Phil Gravett tugs to extract the fly he won his first-ever pike fly match with. It’s tucked in his favourite jumper – along with an impressive-looking collection of nymphs, lures and goodness knows what other concoctions of fur and feather.
“Here it is,” he says, extracting a soggy black and yellow lure on a 3/0 hook from the collection riding on a well-travelled gansey. “It doesn’t really have a name, suppose it’s a Viva,” he says, showing me the bug-eyed creature he tied up at home from materials cobbled together from his local craft shop. “I had ’em all fishing this one on a slow-sinking line, retrieving it right along the bank – it’s a bit shorter than it was.” Phil’s come all the way from Pulborough, in Sussex, to steal the honours in the Fenland Flyer. Fish were hard to come by in the fluff-flinging match, held to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust for leukaemia on the Delph at Welney. Phil romped home with four fish – a 10lbs-dead, a 9:08dr, a 6:15 and a 1:14 – on a bright and breezy day when Peter Currington’s single fish of 3:08 was enough to steer him into second place, and Nigel Savage’s third-placed 1:05 was the only other fish caught. Peter Jones, chairman and secretary of the Pike Fly Fishing Association was chuffed all the same with the £ 400-odd the event raise for the Anthony Nolan Trust. His wife Michele was diagnosed with the rare cancer five years ago, at the age of 34. But the trust found a bone marrow donor 10 minutes’ drive from their then home in Enfield, Middlesex. And Michele has now made a full recovery. “She had a bone marrow transplant, so she knew what people go through,” said Peter. Leonie Owens, area appeals manager for the Anthony Nolan Trust, presented prizes at Welney Village Hall. Dr Barrie Rickards – who fished the match and blanked – dished out tackle prizes on behalf of Welney Angling Club, Shakespeare, Masterline, Harris Angling, Sport Fish, Anglewise, Fly-Tek Fishing, Fishing Pool, the Friendly Fisherman and Neville Fickling. Winner Phil was on his first trip to the Fens. “I just like catching fish on the fly,” said the former trout angler, who only started pike fishing earlier this year and whose 10lbs sample caught during the competition beat his previous PB. He went home with a new rod, fly lines and other prizes. |
Welcome!Log into your account
