic back on. It really does your heart good to be sharing the bank with such caring mates.
Further down Matt could be seen fishing his usual tidy match, though we were treated to a couple of box climbing incidents (no photo though as we've seen it all before )
With a couple of hours to go I had 5 Carp and had lost 3, and both Paul and Dirk had caught me with 5 Carp each, however I then had 3 more in rapid succession to pull away from them again.
Going into the last half hour I managed one more, but lost another two, while Simon finally finally found himself attached to something other than a Perch, however after a high speed charge through Dirks swim he managed to lose the nuisance.
6·30pm and the all out saw Paul still refusing to try out the anti-lock properties of his new rod as he brought a final Carp to the net.
With Malc doing the Honours on the scales my 9 carp weighed 59lbs 12ozs, enough for 4th overall and a 1st in section.
Dave (yorkie) Moore took the honours on the day with a fine 84lb bag, while MarkC on yet another end peg!!!!!! was just edged out into 3rd by Matt, both having 70lbs+ bags.
Back to the pub for the results and a pint, an enjoyable day all round, and well done to Nick WP (Monkey) who picked up his section money with a fine 40lbs+, his best Jinx result so far.
Next up Manor Farm for the penultimate round of the series, should be fun.
Peg 8…....Dave M….......84lb 8oz
Peg 16…..Matt N…........71lb 8oz
Peg 2…....Mark C……......70lb 4oz
Peg 20…..Peter M…........59lb 12oz
Peg 11…..Geoff E….........54lb
Peg 4…....Nick W-P…......41lb 4oz
Peg 19…..Paul R……........36lb
Peg 15…..Darren…….......33lb 8oz (Guest)
Peg 3…....Roy R………......30lb 8oz
Peg 6…....Eric R….….......27lb
Peg 10…..Ant H…..…......28lb 12oz
Peg 21…..Dirk W….........28lb 4oz
Peg 14…..Brian B…........25lb
Peg 24…..Dave A…........24lb 12oz
Peg 13…..Steve W........24lb 4oz
Peg 12…..Steve D.........16lb (Guest)
Peg 9……Tim W……........11lb
Peg 18…..Malc D…........13lb 4oz
Peg 17…..Keith A…….....10lb
Peg 5…....Richard H….....8lb (Guest)
Peg 23…..Nick W….........5lb 14oz
Peg 22…..Simon R….…....1lb
Peg 7….....Kev L………..........1oz
Total Weight put on the scales was 712lb 7oz
Round 5 would be on Windmill Lake at Manor Farm.