Saturday 30 August 2008

Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. August 29th, 2008.

 The JINX Series 2008 
Match 4.
RolfsLakeWheatley.jpg Rolf's picture by pnm123
Well after a gap of eight weeks The Jinx Series returned to Rolf’s today for the penultimate round of the Series. Blue sky and sunshine greeted me as I set off which was nice as the weather in the past week hadn’t been the best. A trouble free run down after my customary breakfast stop saw me arrive with plenty of time to spare, with just Dave, Tim and Nick along with John there to greet me. First things first, so nets dipped and laid out to dry then a look at the Lake.

John’s got some plant on site digging out some flood defences so pegs 19 and 20 are out of the match today as the work is going on right behind them, and I couldn’t help wondering if it might just have an effect on the fishing today for those pegged on the Big Lake.
W20-2.jpg Digging the flood defences picture by pnm123
Soon the car park was filling up and the usual banter and micky taking was starting to flow as is customary on these matches. Even Malc was on time as he’d travelled up with Dai (Yes the Rover is still dead) and today he had his 2 youngsters in tow (Crystal & Liam) could Rolf’s survive the presence of 4 members of The Jinx Family? Indeed many were wondering whether the change in weather would affect things too as a lot of venues have been fishing poorly recently.

Anyway with 23 anglers assembled it was time for the draw (yes it was late) and I was hoping for the car park bank and a nice short walk, and peg 29 was my reward, a stroll of around 5 yards as my car was parked right behind it.
W8-4.jpg Home for the day, Peg29. picture by pnm123
For company today I had Keith to my left on peg 31 and Mitch on 32 with Kevin to my right on peg 28 and Dave on peg 26.
W7-4.jpg The Car Park bank. picture by pnm123
I was planning on keeping it reasonably simple today and just set up 3 rigs. I to fish paste just on the slope of the shelf at the ends of the bushes to my left and right and this was simply a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·21 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Method. The second was to fish pellet straight out at around 6mtrs where I had around 5ft and was a Malman 4×12 Adam on 0·18 to a size 16 Drennan Carp Match and I also set up a Malman 0·3g MTD1 dibber on 0·18 to a size 16 Drennan Carp Match in case they wanted it up in the water. I also set up the feeder as I had it there in its ready sleeve, but wasn’t expecting to use it. Bait wise it was just 6 and 8mm fishery pellets and some paste.

With plenty of time till the all in people could be seen discussing the prospects for the day ahead…………
W5-6.jpg Tony, Clive and Colin. picture by pnm123
…… or maybe not in some cases …………………
W3-6.jpg picture by pnm123
So 1pm and Malc called the All-in, a handful of pellet by each bush and 2 big pots of pellet went out onto the 6mtr line which I followed out with an 8mm banded pellet onto the 6mtr line just as I heard Malc’s shout signifying his 1st fish from peg 7. After raising and dropping the rig a couple of times the float buried and a Common of around 7lbs was safely in the net to get me off the mark. This was swiftly followed by another Common around the 9lb mark, a great start, but short lived.

Looking to my left I could see that Keith was into his 1st fish of the day which appeared to be a Skimmer while across on peg 10 Clive was also into his first of the day…………
W11-4.jpg Come on. picture by pnm123
I then went through a frustrating spell, suffering from a number of foul hooked fish resulting in a collection of scales on my sidetray but nothing added to the net. Kevin with nothing to show from his pole line except a solitary Roach decided to go for it on the feeder, and it seemed to be the right choice as it produced the occasional fish for him throughout the rest of the match.
W17-2.jpg Kevin waits for a bite. picture by pnm123
Keith meanwhile seemed to be bringing a steady stream of fish to the net, but this was deceptive as a number of them were lost as it turned out. Dave Moore meanwhile having been through numerous variations in an attempt to find a fish had been back to his van to retrieve his pellet waggler rod to implement ‘PLAN Z’ as he put it.

