Sunday 12th of July saw the the first round of the North Dorset Shield take place at Durweston. I remember fishing here last year and it was deep and not a great deal of room to move or ship the pole back. Despite that I was feeling positive :)
I wanted to draw between peg 7 and 11 as i knew this area had been producing fish recently. I drew peg 8 so I was happy and happier knowing I had an easy walk.
I got to my peg and straight away I knew I was in for a tough day as well as the other 19 people. The water was covered in floating weed and debris. I scooped out 4 net fulls at the start to try and sort out my whip line but this proved to be a waste of time. Plumbing up was difficult enough as the weed made things hard to see. Finally after battling through I prepped my bait. Caster, maggot and worm where main hook baits and pinkie as a back up if things were hard. I mixed up my faithful super crumb river and mixed a big tin of hemp with half a pint of caster.
As the whistle went I balled in 10 balls of neat ground bait. This cleared a gap in the weed long enough for me to catch a nice Rudd and Hybrid in the first two put ins. The weed soon came back and things were getting difficult. Constantly getting caught up and tangled :(
I managed some Chubletts on the drop in the next hour. All the while feeding my 6m whip line I battled on over the ground bait and started feeding hemp over the top. This produced 2 little Perch but it then died.
I started priming my edge line near an overhanging tree for Perch with Chopped Worm and a few Casters. Had a look on the Whip line but nothing :(
An hour to go and I was worried. No bites on the edge line, no access at 13m as the weed seemed to have gotten thicker throughout the day and no signs on the whip.
I fed some more Hemp on the whip line and stuck with it. Sure enough with 15 minutes left the float vanished and I was in to a good fish. I knew I wasn't swinging this in as it was was really bending the tip. Net ready I scooped up A ROACH of around 1lb. Not a mark on it and it was fiting fit. A good sign for the river.
The whistle went and I was really unsure on how the other 4 got on as I couldn't see or hear any of them.
I packed up and took my gear to the car and awaited the scales. I was first to weigh in my section. 2lb 9oz! It may have been enough but who knows. I followed the scales down and at the next peg I found out that a team mate had finished 2nd in his section and a 3rd in the other section.
Other weights coming in were 1lb 11oz, 2lb, 2lb 5oz and the last peg in my section to weigh in. we got to peg 6, my team captain confirmed I was winning my section and I crossed my fingers. Regardless I knew I was leaving with an envolope but I was just waiting on confirmation on a 1st or a 2nd envelope.
I heard a loud "2lb 5oz's" from peg 6 meaning I have won section thanks to that Roach. I looked to my captain and he said "that run of yours is still going, jammy sod!" to which I laughed and said "don't complain, think of the points".
Back at the cars the results were read out and prizes handed out. I was leaving with £30 :) That has paid for this Sunday's League match plus fuel! Free days fishing! Wahooo :)
On the day Sturminster won overall with 15 points closely followed by Stalbridge on 14.5 points.
So a frustrating day but in the end a happy chap.
Back to the league next weekend with the shop customers. Lands End awaits!
Next Up: League, Lands End Fishery
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