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A few of us had even sneaked over earlier in the week to sample the fishing and the reports were coming back to the thread on the forum promising a real good match. I even made it over for a practice on the night before and sat in glorious evening sunshine catching carp. It was terrific and it definitely couldn’t last. It didn’t. | |
This year, for the first time, we were allowing any-method fishing, dispensing with the float-only rule that had prevailed in the first two events. So at the all-in there was a barrage of Method feeders mixed with the louder splash of the occasional bagging waggler. After five minutes or so of constant casting these were hurriedly hauled in and more Method feeders went out. The wind had shifted by five degrees and what was once relative shelter became a willow whipped frenzy as white-topped waves crashed against our platforms. Extra clothing was hurriedly scrambled into and we sat there with chattering teeth trying to keep our rod tip steady while making sure every loose item was firmly held down. | |
And yet people were catching fish. Wendy, our lass from Lancashire, raced into an early lead with several carp and tench, closely followed by Stu Bullard who comes up with his friends from Kent every year to fish this one. I stood behind him and he admitted to never fishing a quivertip rod on a lake before and wham his tip goes round and he’s into another decent carp. He certainly knew what to do when he got a bite though. At the half way mark the top end of the lake were struggling for bites but everyone from Stu Dexter onwards was catching fish, Graham was pegged on a slight point which meant every gust of wind probably hit him and those down the lake from him harder than anyone else. Conditions were getting worse. | |
At the weigh-in everyone congregated to watch the fish being weighed in and I did note there was a lot of admiration for the quality of the carp and tench that had been caught; very healthy fish with full lips, including mirrors and commons and the occasional large ghostie and koi strain, which fought like tigers to stay out of the net. Five or six of us did manage a blank but most people that caught managed double figures with quite a number catching over twenty pounds. Here’s the results:- | |
2nd – Stuart Bullard 48lb 12oz 3rd – Wendy Perry 28 lb 13oz. A big thank you to everyone for turning out and supporting our annual match. Including the chap who went for an impromptu dip – I bet that was cold! It certainly gave us all a laugh. For those that stayed behind a good hot curry was called for, so we headed off to Banbury for our traditional meal that rounded off a difficult but rewarding day. |