By around 3·30pm it was obvious that most were struggling. I hadn’t seen Tony on peg 14 land a single fish and he was having a stroll around. Slim was having a bit of a mare losing a few fish while Clive next to him on 10 continued to slip the odd fish into the net ………
W14-3.jpg Get in there. picture by pnm123
Having tried my 2 inside lines with no success and with just a lone skimmer taken on the feeder, I decided to concentrate on the 6mtr line which I’d been feeding regularly for the remainder of the match. I soon had a couple of Carp one of which was a weigher, to add to the net and as Tony arrived for a chat I latched into a slightly better one. Into the waiting landing net and it proved to be a weigher and at 14lbs was just the inspiration that Tony needed to get back to his peg and try and avoid the dreaded DNW.
W15-3.jpg There must be a fish somewhere? picture by pnm123
The pellet wag finally produced a very welcome Carp for Dave as I was attached to a rather fed up foul hooker, a decent Common which I briefly saw before it did me underneath the right hand bush. This seemed to kill things for me as I couldn’t buy a bite in the following 30 minutes.
W2-6.jpg Peter on Peg29 picture by pnm123
With an hour to go I was in again and had a run of fish including another weigher of 16lb. With around 10 minutes to go I had another 5lb’er and Kevin asked me what I thought I had. I reckoned that one more fish could see me reach the ‘Ton’.

Sure enough the float buried once more and an obviously decent fish tore off bottoming the elastic!!! Fortunately the rig held and as a rather disoriented Common with the hook firmly in it’s pectoral fin surfaced on it’s side I scooped it into the net, a weigher that went 16½lbs and before I had the chance to get the rig in again Malc called the All-out.

Chatting to others while packing up it was obvious that a lot had struggled, though Malc was owning up to a ‘Ton’ and I was sure that Clive had won the match, but Slim was really worried that he could be on the receiving end of a Minxing. However while we waited for the weigh-in, Slim’s good lady showed fine form demonstrating to Slim how it should be done when she had a go ……
W18-1.jpg That's the way to do it Slim. picture by pnm123
What a star she proved to be, even coming round with the iced lollies during the afternoon. While I’m at it, I mustn’t forget a big Thank You to Kevin’s partner Jean who kept me supplied with cups of coffee during the day and a sticky bun at the end.

Soon the weigh-in revealed just how hard it had been. My fish weighed 113lbs for the early lead that I felt sure I would to lose to Clive. Ant had managed 76½lbs. Gemma managed 31¼lbs from peg 2 leaving Slim looking nervous, much to everyone’s amusement. Malc’s fish went 109½lbs, a very relieved Slim just avoided a Minxing with a level 35lbs and sure enough Clive took the win on the day when he put 154lbs on the scales. Nice one Clive.

Position  Peg                Angler   Weight
1st Peg 10  Clive Pritchard  154lbs 00ozs
2nd Peg 29 Peter Morton 113lbs 00ozs
3rd Peg 7  Malc Doyle 109lbs 08ozs
4th Peg 38  Ant Haywood   76lbs 08ozs
5th Peg 14  Colin Sharrard   72lbs 12ozs
6th Peg 25  Steve Wilson   72lbs 00ozs
7th Peg 8  Simon Mound   67lbs 08ozs
8th Peg 36  Roy Ravenhill   64lbs 08ozs
9th Peg 31  Keith Fellows   63lbs 04ozs
10th Peg 4  Dai Thomas   50lbs 12ozs
11th Peg 34  Paul Roberts   44lbs 08ozs
12th Peg 9  Ade Williams   35lbs 00ozs
13th Peg 28  Kevin Loveland   33lbs 04ozs
14th Peg 2  Gemma Doyle   31lbs 12ozs
15th Peg 18  Tim Westmoreland            (Guest)    31lbs 08ozs
16th Peg 22  Nick Williams   24lbs 00ozs
17th Peg 40  Dave Collier   23lbs 12ozs
18th Peg 23  Mark Causer   23lbs 08ozs
19th Peg 26  Dave Moore   21lbs 00ozs
20th Peg 14  Tony Roberts   19lbs 08ozs
21st Peg 32  Mitch Auger   14lbs 12ozs
22nd Peg 5  Nick Watkins-Price        DNW
23rd Peg 16  Ieuan Davies                     (Guest)        DNW












Monday 25 August 2008

Falkenville Mushroom Farm. Hailsham . August 25th, 2008.


