Total-fishing.com north-east get-together
By
I HAD high hopes for this match, as at one stage last week 56 people were booked on and Woodlands was fishing well. However, a combination of drop outs and people not turning up on the day reduced the participation on the day to 40, but nevertheless an enjoyable day was had by all, and most importantly, a good laugh.
Typical
http://www.maggotdrowning.com/myphoto/Datafile6.asp?FileID=990
They also stuffed them with paper, and put paper threats saying things like ‘You are going swimming’ in every drawer of my box. Oh and put tins of catmeat (a banned bait at Woodlands) in my bait bucket, and then take photo’s of it. Here is one of such photo, complete with catmeat tin (Thankyou Paul Thompson!)
http://www.maggotdrowning.com/myphoto/Datafile6.asp?FileID=989
The draw itself was slightly delayed, as 10 people had not turned up. 2 late comers did arrive just in time, to report they had passed Dave Jackson who had unfortunately broken down. But no thanks to the other 7 who decided not to inform me that they were not coming. Apologies if you had some last minute emergency or something, but it doesn’t exactly make the match organiser’s job easy.
Anyway, onto the fishing. It was terrible at first, the wind and cold rain looked to have taken their toll, but gradually the carp started coming out, and everyone seemed to catch a few in the last couple of hours. Most would have had even more, had it not been for a freak storm half an hour from the end which seemed to kill it off.
Partridge had two muppets from maggotdrowning in the early pegs 3 and 4- Graeme Stamp and Alex Malham, both of whom protested that the match should have been silver fish only, as they ended with
There was some decent weights further along… Dave Sinclad managed
It was on Partridge 21 however, that we found our winner. Graham Lowery, a ringer I suppose, but a mate of mine and a maggotdrowner’s, fished the bomb and corn to the middle of the lake, to find a pocket of carp and 42-2-0 for first place. Adam Richards on the next peg could only muster 11lb though, despite insisting he fished exactly the same way as Graham. Off course you did Adam… 😉
A few up on peg 24, and Ozzy Osbourne had come to England. Well he hadn’t actually, as on closer inspection (not too close!) it proved to be Cumbrian nutta Mike Sterland. Now when the rain came pouring down, this geezer needed 2 umbrellas- 1 for his tackle… and 1 for his hair! Mike struggled for 7lb.
Dave Watson on peg 25 faired better, 20-5-0 to win the section by default. So you should have done Dave, after all this practice!
On Partridge 33, an unfancied area, Martin Bailey had a good bag of 34-8-0. This only consisted of only 5-6 fish including a double figure mirror, which strangely enough lacked a tail! Of some surprise however, was that Ian Mackie (AKA Merlin) won the section by default with 15-2-0. He wasn’t wearing his usual outrageous shorts, so the fish he brought with him were apparently down his bib and brace!
Now onto Skylark Lake. I was on peg 2, and struggled in the first 2.5 hours for 2 small carp, before they switched on, on 14.5m pole lines, and I plundered another 7 and a barbel for 17-0-0… and a section win.
I was surprised to find that Scoobs had finally dispensed with all his full camo gear… but he spent most of the day rubbing all this dust from his clothes off. He’d been at work, the day before, but apparently forgot to change clothing. Is this a Cumbrian tradition to look as scruffy as possible?
‘Spectron Sneaky’ Kev Hartley on S10 could not make his tartish tackle count, 3-12-0 was all he had to show for the day. However, Gaz Malham had an interesting time on peg 14. Landing a lump on pellet, Gaz told bank runners it was 15lb. By the end of the match however, this had grown to 22lb! Gaz weighed in 10-0-0… and some of that was a tench! As you can see Gaz is renowned for his honesty in weight estimations! Still I beat him by 7 clear pounds… a battering! All that was left to do was to hand over the customary quid side bet, but for once it was coming from Gaz’s direction, not mine! Here’s the evidence… print this off and frame it (it might be worth something in a few years time!).
http://www.maggotdrowning.com/myphoto/Datafile6.asp?FileID=988
There was a bit of a dire section towards the bottom end and far side of Skylark, in which 3 DNW’s were recorded and Newcastle’s Paul Thompson took the section spoils with just 6-8-0 from S24.
Joe Carass on S27 might have had more fish, had Kevin Penfold on the next peg not put in a total of 16 balls of groundbait throughout the match (Joe counted by the way!). Still Joe ended with a respectable 12-8-0. Tony Bucknall won his section, and Skylark lake, from peg 30, with quality carp coming to paste late on. And next door, Craig Miller showed how difficult it is to swing carp in on your top 6! However he eventually got his landing net out, and weighed in 4-8-0, enough to beat arch rivals, and bit bashers, Ian and Graeme on Partridge!
Heres a picture of Mike Sterland helping me pick some pools money up that had accidentally spilt out of an envelope. I was quick to ask Mike if he enjoyed the experience, as its not very often he has the chance to pick up money after a match!
http://www.maggotdrowning.com/myphoto/Datafile6.asp?FileID=991
Results
G Lowery, P21: 42-2-0
M Bailey, P33: 34-8-0
M Holmes (MD), P10: 32-4-0
D Sinclad (MD), P8: 29-4-0
Sections (By default)
P3 – P10: D Bailey, P6: 13-0-0
P12 – P18: N Mack (TA), P16: 15-5-0
P19 – P27: D Watson (MD), P25: 20-5-0
P28 – P36: I Mackie (TF), P28: 15-2-0
S2-S8: B Fisk (TF), S2: 17-0-0.
S10- S14: G Malham (MD), S14: 10-0-0.
S19 – 25: P Thompson (MD), S24: 6-8-0
S27 – S33: T Bucknall (TF), S30: 18-5-0
Peg by peg analysis (name and shame!)
Patridge
3. G Stamp (MD): 3-8-0
4. A Malham (MD): 1-4-0
6. D Bailey: 13-0-0
10. M Holmes (MD): 32-4-0
12.
13. J Fisher: DNW
15. S Richards: 12-5-0
16. N Mack (TA): 15-5-0
18. Ian Ward (MD): DNW
19. M Pattinson: (TF): DNW
21. G Lowery: 42-2-0
22. A Richards (TF): 11-0-0
24. M Sterland (TF): 7-0-0
25. D Watson (MD): 20-5-0
27. J Herbert: DNW
28. I Mackie (TF): 15-2-0
30. M Connop (MD): 5-13-0
31. A Killick (TF): DNW
33. M Bailey: 34-8-0
36. B Zimmerman (MD): 2-8-0.
Skylark
2: B Fisk (TF): 17-0-0
4. M O’Neill (TF): 6-4-0
5. S Cooper (TF): DNW
7. T Tholdsworth (MD): 4-2-0
8. R Brown: 11-0-0
10. K Hartley (TF): 3-12-0
11. C Bashford (MD): 2-0-0
13. T Ferguson (MD): 9-0-0
14. G Malham (MD): 10-0-0
19. J Hopton (MD): DNW
21. E Bulmer: DNW
22. F Munaser: NDW
24. P Thompson (MD): 6-8-0
25. S Armstrong (MD): 4-11-0
27. J Carass (TF): 12-8-0
28. K Penfold: DNW
30. T Bucknall (TF) 18-5-0
31. C Miller (MD): 4-8-0
33. A Rogerson (MD): 16-8-0.
It had been a testing time on an unusually peggy spring Woodlands. However everyone enjoyed the day (I think!) and had a good laugh. Thanks to
Catch you later,
Ben
