| At the time of preparing this report, £ 14,816 has been banked with £ 800 to a £ 1,000 still due to be sent in. This is a staggering amount to be raised from one weekends fishing, and our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who attended, the sponsors who provided the raffle prizes, RMC Angling for donating the event, and everyone who helped during the coarse of the weekend. The event started on Thursday afternoon with Stoney, Chris, Andy, Mike, Eugene, and Tug turning up to get things ready for the usual Friday morning rush. Other than Andy “wading” (albeit by accident) when trying to remove some line from a tree on the Split Lake, and the roof of Stoney’s van being used to store various items of clothing (unknown to the owners), the afternoon was fairly event free.
By 21.00 on Thursday, everyone had headed off in different directions to their sleeping quarters. For some this was Stoney’s 9×9 tent, others their cars, and a few to their Bivvies. Sleep came quickly for all and hardly a sound could be heard at Yateley until – Andy catches a Pussie of the Split. Now no one minds being woken to see and photo a decent fish, and when Andy said he had a 30, I was out of my bed in a flash. My excitement lasted all of 10 seconds when I saw the fish – all 30oz of it. Andy only lived to see Friday morning thanks to Eugene stepping in! Andy then had the audacity to phone Stoney to tell him. Stoney was asleep in his van in the Car Park, yet I could hear Stoney’s “polite” reply even without the aid of the phone! 06.00 Friday morning and Stoney phones to ask why we are not back in the Car Park. Not having fallen back to sleep until 04.00 after Andy’s pussy adventure, I had to stop myself from replying immediately!! Five minutes later, the helpers were all assembled in the Car Park and waiting for the “Cheerful Chippie” to provide cups of tea and bacon rolls. As with every Stoney event that the “Chippie” attends, it took all of a nano-second for the banter to start flying. 06.30 and the table is out, computer fired up, jobs allocated and we all think we can sit down with a nice ‘cuppa’ to wait for the 10.00 gates open rush. How wrong could we be? Despite everything sent out stipulating that the gates open at 10.00, the website confirming this, notes on the gate confirming it, and numerous people having this confirmed by phone, the first car beeped its horn for entry to the gate at 06.45 For anyone who knows the entrance to Yateley “Car Park” car park, you will know the road by it is not the safest. For those of you that don’t know it, it’s on a blind bend which goes over the river Blackwater. It’s a dangerous junction at the best of times, without cars parked on the road. In view of this, we had no option but to let the car in. One car became three, and by 08.00 most of the anglers had arrived!! Registration and enrolment thus commenced far earlier than anticipated. In hindsight this was no bad thing in view that as everyone had done an outstanding job of raising sponsorship, the counting the money, issuing receipts etc took far longer than we had anticipated. However, with the use of modern technology everything went smoothly, and by 11.00 we knew we had beaten all previous records. On this subject, special mention should be given to John “Captain Pugwash” Bartlett who alone raised £ 1780, considerably beating the previous record for an individual. Whilst fishing was due to commence at 12.00, most anglers were ensconced in their swim by 11.00 – next year it’s a draw for a walk off on all lakes! Once all the anglers had departed to their swims, normality returned to the Car Park. It was then time to count up all the money we had been given and ensure it tallied with our computer records. Two hours later and four different people having a go, and all squared up. I suppose only having a few hours sleep didn’t help the brain with the maths. It was then time for a trip to the bank. I drove, and for some reason I listened to Allan’s directions to the nearest HSBC bank. Next time I’ll take the direct route!. When we walked into the bank, we were greeted by a friendly lady with a nice big smile on her face, this however disappeared rapidly when she we saw what we had for her! £ 10,544.50 in cheques, £ 50’s, £ 20’s, £ 10’s, £ 5’s, £ 2’s, £ 1’s and numerous coins of small denomination. Horror is an understatement for her reaction. However, as soon as she realised it was all for charity, the smile re-appeared and the counting got underway. Much to our amazement (and obviously hers!), our figures were 100% accurate. The trip back to Yateley, via the direct route, took 10 minutes. A stop in Yateley Angling Centre was required, as Ruth had kindly agreed to hold various raffle prizes which companies had delivered there for us. It became very clear that Yateley are also good at on the spot repairs to most items of tackle, as there was a steady stream of our anglers getting pods and the like fixed – it’s a good job plastic melts at a lower temperature than stainless steel! Finally back to the Car Park at about 17.00 Allan retired to the Catering Van, and I wandered off to my swim on the Split. Rods, baited and it was time to cast out. Ray the bailiff was there, and despite me telling him where I had baited up that morning, insisted on the areas I should cast to. In my knackered state I couldn’t be bothered to argue and just followed his instructions. Needless to say, I blanked – Ray, stick to advice on the Pads next time! Saturday morning came, and after a visit to the “cheerful chippie”, via Pompey’s Tea House on the Pumphouse, it was time to walk the lakes and sell raffle tickets. I knew Yateley covered a large area, but 7 hours to get round it all was far longer than I expected. Admittedly, Allan was with me and did have his talking hat on!!!. No sooner had we started on the Match Lake, and the heavens opened. Serves us right I suppose for going in tee-shirts and saying, “lets do it while the sun is out”! The rain soon abated however, and we were on our way. Despite every angler on the side of the complex being sociable and chatty, not one cup of tea, soft drink or beer was offered to us! By the time we were back at the main Car Park, we were gagging for a beer. One became two, and we had to stop ourselves having the third, or we wouldn’t have got round that side of the complex. We needn’t have worried though. Pompey’s Tea House had turned into “The Pompey Inn”, and refreshments were forthcoming immediately. This however seemed to set a trend for that side of the complex, and by the time we had covered all the lakes, we were suitably relaxed. Thanks to all of you for the liquid refreshments. Onto the fishing, first off the mark was Phil Bell with a 15lb 4oz Common from the Match at 14.40 He had actually been on the lake since Thursday as he is a ticket holder. On Thursday night he had an 11lb Mirror, followed by a 19lb 8oz Common on Friday morning. To add to these, on Friday evening he helped himself to a lovely Cat weighing 36lb 8oz and followed this up with a 19lb9oz linear on Saturday evening. All in all not a bad result. Other fish to come of the Match were Steve Newick with a 29lb5oz Mirror (Copse Lake Scaley I believe), Andy Cadwallader with a 27lb1oz Cat, Ian Haig Brown with 17lb4oz of “pure pleasure” in the form of a Mirror, Stuart Black caught the common below, which on the night was weighed at 34lb4oz but after seeing the photo’s he’s not so confident and therefore is just claiming it as a ‘belter’ – there’s honesty for you.
