My Fishing Diaries

The Southern Intersite Match.
Saturday 10th June 2006.

Willow Park . All Lakes.

Well, Saturday morning 8am and we all started to assemble in the Cafe at Willow for the Intersite match. It promised to be a grueller as the temperature was already up to 18�C and would make it to 30�C before the day was out.

Last to arrive were Neo and Brian who had travelled up from Wales at less than 24hrs notice to fill in for people that had to drop out, and Milo who had got caught in a bit of traffic.

The team on the day was as follows with the respective lakes we were fishing on...

1. Vince - Big (Team Captain)
2. Peter - Big
3. Milo(Fred P.) - Big

4. Matt Nutt - Middle
5. Gary Thorpe - Middle
6. Blackhydro (Clive)- Middle
7. NoMoreLongWalks(Paul) - Middle
8. Slimcatcher(Nick B.) - Middle
9. Neo1(Nick W.) - Middle

10. Me (Simon) - Small
11. RonB - Small
12. Badatfishing (Darren) - Small
13. Brian Bevan - Small
14. Andy222 - Small
15. Polepot(Nick J.) - Small

How did my match go??????

This was my draw, Peg 77, looks lovely doesn't it?

Unfortunately it proved to be almost entirely devoid of fish, or at least those that were in any way inclined to feed in the heat of the day. 3 hours on the feeder produced not so much as a bite, and the pole line appeared devoid of life as well apart from a few small perch that fell to some worms that polepot had let me have.

A quick visit to vince mid match revealed that he was having an even worse time than me, with just a couple of knocks on the feeder that had come to nothing, although he did lose a beast of a carp right at the death as it dragged his rig through the roots of a nearby bush in the margins.

4pm and the all out revealed the full horror of the battering with Milo weighing 2ozs, Vince recording a DNW and I ended up with 4lbs 4ozs of small Perch, to all finish last in our respective sections.

Our stars on the day were NoMoreLongWalks(Paul), Gary Thorpe and Matt Nutt who each scored section 2nds

Overall the top 5 on the day was as follows.........

1 Omega Mike TF        M21       56-6-0
2 Russell Grimes TF    M2         52-0-0
3 Giles Cochrane AF   M13       51-8-0
4 Micky Davies TF       B76       46-10-0
5 Dave Pearson AF     M20      39-5-0
6 Hillbilly TF                  M14       38-7-0

Teams.........

Total Fishing                  38 points
Angling Forums             34 points
Maggotdrowning.com 17 points

Making the running totals for this years series.......

Total Fishing                63 + 38 = 101
Maggotdrowning.com 52 + 17 =   69
TALKANGLING           30 + --    =   30
Angling Forums            -- + 34 =   34

....... with the Northern match still to come.

The Jinx Series.

Round 2. Engine Pool. Earlswood Lakes.

Saturday 17th June 2006.

How can you do a report on a match where 75% of the field blanked?

I arrived early as is my custom when I haven't been to a venue before, so that I could have a stroll round and try to get a feel for the place.

My 1st impression was "Where has all the water gone?" the level must have been nearly 5ft down with every platform completely out of the water.

Malc had actually arrived early along with his community care worker (Gemma) and with the draw almost happening on time we set off to our pegs.
I had drawn peg 40, a nice short walk and was soon set up.......

.......Looks lovely doesn't it?
Frankly I could have put the whole thing into a glass case and exhibited it at the Tate Modern as a still life.

The only thing that disturbed the water all day were a pair of Great Crested Grebes, and even they didn't catch anything and departed for more prolific parts.

Geoff (Eggo) to my right had a Bream 1st chuck........

..........and that was all the action in the surrounding pegs for the whole day.

Poor young David A to my left actually had a bite on the feeder, but didn't connect. Antwood on the next peg round was looking like a man that needed the phone number of Samaritans......

........ while further along Paul at least had a smile on his face, but that was probably because he knew he had a can of beer in his bag

During the day of course the banter was flowing, especially from the beach on the right hand side.....

........ and just to put the finishing touch, Malc (who is now so tanned/burnt that he looks like a stick of Pepperami )Latched into a carp and lands it with 3 mins to go, despite throwing himself in up to his neck.

The 5 anglers who actually caught were.......

1st Brian Bevan       8lb 4oz
2nd Malc Doyle         5lb
3rd Geoff Eggison    3lb 4oz
4th Dan Thomas      1lb
5th Mark Causer      3oz

Total Weight caught was 17lb 11oz.

Unfortunately the day was marred by both Nick (polepot) and Matt having pole sections smashed by inconsiderate members of the public, both of whom refused to admit any liability and refused to supply any details so that Insurance claims could be made.

So, a 260 mile round trip for sweet FA, and next up for those of us fishing The Jinx Series? another supposed British Waterways Superwater....... DRAYTON!!!!

I can hardly wait.

is alive and well and making us all suffer.

Go to Reports 42