MushroomFarm.jpg Falkenville Mushroom Farm picture by pnm123
August Bank Holiday Monday and with Maria having to work I’d accepted an invitation from Bill to join him and a few of the lads on the Maggotdrowning forum down at Falkenville Mushroom Farm for a session on the new lake there. It was over 5 years ago that I last fished at Falkenville on the same lake as today when it 1st opened when it looked as it appears in the photo above. However in the intervening time it has been changed with 1 arm cut off and the rest widened, and now looks something like the image I’ve created below.
Pulling into the car park I was greeted by Pete, Ryan and Mick and after a brief chat Bill pulled into the car park to join us, that just left Al who was obviously running late. Rather than wait Bill got the gate key and we drove over to the lake. No draw today, just a fun day out so we just unloaded the gear and plonked ourselves in the nearest pegs.

Now on Saturday there had been some discussion about Bill being a JINX, and maybe there’s something in it. When I had left home the sun was shining but as I got closer to the fishery the sun vanished to be replaced by grey clouds and by the time we had set up the wind had risen and there was the threat of rain.
W1-5.jpg New Lake at Falkenvile. picture by pnm123
Plumbing up I couldn’t find much more than 3ft of water in front of me, so set up a paste rig comprising of a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·18 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Match and a Malman 4×12 Snake IV on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match to fish pellet on the deck. Starting off at around 6mtrs I soon had a bite that rewarded me with a nice plump Common of around 3lbs while most of the other lads were still setting up. A ringing on Bill’s phone revealed a slightly lost Al needing to be talked in by Bill, and most of us were off the mark by the time that Al finally arrived to join us.

Well the wind increased and some rain arrived and soon it resembled early winter rather than late summer. By about 1pm I’d managed half a dozen Carp, Ryan had just the one but was determined to get a few more………….
W3-5.jpg Ryan contemplates things. picture by pnm123
Pete was getting a few by chucking the feeder across ……………….
W10-3.jpg Pete plays a Carp. picture by pnm123
Bill was doing best of all and had been catching regularly fishing paste at around 5mtrs, but even his action had slowed……………
W6-3.jpg Bill G. picture by pnm123
while Mick was struggling despite trying the pole and feeder…………..
W7-3.jpg Micky the chippy. picture by pnm123
and Al had a few fishing out in front of him but just couldn’t interest the fish that were obviously feeding in his margins …………
W9-3.jpg Al. picture by pnm123
By 1·30 I’d had enough of the struggle, I tipped back my fish and moved over to a swim at the end of the arm that had been cut off. Reed lined on both sides it offered a little bit of shelter from the conditions and just looked as if it was good for a few fish.
W13-3.jpg My second swim. picture by pnm123
A few pellets down both sides and a lump of paste on the hook and I was into fish straight away and from then on a regular succession of Carp provided great entertainment right up to the point when the lads came round with the scales at the end of the session, indeed I hooked a final fish as they arrived, but with a crack the rig vanished. It turned out the Black Hydro had snapped!!!  I can’t really complain though, as it was 4 years old, so I’ve had my monies-worth out of it. 43½lbs of pristine Carp showed what an enjoyable afternoon I’d had, so with those I’d tipped back earlier I’d had a good 50lbs+ on a challenging day. Bill had 67½lbs for the bragging rights on the day and Pete managed 40lbs+ as well, indeed we’d all had a few.

All in all not a bad day given the conditions, Thanks to Bill for organising the day and to the lads for their company, it won’t be 5 years before I visit again.





Saturday 23 August 2008

Hawkhurst Fishery. The Match Lake. August 22nd, 2008.


