hollowlegs round 5

I have decided to create this site in memory of my best friend Chris Patten. If any information helps any other angler I am certain Chris would have been delighted.
For anyone who did not know Chris he was a very talented angler and a wonderful
friend to many people. He died of cancer just 46 years old and I have missed him every day since. After his death I became very depressed and more or less gave up fishing although I have forced myself to go now and then, this new year I am determined to go more often.
It was reading Jamies blog and a good weather forecast that prompted me to book in to the 5th round of the hollowlegs league on the river Isle. Heather my, wife was pleased that I wanted to go, so Saturday was spent rounding up a bit of bait and tying a few hooks. Right up until the evening I was unsure if I really wanted to go but the thought of seeing old friends was reassuring.The draw was at the Crown Ilminster and it really was good to see around 20 people most of whom I know. I drew peg 126 at Isle
Brewers and was told it was a real flyer, it occured to me during the drive to the peg that the last time I fished the river I had drawn this very peg and had won the teams of 4 with a very low 8lbs of roach when the river fished badly. Above me on a peg that had recently produced a big roach weight was Neil Dring who knows the river well and has a good record on the river, below was Rockin Roy Fowler on peg 128 another regular who would know the peg well and how to fish it. My peg is the crown of a bend and from that experience a few years ago I knew the most likely roach hideout would be well up the peg. The shallow swim is no more than 2ft deep at the neck boiling in the middle with a smooth glide far bank and fairly narrow. normally I would have have opted for a short line but because I was fairly sure that I would be catching small fish quickly and the likelihood that pike would menace the fish at some stage I opted for an unusual approach. 4.5 metres to hand, I knew this compromised
control and presentation to some extent but felt that to build a competitive weight and avoid as much pike interest as possible catching quick to hand was vital, pulling out of fish especially at the last moment and the tree above me would look like a christmas tree. Dream start, the peg is solid roach and my 1 grm jolly hardly trots a foot before burying , a few adjustments to depth and shotting and I am reasonably happy with
things catching good stamp roach, a trouble free first hour I estimate a thumping 8lbs
in the net I know it cannot last . I have never heard of 30 lbs + roach weights on this river. After about an hour my first problem comes from a most unlikely source, an odd looking bite provided a thumping response and elastic streaking upstream , chub my immediate thought, good bonus but instead up pops a 12oz roach hooked in the tail. gently, gently guide towards the net but alas hook pulls out, rig in the tree. new rig takes a while to shot up and get right, some momentum lost. A steady 2nd hour
but one or two bonus 12oz ers . 3rd hour becomes a bit frustrating . I am bumping a few
now and am catching much smaller stamp of fish also first pike strike arrives. A group of people arrive with children and a black labrabor, they are very noisy and begin throwing things into the river so the dog jumps in some 20yds above my peg .They stayed for nearly an hour and certainly did not help my cause. Soon after they had gone I suffered 2 more pike strikes one of which ended with the rig up the tree again,
2 hours to go and the dream of a big weight began to fade , however I still knew that there was a stack of fish in front of me. It seemed to me that there was more than one
pike and they were lying in the slacker water, it was at this moment that I made a decision to fish the shallow boil in front of me to try to avoid these pike. I knew it was a gamble but yes, final answer ? Chris , yes final answer! shortening the rig to 4 m I fished further down the peg and upped the feed drastically. After a poor initial response it was tempting to risk the slacker water but my first attempt produced a 3oz roach followed by a tail walking 4lb pike , no, definitely fish the boil. After 30 minutes of intense feeding the swim suddenly responded , a good run of roach was followed by 3 successive 12oz fish and a steady last hour . I knew I had a good weight but would hate to have to estimate it. It suddenly occured to me that I was also on a golden peg and a win would be worth £200 . I had also drawn the scales but the other 3 I was due to weigh in had
had bad days and left. All 3 are good anglers but caught very little. Why the fish are so tightly packed at this time I have only guesswork to go on. I had to be weighed in by the next section . Digger Denslow had 7lbs + and Neil an excellent 19 lbs 1oz .I felt fairly confident after seeing Neil weigh that I certainly was in with a shout but 2 weighs and 29 lb 10 0z was a genuine shock to me , my best weight on the river ! Just 5lbs short of the all time record weight and I am led to believe the best ever roach weight. I know I did not really fish that well but what a way to start a blog , a new year and thanks to all in the Crown afterwards . Neils 19lb 1oz was easily 2nd and Martin Heards 8lb+ of dace chublets and roach put him 3rd. I endured a lot of banter about winning the golden peg
on my 1st visit in a long while but it was all lighthearted.