Gary's day

It was back to the Stort for round 2 of the Jarvis Cup this weekend with the river low but with some colour and flow. Again it was going to be a stormy day with 40+mph winds.

Out of the draw bag came peg 13 for me and I had hopes of a few fish as it always looks good in this corner. A start on breadpunch went well with a few small roach going in the net but, as is usual, the bites slowed and the fish got smaller and smaller. At this point Phil below me on 12 was struggling to get bites on punch but with some perch talking a liking to it. Above on 14 Steve was having a good run of perch over by the boats and looked to be heading for a good weight. Time for a refeed on the punch line and a try for perch whilst this settled - no bites.

After a few more ever smaller roach and dace on punch it was time to try for perch again and this time a 6oz fish obliged. That was it though so back to the main swim. As the afternoon went on the fishing became harder and harder with the river's flow being all over the place as the wind pushed it back and forth. The last 90 mins was almost biteless with Phil and Steve also struggling. At the all out 5 hours of effort translated to just over 2lbs and nowhere in the match for me. Time for a rethink on the Backwater as we have a couple more matches on this before the season's end.

1st Tony Cruci 3lbs 14oz, 2nd Phil Whitmill 3lbs 12oz and 3rd Mark Halverson 3lbs 10oz. Picture today is me desperately trying to find a perch in the gap between the boats.