Maggotdrowning.com
 magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123
Southern Pairs Match 2008.
HawkhurstMatchlake.jpg Hawkhurst Match lake picture by pnm123
Twenty of us assembled at Hawkhurst today on the Match Lake for the 1st ever Maggotdrowning Southern Pairs organised by Vince.
Pulling into the car park most of the usual suspects were already assembled along with a few “virgins” in the form of Keith ‘Disco’ Driscoll, Gary ‘alltackledup’ Page and Steve Allen and his 2 lads, Pete & Nick and the banter was soon flowing.
Breakfast was soon consumed in the Café and the draw made so that we could get to our pegs and with the sun beaming down it looked like we could be in for a decent day with a lot of fish on the cards.
W1-4.jpg Hawkhurst Match Lake picture by pnm123
Now Hawkhurst has a reputation for producing big weights and as I settled into peg 3 it was obvious that Matt, my Pairs partner for the day was expecting a real bagging session as he already had 4 keepnets in place !!!!!!!!
W3-4.jpg 4 keepnets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! picture by pnm123
I just set up 3 rigs, all on top 3′s as I was planning to fish at no more than 3mtrs. 1 with a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·18 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Match for paste and 2 for pellet, a Malman 0·3g MTD1 dibber on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match for shallow and a Malman 4×12 Snake IV on 0·18 to a size 18 Drennan Carp Match for on the deck. Bait wise I was going to keep things simple, with just 6mm hard pellet for both feed and hookbait and 8mm hard pellet and a few 6mm expanders along with some GOT Atomic paste as alternative hookbaits. 10 minutes prior to the off the aerators were switched off and plenty of fish could be seen moving around as anglers sat and considered the 5 hours ahead.
W4-4.jpg Bill ponders the day ahead picture by pnm123
W5-4.jpg Trevor ready for the off picture by pnm123
10·30am and Vince blew the whistle for the All-in and I fed a handful of pellet into the margin and another straight out at 3mtrs and followed it with a banded 6mm pellet on my deck rig. Bill over on peg 17 was into a Carp straight away as was Paul to my right on peg 4, but overall it wasn’t the hectic start that most of us had expected. Vince even had time to try out his new camera, I’m sure he must have been asking me how many fish I’d caught when he took this one………
W16-1.jpg How many? Just the one Vince. picture by pnm123
Indeed within half an hour of the start things appeared to slow down all round the lake. Matt however did have his fan club turn up and caused a bit of excitement as they watched him take the nice fishy for a swim, though when Bill started singing a Gary Glitter song I thought Paul and I were going to split our sides ………
W6-2.jpg Matt's fans look on. picture by pnm123
I was really struggling to find as much as a bite, though Terry didn’t seem to be having to much trouble, it was just getting them to stay on the hook that was proving troublesome ………
W7-2.jpg Terry with one on. picture by pnm123
Paul had put as good a run of fish together as anyone, but then went through a stage of getting a load of foul hookers, none of which found their way to the net before he to suffered a lull in sport………
W15-2.jpg Paul concentrates on peg 4. picture by pnm123

Fed up with struggling I went for a stroll to see if anyone had found the secret to putting a decent bag together on the day.
I found Dave Collier up on peg 6 admitting to 7 fish and preparing to have a go under the bush in his left hand margin ………
W8-2.jpg Dave ships out on peg 6. picture by pnm123
Clive was concentrating on his right hand margin over on peg 11, not that it appeared to be reaping any huge rewards……
W9-2.jpg Clive on peg 11. picture by pnm123
Kevin seemed to be searching for some inspiration anywhere he could find it and was having an absolute mare with hardly anything to show for his efforts …………
W10-2.jpg Kevin checks out the margin on peg 13. picture by pnm123
Trevor was also fishing the margin to his right , but was handicapped by having to face Bill who was next door on peg 17  ……
W11-2.jpg Trevor down the edge on peg 16. picture by pnm123
Back to my peg and it was just a question of sticking at it, cutting back on the feed and fishing for bites and this finally started to produce a couple of fish for me though I did suffer with a few foul hookers.
W17-1.jpg Peter and Disco. picture by pnm123
With sport being so slow the banter was flying however. Keith”Disco” Driscoll on my left having been rechristened “Nightclub” by Bill and Nick on peg 1 and Vince on peg 20 being accused of having a separate competition to see who could make the best (Worst?) job of blowing a noted Flyer. Indeed at one point Nick obviously worried that Vince might win that one spent a good 10 minutes trying to lose a Carp, even wrapping it round his platform legs in an attempt to avoid netting it  ………
W14-2.jpg Nick plays a Carp on peg 1. picture by pnm123
Thankfully Vince blew the whistle for the All-out at 3·30pm to put us all out of our misery. With so little caught however at least the weigh-in didn’t take to long and it was going to make for a close result to the pairs competition.

