This first match was spread across three venues, Raveley Drain just outside Ramsey Heights in Cambs, The Old Nene at Ramsey St. Mary's, and the Forty Foot Narrows, in Ramsey Forty Foot Village.

The event attracted 11 teams of six and two sections (22 pegs) were placed on each of the three venues.

The numbers posed a bit of a problem for the organizers, and some pegs were used that were at best likely to be very hard.

I found myself at St. Mary's but unfortunately with the bulk of the fish being in the first five or six pegs, and with a gap for wires between pegs 8 and 9, my peg 11 was not particulalry inviting!!

It was very likely that I was battling for last in my section, as I was as far from the fish as possible, but I set up with as much confidence as I could muster.

My main attack was to be a two pronged pinkie and groundbait approach at 4m and 8m with a chopped worm line diagonally off to my left, this was targetting a tench, although I was also thinking there may be some perch present too.

Rigs were simple, I used a 1gr Sensas Katia and a 1gr Sensas Fererra Pencil float on the long pole line, which also covered the 4m line as the depth was almost identical. On a 4m whip I used a "skinner rig" which is a long slim pole float attached bottom end only, and a 1 gram whip float top and bottom.

I also set up a 0.4g Sensas series 18 for fishing on the drop, but this as I will explain was not really successful.

The biggest problem on the day was an extremely strong gale force wind blowing from the west, which blows straight down the drain from left to right, whipping up waves of nearly 30cm in height!!!

Feeding both lines with a mix of Sensal Super Canal Black,  and Super Black Roach, with a small amount of bait, 4 balls at 4m and three at 8m with a pot of hemp and a few pinkies on the long pole.

The day was very hard, and as expected my section was won down in the low numbers with two weights of around 13lb of rudd and roach, consisting of 400 fish, whereas I struggled for 1lb 13 oz's!!

Had I been in the section to my left I would have been second, by some distance!!!

Joe Roberts won the section to my left using a very similar mix and catching 3lb, in hindsight I could have tried to catch small fish all match, but reasoned I wouldn't have gained any more points, and this was to prove true, so I fished the worm hoping for a tench, and failed!!

With such a topsy turvy match, every team had some bad results, including a few blanks in the section to my left, caused mostly by the attrocious conditions. We managed to come second as a team by two points from Stanjay Silver so we are well placed to go into round two in a few weeks time.