Slow Progress

Back to College Pool, or should that be back to school?! It was a tough day (especially the first half) and the Bream mission I'd started the previous week remains a case of unfinished business. I'm not setting my sights too high for the challenge - there's a fair head of Bream in the 4-6lb class in the pool, along with the odd 7lb+ fish that we know of. One of the larger 6lb+ samples that I've had on occasions in the past would give me a solid mark to work from and I could then target bigger fish later in the year on other venues.

After 2 sessions on the pool though, I can't seem to connect with the right stamp of fish. A few hours in and I'd only had a 3lb 14oz Bream and 3 small Perch. The guy opposite had banked a solitary small Barbel before calling it a day, while on the next peg only a Roach and a decent Bream had come out.

Despite nearly calling it a day around 2ish, I stuck it out for an extra couple of hours and just kept fishing over the bait I'd balled in at the off. In the end it paid off to a small extent, as I took 3 more fish in the last 2 hours. A Bream of 3lb 15oz was first on to the bank, followed by an all too rare (for this pool) Chub of 2lb 9oz.

I can recall many years ago when I first fished the pool, it was full of Chub. Very few seem to show up now though, so this immaculate looking fish was a welcome change. I didn't expect to be increasing my Chub challenge score today, but this fish chucked an extra 3oz (or a massive 2pts!) on to my score. The final fish of the day also added 2 more points to my score. It was the species I'd set out to catch, but at 4lb 12oz, it was still quite a way short of my target for Bream.

Sadly I had to call it a day at that time, as I had other duties to attend to. I get the impression that I was probably leaving when prospects were on the upturn and I'd have liked at least another couple of hours. Keith J had turned up was fishing the far bank, so I'll be interested to see how he got on.

Next time I think I'll dig out the pellets to see if that sorts out the better fish. I seem to be in the habit of adding to my challenge score each week now, but at this rate it's going to take me until 2013 to get competitive! I don't have that long! In all honesty, I'm just happy to keep extending my number of sessions since a blank.

Brian is back in action next week so that could scupper any progress! He's dared to suggest the Ryton word - or the Murder Pool as he calls it. He's on a run of 4 consecutive royal blanks there now. I've suffered my share there too and I'm not sure if now is the time to tackle the fickle one.