The Maggotdrowning.com Individual Championship 2006.
Westminster Lake. Lemington Lakes.
Saturday 16th September 2006.
Well what can I say?
A real demonstration of the highs and lows of fishing.
Last year I won and Steve12 packed up early having had a dire time. This year it was my turn for a grueller and Steve12 took the title.
I arrived around 8·30am to find the cast already assembling, and after one of Debbies excellent cooked breakfasts it was draw time.
Helping Vince ensured that the 2 of us had to pick for each other at the end, and while I pulled an absolute flyer (2) out for Vince, he finally managed to tuck me right up with peg30 on Dead Mans corner.
Strolling to my peg I found that I had Clive for company on peg 31, while just up on 27 & 28 were Hazel and Dave. Malc was to join us later on peg34 so the omens weren't good even then.
Set up was relatively simple with a feeder rod for a chuck to the island, but the pole revealed a max of just 2½ft of water which was at 11mtrs, The margins were alive, however this was with RATS not FISH. All day long they were working the margins, even diving down to grab any feed that was fed.
Anyway 11am and the all in, just as Malc arrives, and with a couple of pots of pellet mixed with corn at 11mtrs, I went out on the feeder to allow it to settle.
Clive meanwhile was out straight out onto the pole line.
Hazel and Dave were soon into fish (small skimmers) and remarking that thing appeared to be a tad quiet in my swim,
Quiet wasn't the word, but after about 40 mins Clive had a bite!!!! but managed to bump the small skimmer that was briefly attached. Another 5 mins and I had a bite!!!!!! and soon had a 14oz skimmer safely in the net.
At that point in time both Clive and I should have packed up and gone to the pub, because that was the end of any action in either of our swims.
Malc was trying his best to liven things up, and to be honest the banter was to prove the best part of the whole day for a few of us.
Wayne strolled past on a regular basis doing a fine job for those lucky enough to require fish to be weighed.
Just to cap things off I got a phone call from Dirk, who took great delight in informing me that our pegs were so bad that they aren't normally included in matches as they never produce. My reply to this information is probably best not printed for fear of offending the more sensitive amongst you.
Musky was plugging away a bit further round with his waggler and had managed to snare a couple of Carp, but other than that I couldn't really see anyone else and only had Wayne's updates to go on as to who was catching.
Towards the end it was painfully obvious that it wasn't going to happen and Clive could be found with a glazed expression on his face, or was he really asleep?
Dave and Hazel continued to snare the odd fish much to their delight, though Dave did manage to lose what appeared to be a decent Carp after it had been on a tour of Hazels swim.
Finally release came in the form of the all out at 4pm though the fun was just about to begin for most in the form of let's take full advantage and rip the p*ss out of Peter.
Back to the car park and it's presentation & raffle time, with Wayne once again stepping in as chief ticket seller.
Dave demanded a photo of me handing over the £1 coin that I had accidently dropped into his keepnet at the end of the match. Such a rare site that he had to have a record of it......
2 sections were payed out, 1 to Bezza who had already left, and the other to Smiling Steve Wilson........
3rd place proved to be a tie between Matt and Milo who both put 43lbs 4ozs on the scales..........
2nd was taken by LG, Dave's travelling companion with a weight of 54lbs 4ozs.........
1st on the day went to Steve12, his weight of 56lbs 11ozs allowing him to take the lions share of the winnings and trophy along with the title of Maggotdrowning Individual Champion 2006.........
The raffle raised £95 on the day which is being donated to Cancer Research thanks to all those who donated prizes.
I would just like to offer a BIG THANK YOU to Vince who did his usual fine job of organising the day, and another BIG THANK YOU to all of you who attended on the day, which is what really makes things worthwhile. Hopefully we'll see you all again next year, even if it is at a different venue.
1st Steve12..................... 56lb 11ozs
2nd LG............................. 54-04
3rd = Matt Nutt................ 43-04
3rd = Milo.........................43-04
5th SteveW..................... 41-03
6th Bezza.........................37-09
7th Mouse....................... 34-00
8th Bricktop.....................30-13
9th Daylewlia...................27-08
10th Royst........................23-13
11th Dave........................14-12
12th Simple Simon.........12-00
13th Muskrat....................10-12
14th Lake Lady................10-03
15th Vince..........................7-00
16th Simon (Me)................3-07
17th Polepot......................2-13
18th Arkwright...................1-05
19th Bucko........................1-08
20th Malc...........................1-04
21st=Peter...........................14ozs
21st= Fish4alarf..................14ozs
Tommy..............................DNW
Clive..................................DNW
MarkC Adroit...................DNW
