We had a Manastir Match 1st today! Our 1st lady competitor, hopefully the 1st of many.
Today’s match saw 5 intrepid souls compete in what was to be another strange day for fishing.
The weather was reasonable, a breeze blowing into our faces which is normally good for catches.
As there were only 5 of us we concentrated on the house bank, it’s comfier and normally productive.
Zoya, our lady angler drew peg 7 and her chap Paul drew peg 6. They had both driven down from Dve Mogilly which is just south of Shumen. Quite a camel hike really and well done them for undertaking a 2 hour journey.
I drew peg 5, simon peg 4 and John peg 3.
John had his new pole in action for the 1st time, it was also the 1st time he’d fished with a pole so I sort of understood why there was a lot of cussing coming from his peg for the 1st hour or so. It kept us amused.
Again, the initial 2 hours were very unproductive for just about everyone. Simon had a couple of nice fish but nothing else was being caught.
I decided the best thing I could do after 2 fishless hours was to make myself a cup of tea, so I did. I returned to the announcement from Paul that he’d caught a fish!
The cup of tea must have worked, I sort of got my act together after that.
I’d been fishing out on the waggler and closer in at the 9m line on the pole, nothing. Moving out to 12.5m saw me start to get bites. I’d fished this line (and others) previously on the waggler to no avail. Maybe the bait was moving too much, I don’t know.
My 1st fish was a common carp of about 1.5lb followed swiftly by a nice grass carp of about 1lb. It was patchy to say the least, one or two fish in quick succession then nothing for a while. This was the pattern for the next couple of hours.
Meanwhile, between telephone conversations to his girlfriend in the next peg, Paul was beginning to catch one or two as well. With about one hour to go, he hooked a lump. He wisely played the fish on 16m of pole for about 15 mins to tire it out before bringing it in close to the reeds. a further 5 minutes later saw him with the fish close in and on the top 3 of his pole. At this point he hadn’t managed to identify the fish at all except to say it was big. Then, PING! The hook pulled out. He still doesn’t know what it was but was quite sure it wasn’t a Tollostolob. It remains a mystery even after a few beers and sage counselling. To top it all and in a fit of pique he stood on the end section of his pole and broke it.
Meanwhile, Zoya (our lady angler) phoned Paul (next peg) to tell him she’d lost another biggie. At the other end, peg 3, John had eventually gone quiet (ish). Me and Simon had another beer and just got on with it.
Results:
- Paul Mansley - 15lb 14oz (7.2kg)
- Simon - 7lb 14oz (3.57kg)
- John - 6lb 14oz (3.12kg)
- Paul W - 6lb 7oz (2.92kg)
Ladies Champion:
Zoya - 1lb 3oz (0.539kg)
Next match Sunday 10 Oct 2010.
