After collecting Dick from his home and filling any available space in my van with his gear, we aimed to get there early only to find the gates closed and lots of other vehicles with the same intention of probably trying to get to some of the dryer spots in the car park. There had been heavy rain over the previous days and the car park was very muddy and areas of grass were flooded which had Detall in a right tizz.
After off loading of the gear and a nice cuppa along with several quality street supplied by yours truely it was time for the draw. There was no golden peg today just a super pools.
Due to fishing on 2 different lakes the draw was split into 3 sections with payouts to top 2 (1 silvers, 1 - Overall) in each section which In my opinion was a really fair way to do it.
Lord C and Queenie with the assitnace of Tom pegged out the swims and Queenie then got the draw under way, whilst I tried to remember everyones name to put on the sheets.
Some favoured pegs today was Ash - Peg 1, Peg 1, 6 and 12 on woodlands.
So I was last to draw and to be honest I had a little practice on Friday on Ash as I was sure that I was going to draw here and my previous 2 encounters on this lake caught me a few small fish so. To be fair on Friday I had a great days silvers fishing and was feeling possitive about the day ahead. By the time I drew there were 2 pegs left- 27 on Woodlands and peg 9 on Ash, and I got Woodlands. Therfore, Sausgae was lett with 9 as he was running a bit late. Fortunatley having picked up some pinkines the day before, I was informed that the Woodlands water levels had risen to approximate 9 feet in places so I made up 1 rig the day before and hoped that the report of the depth was an exageration and thought Id use my already made up 8 feet rigs.
On to the draw
Section A - Ash Lake
Peg
1 - Dave Harvey
2 - Shane Western
3 - Brian Chivers
4 - Steve King
5 - Simon Garbutt
6 - Tony Newell
7 - Dave Allen
8 - Rich Coles
9 - Paul Bowyer
Section B - Woodlands
1 - Paul Lock
6 - Johnn Bradford
7 - Stan
9 - Simon Gardener
10 - Rich
27 - Nige
29 - George
30 - John Woolenscroft
31 - Steve Warren
Section C - Woodlands
11- Danny
12 - Eric Searle
13 - Graham
16 - Dave Tungsten
20 - Kev
21 - Martin Weston
22 - Dick
23 - Shaun Larkham
25 - Colin
26 - Tony Fry
With the draw being at 8.30 and fishing from 10.00am - 3.00pm it gave me plenty of time to set up and fortunaetly I was just across the footbridge rather than a long walk. Personally I think the side of the lake that I drew was more homely for silvers and the far bank was more carp dominated, so I thought Id fish for the silvers today. I put my 8 foot rig on at 13m only to see the float and tail disaperar, so on with the 9 foot rig and fingers crossed, luckily it sat perfect and this was going to be my groundbait line. I then used my 8 foot rig at 8 meters which I thought Id try a few micros and Id set up another for the margin with just maggot hoping to pick up a couple of perch or odd small fish.
With 10 minutes to spare and a bit of drizzle I thought Id have a cuppa only to fnd that I left my milk at home and black tea is disgusting. I then thought Im going to get comfortable and put my hoodie on only to find that I left this at home aswell so not a great start. The rain came down and I put the brolley up as showers were forcast. The shower didnt last long and the wind was compfortable giving a slight ripple across the water but we did have a few showers throughout the day but nothing too prolomged.
At 10.00am the whistel went and I put 10 micros on 8m and a thumbnail of groundbailt witha couple of pinkines on and fished directly over the top. Straight away the float disaperaed and I had a small blade. Next put in the same and tis continued for the first hour soI had about 1.5 pounds. I thought i'd put a few more micros in at 8m and some dead redsin margin whilst still fishing the 13m line but this time a few caster with ground bait and started to get a few bigger fish. This was all about reading the bites today as they were very shy and I was dotted right down. If I struck as it disaperaed then Id miss the bite so gave it a second or 2 before striking and then I didnt miss many. I couldnt really see what was going on around me but Mario, who was behind me on Ash hooked into a carp on the off as did Rich Coles. Across the lake on 7 Stan was playing a large carp for quites a consideralble time which he eventually landed. Simon on on 9 was scatching but also losing a few and that was really all I see.
I continued to catch all day but mainly small stuff and just before the all out I landed a blade of about 6 oz and thought Id have about 6 lb at the end of the match. I couldnt get a bite on the micro line or the margin and had to concentrate on the 13m line, although the last 30 minutes went very quiet.
The all out was called and the talk was Dick did well with a reported 12lb and Goerge and Danny also in the frame with around 8lb. I thought I did ok but I wasnt going to match these and I said to Dick if he beat me again then he could push his trolly home.
Steve and Martin did the weighing and the last 2 to get weighed were myself and Tony Fry. After watching George off load his net for 7lb - 10oz it was my turn and Steve looked in and said youve got this which I was surprised at and weighed 10lb - 05 oz to win my section on silvers and was glad to see I had top silvers in the match as well.
A few DNW and 1 reported DNC - was quite a hard match - theres a new T Shirt on sale for some - please see below
Results
Section A
Overall - Rich Coles - 34lb - 07 oz
Silvers - Simon Garbutt - 9lb - 02 oz
Section B
Overall - Stan - 23lb - 08 oz (included a 17lb carp)
Silvers - Nige - 10lb - 05 oz
Section C
Overall - Danny - 10lb - 00 oz
Silvers - Dick - 9lb - 14 oz
A good effort by all. Downside - me and Stan were too tight to pay for the pools and missed out on cash but for me its the winning that matters not the cash and it was nice to allows others to pick up some pools money. Mine and Stans generosity allowed George and Paul Lock to pick up a few quid so well done gents.
This was a really enjoyable match for me as catching fish is why we all going fishing, theres great menebers wo contribute towards a greta club.
Thanks to Martin,Steve King, Danny for the weigh in, Steve Warren for sorting Super Pools and to Shane for sorting money and again to Steve King for organising the hampers which were very good.
Merry Christmas everyone, next up on the 29th December we are at Sedges on Tile (the one with the islands) - I think its an 8.30 draw.
Agm is at 37 Club - Friday 17th January 7.30pm start - All propsals should be sent to Chairman Kev or a committee member before the 1st January in writing
Resuls below
