Gudgeon
Match
It
started with a late 'phone call one Thursday evening... 'Hi ya Kev,
I've got tomorrow off work - fancy a maggot bash?'
It was my old mate Damian, desperate to go fishing (as usual), so the
answer had to be 'Yes - of course!'
'I've only got the morning free though... where do you fancy?' - he
said.
'It's gotta be Barlow Fishery then - fancy a gudgeon match?' I replied.
'Yes! Why not? See you at the cabin about 8am then - I'll pick the bait
up' - and he was gone. Damian believes in burning the candle at both
ends, and in the middle!
Putting the phone back on the receiver, a thought flitted through my
mind - you ain't got any kit ready, your light float rod is probably
caked in a mouldy ball of groundbait and you ain't got any small hooks
suitable for gudgeon! Never mind - 30 minutes work in the garage should
sort the kit, and a quick early morning visit to Leegem Tackle on Sheffield
Road should re-stock the hook supplies. Sorted!
Friday morning and true to his word, Damian was waiting by the Cabin
at Barlow Fisheries as I drove into the car park. A quick cup of coffee
in the cabin and time to discuss the rules of our gudgeon match: Only
gudgeon count, each fish must be safely landed to hand, no other fish
to count and no keepnet, so honesty is the order of the day. The first
to 20 gets his breakfast bought him.
We chose the top pond, mainly because it is stuffed full of gudgeon
and we shouldn't fail to have some sport. Famous last words eh?
I decided to use a 5m tele-whip (mainly because I needed the practice),
a small dibber and a size 20 barbless completed the rig. Damian opted
for his usual light pole approach.
My first chuck-in resulted in a bite - this is going to be easy I thought
to myself - only to find a small roach had snaffled the single red maggot
on my hook. Never mind, I quickly returned the roach, the maggot looked
ok - so back it went - to catch me another fish.
Straight away the little dibber buried - resulting in another roach.
Two bites, two roach, not a gudgeon in site. Third chuck-in resulted
in a small perch - still not a gudgeon in sight!
Fishing in the next peg Damian was having similar problems, although
his roach were of a better quality, in fact some of them were very good!
Much to my amusement the roach he was catching were putting up a good
account for themselves, stretching his light elastic and bending his
pole. While he was playing them, he wasn't catching gudgeon! Come to
that - neither was I.
After slipping another quality roach into the landing net, he announced
that he was moving further down the pond to avoid all the roach and
try to catch a gudgeon, after all - only gudgeon count!
The more time he spends moving, the more time I have to catch gudgeon
I thought, as my float slid away again. This time the culprit was a
small rudd. I'd now caught around six fish and not a gudgeon in sight!
First cast in his new peg resulted in a major elastic-stretching session,
he'd gone and hooked one of the resident carp, which ran him ragged.
'Is it a gudgeon?' I shouted. His reply was unprintable! Ho Ho!! Nothing
like a carp to stir your swim up a little - I chortled - lifting into
another rudd.
 We
were both catching plenty of fish - but no gudgeon. 'Fancy trying the
Tench pond? We might get one in there' - I shouted.
Literally two minutes later he had relocated and was fishing near the
inlet on the Tench pond. 'That's a 'yes' then is it?' I asked, carrying
my kit to the next peg.
'And that's a gudgeon - one to me' he replied.
By now I thought gudgeon were off the menu and I had swapped the whip
for a light waggler rod, I was hoping for a tench as I cast towards
the middle of the pond. 'That's number two' he said triumphantly, which
he quickly followed with four more. Crikey - he'd bagged six gudgeon
in as many minutes, time for me to fish nearer the margins and hope
to catch him up.
Swapping back to the whip my first drop-in resulted in a gudgeon! 6
- 1 to Damian, but at least I'd opened my account.
 It
was then literally a gudgeon a chuck, they were queuing up for the maggots
we were offering - until a brown trout picked up Damian's hookbait and
tangled all his rig. Smashing - just the break I needed to catch him
up.
But
Damian didn't bother untangling, he just carried on fishing with a knotted
rig, confident that he'd connect with more gudgeon.
Perhaps 10 minutes had passed when he shouted 'That's twenty' - as he
lifted another to hand, 'What's for breakfast?'
Rats!! I'd only managed to land 15 gudgeon.
'OK let's pack up and get some food' - I replied, quickly landing another
and immediately casting out again, hoping to reach the 20 mark before
his kit was packed away.
But admitting defeat gracefully, I started packing the tackle away when
his mobile rang...
'Gotta
dash, Kev' I'm meeting Helen for lunch, see ya later!' he shouted over
his shoulder.
'OK
- see ya later' I replied, thinking Helen had just saved me the price
of a breakfast.
'
I'll
have the breakfast next time we come here' - he shouted through the
car window as he drove away.
Double rats!!
Good fishing to you all!
Kevin Miles
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