Back at the Café for the results it was revealed that Dave Collier and Clive Pritchard were the Maggotdrowning Southern Pairs winners for 2008, tying on points with Paul East and Terry Goff but taking the result on weight with myself and Matt Love in Third just 1 point behind.

I’d just like to say a big THANK YOU to Vince who did his usual excellent job of organising the day’s proceedings, even managing to lay on the best weather for quite some while, Oh and he had to give me yet another £1 coin. Just a shame that the fishing wasn’t up to expectations, though everyone appeared to enjoy themselves. Here’s to the next one .
Pairs Result
Position                        Pairs  Points
 1st Dave Collier & Clive Pritchard 16 points 
 2nd Paul East & Terry Goff 16 points
 3rd Peter Morton & Matt Love 15 points
 4th Keith Driscoll & Bill Gibbins 13 points
 5th Colin Sharrard & Pete Allen 11 points
 6th Tony Roberts & Jeff Driscoll 11 points
 7th Nick Gilbert & Trevor Little  9 points
 8th Nick Allen & Kevin Loveland  9 points
 9th Steve Allen & Vince Gould  6 points
 10th Gary Page & John Haigh  4 points

NB: Where points were tied, position was decided on weight.
Position   Peg          Angler   Weight
 1st= Peg 6   Dave Collier 38lbs 00ozs
 1st= Peg 15 Pete Allen 38lbs 00ozs
 3rd Peg 4 Paul East 35lbs 12ozs
 4th Peg 8 Nick Allen 33lbs 04ozs
 5th Peg 18 Matt Love 32lbs 12ozs
 6th Peg 17 Bill Gibbins 31lbs 08ozs
 7th Peg 9 Tony Roberts 29lbs 08ozs
 8th Peg 3 Peter Morton 28lbs 08ozs
 9th Peg 2 Keith Driscoll 28lbs 04ozs
 10th Peg 19 Terry Goff 27lbs 08ozs
 11th Peg 11 Clive Pritchard 27lbs 00ozs
 12th Peg 16 Trevor Little 24lbs 00ozs
 13th Peg 1 Nick Gilbert 23lbs 00ozs
 14th Peg 5 Steve Allen 18lbs 00ozs
 15th Peg 14 Jeff Driscoll 16lbs 04ozs
 16th Peg 20 Vince Gould 15lbs 00ozs
 17th Peg 7 Gary Page 13lbs 00ozs
 18th Peg 10 Colin Sharrard 10lbs 00ozs
 19th Peg 12 John Haigh   7lbs 00ozs
 20th Peg 13 Kevin Loveland   2lbs 00ozs









Saturday 16 August 2008

Rockells Farm. Saffron Walden. Essex. August 16th, 2008.


Marsh AC club match.
RockellsFarm-2.jpg Rockells Farm picture by pnm123
Today was the Marsh AC match at Rockells Farm in Essex and I’d arranged to meet Dave Collier at his house at 6.45am and follow him and Colin down to the venue as it’s rather tucked away off the beaten track and a pig to find, Chris Withall had the same idea, and as we set off in convoy it was raining and the weather forecasts in the week previously hadn’t been good, so it looked like we may be in for a wet old day. Round the M25 and onto the M11 and we were brought to a halt by a crash, though thankfully we were soon moving. Intent on following Dave I got a phone call from Paul East, who had missed his turning and taken the scenic route via Colchester, and by the time we’d sorted that one out it was obvious we would have to draw for him.

Arriving in the fishery car park around 8·15am Kevin Loveland and I were dispatched to arrange the pegging for the 18 of us fishing while Dave organised the draw. We were under instructions to leave as many of the pegs close to the car park out as we could, so pegged 9 down the left and the other 9 round the top and down the right of the lake. Happily the rain had stopped and the sky was lightening as we started the draw so perhaps a decent day was on the cards.

