To thwart the gremlins of cold spring weather this match had been moved to a later date than usual but a succession of cold nights and an icy Northeasterly half gale did its best to dampen sport. The fishing might have been tough but the opportunity to make new fishing friends made up for the grueller suffered by many. Pay for your own breakfast! Those assembling in the car park at Tescos in Banbury were glad to hurry inside for breakfast where supplies of brown sauce had been specially laid on, and the rumour that Graham was paying for all the breakfasts quickly dispelled. I spotted the familiar faces of ‘Woody’ Woodhouse, Graham Whatmore, Fred Bonney, ‘Skive’, Graham, Andy ‘DNA’ Nellist, Gary Knowles, Stu Dexter, Kevin ‘TickleTackle’ Perkins, ‘Cooperman’, and Nigel Connor. But no sign of Professor Bumblebee. As breakfast took eons, by the time all had reassembled back at the now full lakeside car park it was agreed to put back the starting time of the match by half an hour to begin at 10.30am instead of 10am.
The usual cries of ‘jammy wotsit’ rang around as various members drew their pegs along the Northern side of the lake. This pegging did mean that we were sheltered from the worst of the brisk wind with the hedge and trees providing a windbreak. As the sun lifted the temperature the anglers made their way along the boardwalk to their pegs. Peter Jacob’s mobile tackle store drew gasps as we wondered: a) why he needed quite so much stuff and Soon all were busy setting up a variety of poles, method feeders, baggin’ wagglers, mixing groundbait, and somewhat optimistically, fixing two nets. The approaches varied from the simple one rod (Gary Knowles) to the cover all bases (Peter Jacobs).
Half-past ten soon came around, and the predicted barrage of Baggin’ Wagglers were hurled into the distance. The fierce crosswind cut down both accuracy and distance, and gave the carp a chance to move a further twenty yards out and roll frustratingly beyond range. The bailiff soon appeared to flog his own version of these wagglers at £ 4 a throw but only had a couple of takers, which is more than can be said for the method itself. As far as I can tell, only Graham actually had a carp on this method. Others were getting some early action, Peter Jacobs had a small tench first cast, and at the next peg, strong favourite Stu Dexter had a chub early on. The pattern was set. It was going to be a case of accurate fishing and patience to see where the fish would settle. Kevin Perkins also got a near four pound tench early on, and by midway through the match I was starting to get some shots of anglers landing fish including one or two carp.
Knowles draws away Gary Knowles’ accurate fishing with a method feeder was beginning to pay off. Despite losing the first two fish he hooked, the next two stayed put and, as the match wore on it became obvious that his chances of winning were getting stronger by the minute as he steadily added more carp. His confidence grew, and whilst on his mobile, casually struck another carp before hanging up to wind it in. ‘I know these fish look like mirror carp, but I think you’ll find they are really very plump stillwater barbel with unusual scale patterns,’ Gary ‘Barney’ Knowles, 59, trying not to alienate carp and barbel anglers everywhere. (He was joking, of course, and as a proper tabloid journalist for the day, this quote was highly exaggerated). At the next peg Andy Nellist could only wonder why the two bream he had were a stone or more short of the target weight of 16lbs each, though a decent carp boosted his weight – but that’s fishing.
The early pegs were very dour; yet further along most pegs eventually produced fish of some description; skimmers, tench, odd carp, and for Stu Dexter, a five species mixed bag. The chilled water reduced the effectiveness of boilies and pellets, with maggots on desperately fine gear proving a risky best. For some it was a case of ‘if only’ as lost fish cost dearly, but pleasant sunshine and plenty of banter made it all bearable. There was much speculation on whether Stu’s crafty method of fishing right under the walkway in the closing stages of the match would bear fruit. At the next peg, John Huntley was using the same tactics but every fish he hooked there was making it into the tree roots behind the walkway. For me, the match had been a good opportunity to meet many of the FM regulars, discuss eutrophication with Andy, reel seats with ‘Woody’, FM features with Graham, Sway roach with Cooperman, mullet with Nigel Connor, and whether a mill stone would be an adequate substitute for Stonze on the Ribble with Gary Knowles. Graham volunteered me to sort out the weigh-in, whilst he packed up and then took some pictures.
Stu Dexter took an early lead with 18-10, one carp, some tench, skimmers and roach plus that stray chub. Other decent weights followed, a single carp of 12-12 to Derek Garner that gave him third spot and won him a bottle of Vodka donated by Stu ‘Skive’ Johnson for the biggest fish. Then I saw two carp and a tench for a similar weight, and a variety of sundry tench and carp. By the time we reached Gary Knowles it was pretty much a foregone conclusion, and, as expected, Gary’s eight carp made 30-8, and a convincing and deserving winner. Back at the car park, Graham presented the trophy to Gary, and it was then back to Banbury for a pint in the pub. Speculation on whether Andy Nellist would be allowed into the pub in his unwashed fishing garb proved groundless, and it did gain him plenty of bar space. Graham was able to confirm to some incredulous members that Professor Bumblebee had visited the match unchallenged, and distributed his business card to prove the point (was it the little fellow selling baggin’ wagglers?). Stu Dexter had fished on for a while after the match, and the carp, realising the match was over, had obliged. He landed a carp of fifteen pounds from under the boardwalk, hanging on like grim death to keep it out of the roots. If only…
Note from Graham But the biggest ‘if only’ of the lot was: if only we had made the right decision in the first place, as Gary did, for match fishing is not only about fishing well, it’s also about making the right decision about how to fish. Like many on the day I got it wrong, and as much as he’s going to be a pain in the a*se (and from the a*se) when we fish at Ellerdine in a couple of weeks, I have to say he deserved his victory – he made the right decision and he fished well, very well in fact, with long and accurate casting to the fish where they were feeding some 50 to 60yds out. So well done you t***! My thanks go to Jeff ‘Woody’ Woodhouse for his supporting role in helping with the draw and other favours and to Mark Wintle for being a good bank runner, writing this report and taking the photos and doing the weighing. But most of all, thanks to everyone for attending. The Culley Memorial gets better every year, in spite of the weather always conspiring against us. It was great to put some more faces to names on the forum. And most of all it was wonderful to meet some old friends and make so many new ones. My last thanks go to Skive for doing the driving. I was shattered after the pub and the curry and slept all the way home and was half asleep most of the following day. |
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