In addition, Rob Watts had a cracking little bag of Roach and Perch (livelies), a 6lb Pike and a 25lb14oz Mirror (caught on 4x20mm halibut pellets,50lb Braid and size 2 hook – guess what he was really after!) Sandhurst, despite complaints about the weed!!! – they should have been there a month ago, produced at least 8 carp. Those we know of are Michael Kemp with Common’s of 24lb and 12lb and a Mirror of 21lb5oz., Paul Lunn with Mirror’s of 14lb and 14lb8oz plus a Common of 13lb, and Jack Grisley was also into fish with two Common’s of 15lb12oz and 18lb12oz. The Pumphouse was invaded by the “Pompey Crew” and friends. If they had brought as much tackle as they bought food, drink and cooking utensils, then they would still be loading up their cars two days later. Tim Lister, between banquets, managed to sneak out two 10lb Mirrors. Personally, I think it was only one and he probably fell into a Coma whilst playing it, and when he came round, thought he was into another! His comment on the form was that “on reflection, they were nice fish, very very nice fish”. No doubt Graham Plater had a good recipe for them! Also on the “Dumphouse” (his words not mine) was Rob Eustace who managed a 7lb8oz Common and a Bream. The Summer Pit was fished by 5 anglers. 3 others were due on there, but asked to be moved when they realised it wasn’t a Carp water. Leigh Holman caught a 6lb6oz Tench, 4 Crucian’s up to 2lb9oz and lots of Perch, Roach and Rudd. On the Split, three Cats were caught that I know of and one Carp, but which haven’t been officially reported. One was about 22lb. Tom Stone had the other at 23lb8oz – that I know is accurate as he woke me up to photo it! The last was Andy Paice with a monster of 30oz. If I hadn’t been so asleep when he caught it, I would have pinched it for a “lively”!! The Carp below was caught by Eugene Burke at last knockings on Sunday morning and came in at 14lb5oz. The last lake that reports have come in from is the Pads. Mike “Gary Glitter” Lyddon (that’s the name he put on the catch reports – I must say I prefer Mike “Mummy’s Boy” Lyddon which came from Tugs good lady Donna) caught a Mirror Carp of 22lb 12oz along with a Tench of 3lb. Martin “Pest Controller” Lewis (aka Smarts) lived up to his usual reputation, by catching a “Huge, Massive, Enormous Tench…..about 3lb! Paul Griffin, fishing the Pads yet again, kept up his tradition of catching there. However, this time he needed the help of Ray, the head bailiff. After not getting a touch for 36 hours, Ray suggested where he should place his baits in the “pole position” swim. Two hours latter and Paul is into his first UK thirty. There is obviously something about this swim that encourages wading. Last year, someone had to be spoken to about it as they waded out to place their baits. This year however was a bit different. Paul’s 30 managed to get itself snagged in the weeds. Knowing it was a good fish, Paul summoned help, and a bailiff responded, wading out to free the fish (it’s the second year in a row that the bailiff has ended up in the water on that swim to!). On the bank it went 30lb12oz . Paul then went on to catch a further Mirror of 22lb6oz, again on a spot pointed out by Ray. I suppose it shows that Ray does sometimes know what he’s talking about!! By 12.00 on Sunday, anglers were beginning to arrive back in the Car Park for the raffle. Despite tickets being sold the day before, they was still a demand for further ticket sales. The total on the computer was therefore changing my the minute. Allan, aided by Tug, Mike, Paul, Donna, Andy and Smarts sorted out the raffle prizes, and the prizes for the top sponsorship raisers. This was no mean feat due to the generosity of all our tackle trade and other sponsors – yet again another big thank you to every company who sponsored the event. A final tally of the money raised, Donna writing out the cheque for £ 14,750 and by 13.30 Allan was making his speech and getting the raffle was underway – only 30 minutes late which must be another record for the event. 1 1/2hrs later, and the raffle was over – just goes to show how many prizes there were. The anglers slowly dispensed, the Car Park was cleared up, and all that was left was for a delegation to visit Sandhurst to present John Bartlett with his prize. John had decided on Saturday to stay an extra day at the lake, so had visited Yateley Angling Centre to purchase an additional day ticket. The last thing we had to do was tell John that “Big Russ” has set him a challenge for next year. Russ previously held the record for most money raised and has said he will definitely be back next year to try and get his record back. John responded by promising to come back with at least £ 2,000. Boys, the challenge is on and good luck to you both. Anyone else wanting to join the challenge is more than welcome. To round things up, thank you to everyone who attended and your sterling efforts on fund raising, thanks to everyone who helped over the weekend, thanks to Ian Welch and RMC for donating the venue and another huge thanks to every company that donated prizes for the raffle. The work now begins for next years Dynamites Yateley event, not to mention this years River Fish-in on 27th September (still some tickets left!!!) and the Wraysbury pike fish-in on 29th February 2004. Chris Isaacs |
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