I’d been looking forward to this match for a while as Rockells has a reputation of producing some decent weights, I’d only fished there once previously in the depths of winter and blanked, but last years club match which I missed as I was on holiday had produced a 200lbs+ winning weight and a few tons to back it up. I’d spoken to Trevor Price of 
GOT Baits prior to the match and he’d told me how he would fish it if he was there, so at least I had a good idea of how I was going to approach the day given a half decent draw.

Into the draw bag and I pulled out Peg 3, one of the three pegs at the top of the fishery, and I was more than happy with that. Tony Roberts had drawn Peg1, which I was informed by Dave was the out and out flyer, while Judy Hermite joined us on Peg2. Opposite I could see Martin Hucker who had won the previous match at Churchgate Lakes and Paul finally arrived to take Peg5.

Peg 3

W1-3.jpg My peg at Rockells picture by pnm123
Settling into the peg I just set up 3 top 2′s, 2 fitted with Teepee’s paste pots and Mk3 Malman self cocking paste floats, one to fish straight out into about 2ft of water and the other for the margin where there was around 18 inches depth. The third rig was just a Malman MTD1 Dibber for up in the water if the fish rose up to intercept the pellets I was planning to feed. Bait was simple, all I was planning to use was paste, which was the new Atomic Paste from GOT Baits. I’d been forewarned that you can use a fair bit at Rockells, so had premixed a good 6 pints of it the night before. For feed it would just be 4mm pellet and some hemp. The reason for the hemp was that todays match was being split into two 3 hour sessions with a 1 hour break mid way through for a mid-match weigh-in taken at the fishery owners insistence, and I wanted something that I could feed just prior to the break that would stand a chance of holding the fish during this break when we couldn’t feed.
Tony was happy with his peg.
W5-3.jpg Tony Roberts looks happy picture by pnm123

So 10am and Dave blew the whistle for the all-in. A pinch of pellet and hemp out in front of me and the same down the left hand side. Going out with the deeper rig in front I potted in the paste and the float settled and 5 seconds later buried and I was off and running with a little Mirror Carp of around the pound safely in the net. After that it was just a case of trying to get into some sort of rhythm with just a pinch of feed going into both swims regularly and trying to sort the liners from the real bites.

After an hour I had 30 fish in the nets but they were all pretty small, ranging from 6ozs to 1½lbs, but I could see that Martin opposite was getting a better stamp of fish. He was fishing floaters down his right hand margin and I could hear the fish slurping them off the top. Looking down the margin I could see a few tail patterns so decided to have a look down there to see if the fish were of a better stamp and straight away was rewarded with a Common around the 2½lb mark. One of the frustrating things was the number of missed bites, a lot of which you would think were liners, but with very few foul hookers I felt that it was due to the poor condition of a lot of the fish’s mouths making it hard to get a decent hook hold.

 Sport remained pretty constant but I trashed 3 rigs when fish took me through brambles that were trailing into the water, and I took 15 minutes out to tie some new rigs, knowing that we would be stopping for an hour at 1pm for a mid match weigh-in. I knew that Tony was catching reasonably well along with Martin, but felt that it would fish even better during the afternoon session.
The problem would be keeping the fish in the margins during the hour’s break for the weigh in and the ensuing commotion of the nets coming out and fish being returned, so with a couple of minutes to go I fed 3 pints of hemp into the margin swim along with a pint of pellet before Dave signalled the all-out.

A chat while we waited for the scales revealed that Judy wanted both Tony and I to give her an hours start in the afternoon, Tony was owning up to having around 70lbs on his clicker (but can you believe one of Pinocchio’s relatives?) while I felt I should have a good 80lbs. By the time the scales arrived Colin had weighed 83½lbs from Peg17 and Martin 110¼lbs.
Tony’s fish weighed in at a level 82lbs while my 2 nets registered 107½lbs. So 2 Ton weights caught in 3 hours and all to play for come the afternoon session.
Martin partakes of some mid match refreshment
Thirsty work this baggin.
W4-3.jpg Martin Hucker picture by pnm123
Waiting for Dave to signal the afternoon all-in I mixed up another 3 pints of paste just to be on the safe side as I could see the tail patterns still in my margin swim so felt confident. Just after 2pm Dave blew the whistle for the all-in, straight down the margin and the float buried and I was off again as a bright silver Common around 2lbs nestled in the landing net. To be honest the sport remained pretty constant for the next 3 hours and while the average size wasn’t big I did manage to find a few larger examples around the 6-8lbs mark in the last hour. Martin had another good session, but I was pretty confident that I’d caught more than him this time, especially as he’d run out of bait with 5 minutes to go and I’d had another 4 fish in that time.

