THE DAY KICKED off well with a fine breakfast at Tesco’s, Kevin Perkins supplied us with some very professional looking name badges and we were set. We hurriedly drove to the Reservoir in eager anticipation of the day ahead. Proceedings began well, after the greetings and handshakes the usual mad rush to draw pegs ensued and the optional pools were duly paid, of which all 34 anglers entered into, self confidence must having been running very high.
The reservoir looked very good, although there was a very strong wind coming across at a different angle to normal, this did nothing to dampen confidence though. The weather was a mixed affair of squally showers which passed fairly quickly which were on and off all day long, followed by bright strong sunshine, the burnt heads, necks and ears are proof of this. We all made our way to our pegs along the bouncing board walks. I’ve never seen anything like it before, the entire circumference of the reservoir is boarded out on stilts away from the bank, I don’t know who designed it, but it creates fishing access to the entire reservoir.
10.30am arrived and it was ‘all in’. For some, the eager anticipation of bagging up decreased. Two hours in and it was very slow, the carp obviously weren’t having it as some had predicted. A very small Jack fairly hooked on maggots put a huge smile on Mark Wintle’s face. It’s funny how during a match everyone wants to know “who’s catching?” Rumours soon started to filter through that McWallet had caught three carp, Steve Wilson pegged next to him was also catching and Malc Doyle pegged just behind me was having fun with the carp he was catching, or should I say ‘hooking?’ under the boards.
A lot of the anglers soon realised that the carp and tench (Wendy had two crackers) were right under our feet and in the jungle behind us. We could hear them crashing around all day long, so it was time to ‘beef up the gear’ and hang on! We all soon found out what ‘hit and hold’ meant! Nigel Connor especially enjoyed this tactic on his centrepin reel which could be heard screaming two hundred yards away every time he latched into a carp.
None of us knew he also suffers from momentary outbursts of tourettes, which seemed to occur, every time he hooked into a carp under the boards. I don’t think the elderly couple stood right above where he was playing a carp helped much! A 12lb 14oz carp on a ‘pin is a fine achievement, well done Nigel. Andy Nellist came down to Nigel to see what all the commotion was about and net the beast for him. BIG mistake! A voice rang out, “Andy, your rod!” I’ve never seen someone drop a net and run as fast as that! Another carp found its freedom under the boards. From about 1.30pm onwards the time just flew by, it must have had something to do with the fact that most of us were now getting bites, or should I say getting our rods pulled under the boards, sometimes followed by success, sometimes not! I wouldn’t call it proper fishing, but it was good fun!
The weigh-in came around all too soon and it was time to see who had caught what and who would be the very proud owner the Keith Cully Memorial Trophy for the next year. It really is a fine trophy and one that all of us would be proud to adorn the mantel piece. Out of the 34 anglers (yep you guessed it!) Graham Marsden came out on top from peg 21, (kindly drawn for him by Wendi, my missus, also official photographer for the day) winning with a fine catch of 44lb. Next came Malc Doyle with 38lb 12oz on peg 37, closely followed by Steve Wilson with 36lb on peg 20. It was then onto the pub for the award ceremony, pools payout, the usual banter and the fishy tales of “the one that got away!”
Graham proudly accepted the Keith Cully Memorial Trophy for 2007 and then faster than a blink of an eye slid his winnings into that famous wallet; believe me it is a fine sight! He looked to be struggling to fit his winnings in, but sure enough he did manage somehow. FishingMagic kindly paid for chips and sausages all round which went down very well with everyone, especially Bryan ‘The Sausage’ Baron. We then got down to some serious fishing talk. Dicky amazed us with his tales from India (part two will be out shortly on FM), whilst Andy and Unlucky Jeff talked about knawing ones own arm off. I haven’t got a clue what they were on about, but Scott seemed to understand.
I think I also spotted Drogba scoring for Chelsea on the widescreen TV in the background. Then it happened again, out came the wallet and it was beers all round on Graham, so don’t believe what you hear, he is a top bloke and a fine angler. It was a great day out. if you can make it next year go for it, I will definitely be there again. Here’s the full list, some did not weigh in, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get their strings pulled!
A Note from Graham The day didn’t start well for me. First off I paid several pence for a sachet of brown sauce at the till in Tesco and then found there were some freebies by the cutlery. Then Wendi drew peg 21 for me, which was supposed to be at the wrong end of the lake and had no water behind the boards where the big carp lurk. And then, to cap it all, my gear fell off my trolley three times in the first 10 yards. All the omens were pointing to a bad match and I was not a happy man on the way to my peg.
Bad attitude. So I gave myself a good talking to and picked out the positives. The wind was pushing towards the dam. I had no trees to make casting awkward. I’d prepared well, pre-mixing the Sonu Mix 1 groundbait so it got a good soak, and there was no reason my plan wouldn’t work if I had some fish in front of me. I would do exactly the same as I did last year, only I’d do it better: fish the Korum inline method feeder at distance with corn and maggot as bait. Fishing at distance (50 – 60yds) wasn’t easy with that cross wind. It was a matter of whacking out the feeder towards the marker I’d picked out on the far bank until the line was stopped by the line clip, plunging the rod deep under the surface to sink the line, dropping the rod onto the sliding rod rest, and then slowly tightening until the tip settled at the curve I wanted.
I didn’t get many bites throughout the match, but they were all good ones, wrapping the rod round and threatening to pull it in if my hand hadn’t been grasping the butt. I had prior warning of almost every bite as the tip rattled when the carp attacked the groundbait on the feeder. In total I lost two fish that slipped the hook. My preparation included tying about a dozen hooklinks of which I used just the one. I took about 10 method feeders and used two, the first one changed for a heavier one when the wind got stronger. I mixed 3kgs of groundbait and used most of it, plus one tin of corn and a pint of red maggots. My thanks to Nigel for arranging the after match refreshments, to Kevin for the name tags (a great idea for those of us with non-existent memories) to Wendi for taking some excellent pictures, to Steve for the write-up, and to Neil for doing a great job of the weigh-in. Thanks to Stu, last year’s winner, for handing over the trophy with a smile. And thank you all for helping to fatten my wallet.
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