MY FIRST MATCH - Ferry Meadows Aug 07

The drive up was great (good old AA route finder ) ..UNTILL the last 5 miles The directions flew off my lap landed on the passenger floor and could not reach them t was then when it went Belly up...but I made it, checked in and walked over to meet Alan and Gary (Penfold) drove to Pick up Nick From Ferry Meadows and off to meet Euge in the pub ..Also greeted by Ted and Kev Wilmot, getting a good briefing from ted and kev on the lake etc ..Found a great Chinese what a fantastic evening, Thank you for the great company

Checked weather on TV while haveing a cuppa in bed (oh thats the life!) Gary and Alan came over to me at 7.30am for brekie..Good ole Full English and Toast to start the day..What a gorgeous morning it was....Headed to Ken Wades tackle shop and bumped into Ted, stocked up on Maggot, worm and Squats ( funny little things they are)

Weather still beautifull (thinking TV WRONG as normal) Nooooooo got to F/M and met up with everyone,Kevolio very kindly had feeders for everyone, thank you Kev Had the Draw I pulled out 116 and off for the trek around the lake PUSHING my fully loaded up seat box...So much easier pushing it than pulling it lol)

The sky went Black (deep joy!) Got to my peg which looked more like the a glorified Rock pool on Cromer Beach!!! (only with Boulders! LMAO....How the hell was I going to work this??!! FORTUNATLY for me I had the privilage of Jimmy (kevolio's dad) in the peg next to me and made sure I was all set up and comfy...In the water PMSL, Jimmy also set up my feeder Rod and showed me the correct way of mixing my ground bait (thank you Penfold for the ground bait) The Jimmy asked the question that would be the bane of my match!!...do you have an umbrella?? yes was my answer (again thank you Penfold )

I sat perched on my seat box all ready to go..Heared Euge holla across the lake to start...(For a lovely placid guy GOD HE CAN SHOUT! LMAO ) After a few chucks of the feeder to practise, I was happy to get going...........

I 1st untangled a huge knot in my hook length, not really knowing where to rest my rod as I was surrounded by water in all 4 directions lol..Then unwrapped 6 ton of line from around the tip of the rod....Followed by another knot in the hook length...and a good few more twists and tangles in the tip! ( going good! NOT! LOL)...

I got settled and found my way around my ped at long last, it only took me an hour after the had started , I was away, missed a good few bites and the wind was blowing a gale, the shy went Black again and started to rain - I got a bite got the little skimmer as the heavens opened, typical! LOL got him sorted and in the net..PHEW I got 1..Grabbed the brolly, and wedged it in the rocks, thinking YEP, I'm sorted now, feeling all proud of myself that I had settled in ........Clambered off the box hanging on for dear life to the platform, (Thank you NeilP for letting me borrow that 0 I used as a table for all my bait and bits, teh wind went WHOOSH and so did my brolly! It went sailing across the lake, rescued it from 3 pegs down, nealy took off with the wind carrying it back

Start again! This time as to not make the same mistake twice, I stuck the pole of the brolly in the slots the handle sits in on back of box...Thinking why the hell didn't I do that in the 1st place!! ...Heavens opened again, more gales, the brolly tilted and swung around and I couldn't see Jack S***, brolly stuck to face!!

Missed lots of bites as never used a feeder before so couldn't tell what was a bite or the wind blowing it, clambered on the bank to food and drink and WHOOSH! Brolly yet again going sailing across the lake and seatbox face down in the water and 3 discorgers went sailing across the lake that fell out of the drawer.....gave up for a while and went to see Nick on the bridge for half hr and back for another go..clamberd down my boulders and SPLOSH! I was in up to my knees! By this time I had tears rolling down my face from laughing at the whole experience of my 1st ever match

Next fish came out bit bigger than the last skimmer, NOW I was comfy and really getting into it, and got a little routine and system going and could of quite happiley sat their for another 5 hrs but with only 2 hrs to go and a very bad start, out came another fish yet again bigger than the last 2 a 3 courres meal on the hook, squeezed bit of corn, maggot and squats LOL ..followed by thunder and lighting..I think Jimmy and I had the windest pegs on the lake as all te other brollys sat still and looked like they didn't even ripple

5 mins remaining and wandered off and perched on a rock by Jimmy, he was feeding me with information, tips, hints, do's nad don'ts..I was soaking it all up like a sponge

Then came that familler holla across the lake and it was all over, the rain pelted down, I was soaked and resembled a windswept drowned rat ...But did I care?? did I hell LOL ...My little bag of 3 weighed in at 1lb 7oz Of which I was more than happy with concidering never used a feeder before and not used to sitting in the water perched on rocks, in heavy down pours and gales LMAO and to top it all I didn't come last!! a few blanked