With the scales starting from our side this time round, a quick chat with Tony revealed that he thought he was in with a chance of his 1st Double ton on aggregate, while I felt that just maybe I was in with a chance of a Treble Ton as I’d caught much better in the afternoon session. Soon the Weigh-in got underway with Tony posting a level 130lbs for an aggregate of 212lbs, Mission accomplished. Judy added 45½lbs for a total of 70¼lbs which is her best ever match weight. My turn next and lifting the 1st net I needed John to give me a hand. As it turned out I was a little bit short of what i needed for a Triple Ton as the 2 nets came to a level 186lbs giving me an aggregate of 293½lbs, by far my best ever match weight by over 100lbs.

Round to Peg4 and Martin had another great session weighing 123½lbs for a total of 232¾lbs and his best ever match weight. As the scales moved round everyone had improved on the morning weights with Dave, Al, John and Paul posting ton plus aggregate weights. Last but one to weigh was Colin, and by all accounts he’d had a cracking afternoon catching a decent stamp of fish and he was admitting to 41 fish in his 3 nets, they weighed 167½lbs giving him an aggregate of 251lbs and second place on the day.

So there you have it, the top 4 anglers all beat their previous best match weights and the top 3 also beat the previous Club match record held by Dave at 231lb. To top it all the final total of 1991lbs of fish weighed in was 300lb higher than the club had ever weighed in and represented an average of 110lb per angler. One hell of a days fishing by anyone's standards
.

Sorry for the lack of photos, but as you might have guessed from the report, I was a little too busy to take many today.

Position  Peg         Angler    Morning  Afternoon Total Weight
 1st Peg 3 Peter Morton 107lbs 08ozs 186lbs 00ozs 293lbs 08ozs
 2nd Peg 17 Colin Sharrard   83lbs 08ozs 167lbs 08ozs 251lbs 00ozs
 3rd Peg 4 Martin Hucker 110lbs 04ozs 123lbs 08ozs 232lbs 12ozs
 4th Peg 1 Tony Roberts   82lbs 00ozs 130lbs 00ozs 212lbs 00ozs
 5th Peg 9 Dave Collier   41lbs 08ozs   83lbs 00ozs 124lbs 08ozs
 6th Peg 8 Alan Loader   26lbs 00ozs   94lbs 00ozs 120lbs 00ozs
 7th Peg 13 John Holdsworth          32lbs 12ozs   82lbs 08ozs 115lbs 04ozs
 8th Peg 5 Paul East   22lbs 00ozs   91lbs 08ozs 113lbs 08ozs
 9th Peg 14 Terry Goff   25lbs 04ozs   59lbs 08ozs   84lbs 12ozs
 10th Peg 12 Chris Withall   35lbs 00ozs   49lbs 00ozs   84lbs 00ozs
 11th Peg 2 Judy Hermite   24lbs 12ozs   45lbs 08ozs   70lbs 04ozs
 12th Peg 18 Roger Noakes   15lbs 08ozs   54lbs 08ozs   70lbs 00ozs
 13th Peg 7 Kevin Loveland   22lbs 00ozs   31lbs 08ozs   53lbs 08ozs
 14th Peg 6 Bob Hucker   14lbs 08ozs   35lbs 00ozs   49lbs 08ozs
 15th Peg 16 Graham Manning   14lbs 08ozs   30lbs 08ozs   45lbs 00ozs
 16th Peg 15 Ken Walker     7lbs 00ozs   31lbs 08ozs   38lbs 08ozs
 17th Peg 11 Eddie Dobson     8lbs 08ozs   15lbs 08ozs   24lbs 00ozs
 18th Peg 10 Rod Turner     3lbs 08ozs     5lbs 08ozs     9lbs 00ozs