Every now and then when blogging I have a match where I find the fishing so boring that there is little to write. Wednesday's "Skivers, Unemployed, Old Gits,General layabouts and students match" on the Top Lake at Willinghurst was just one such ocassion !
Fifteen of us turned up to fish, and having had my usual pre draw wander with cup of tea in hand, by the number of fish "blowing", it appeared that in the main part of the lake, the majority of fish were up the left hand end in Pegs 12-16. With pegs thirteen and fourteen not being pegged, this made 12, 15 and 16 the favoured pegs, plus of course the back spit which everyone always fancies.
The moment of truth arrived and for me, out came Peg 21, a peg I didn't mind but one that is a bit limited as to what you can do as it is tucked away in a corner. A quick look down the draw sheet revealed that England Team World Champion and individual world bronze medallist Steve Gardener had drawn Peg 12 and Mike Sanders, former England youth international and still one of th best young anglers in the country had drawn Peg 15 - Oh great, I was very pleased for them both !
Having travelled with Brian "The Plummet" Wharton, I knew exactly how deep my peg was as following his little "Dip" last week, he now has the depths of each part of the peg marked on his shirt ! To cut a long and very boring story short, I fished Paste at 6 metres and corn and hemp in the edge both sides and after an early fish down by the tree to my left, I then had about 3 hours without a proper bite, although I did lose 2 foul hookers on the paste line.
To make things worse, Mick the Bookie was on Peg 18 with half the lake to himself and was well on the way to taking his first pound of the year off me as his ledgered pellet was producing a few fish.
With a couple of hours to go, I started to catch the odd decent carp both in the edge to my left and on the paste line and when the match ended at 5pm I wa catching well. My finally tally of 10 or 11 carp went 73-0-0 which whilst good enough to win the section, and only 2 fish off being in the frame, was very frustrating due to the amount of time I'd sat catching bugger all !
As expected Steve Gardener took first place with 140lb of carp on the long pole and pellet whilst Mick the Bookie took second place (and my pound) with 96lb. Lee Kendrick caught a few fish on a waggler, lead and pole on the back spit (Peg 26) to finish with 85lb and third place.
I did "Google" Steve Gardener to try and get a picture of him to post on here but all I got were details of people who'd come and cut my grass !
JPZ's from Marukyu - "The Dogs Danglies"
Jordan Whitby with a PB Carp of 18lb from Newdigate
Maggotdrowning.com
Exclusive Pictures
Fred Davis with his personal best chub of 7-2-0 from the River Lea
and his 6-8-0 tench !
Neil Humpage with part of his 89-10-0 match winning chub catch from the River Wye
Mike Spragg with his personal best Barbel from the The Wye, a whopping 10-1-0.
Davey P's Locker - Tackle I would recommend
Drennan Lake Floats - I used to use these floats for crucians and have recently started using them again for my silvers fishing, The cane bristle makes them especially sensitive.
I use this hook for nearly all my carp fishing from Size 10's with paste, 14's with the knotless knot on the lead and 18's for Hook in the loop rigs and they have never let me down.
How smart are this lot - Andy May and his wife with some of the motley Total fishing.com crew. There is a small pond just out of the picture and they fished a small sweepstake between the wedding ceremony and the reception ! Andy May won, Haisman was last - no change there then !
Myles Levy and his mate Chris with a 59lb catfish from France.
When I was writing in the Angling Times I promised some friends that I would try and get "Fish Cakes" mentioned in an article. However, as I was sacked before I could do so, I thought I'd put them on here ! So Mick and Karen Jones, here they are as promised !
At least one member of the Baxter clan can catch fish ! Young Dylan with a 4lb bream.
Hathers at Stafford Moor - Let this picture be a lesson to you all, those last couple of drinks the night before are never a good idea !
World Exclusive !!!!!!!
Andy Toplis playing a fish.
Ryan Hughes with part of an 80lb bag from White Springs Fishery in Wales
Mick Bull wont have received many points for this dive - but having just won the Fisho Final and £25k I don't think he really cared !
Another exclusive for Pikey's Progress - Terry Molloy not talking ! Oh yes and with a decent River Thames Pike.
OK Own up - who lent Mick The Bookie some fish to pose with ?
Martin Harper with a superb 8lb tench from Farlows Lake
Young match star Tony Curd with an 11lb barbel from the River Kennet - he didn't say where, these spessy hunters are so secretive !
Total Fishing's Justin Laundon with a fine net of fish from Lindholme Lakes
Fred Davis with 3 chub over 5lb and a small one from the River Lea.
http://www.carpvader.com/index.asp
Jeff Moors took part in the recent Catfish Challenge and caught this one - more of a "kitten" than a cat really !
And here are some proper ones that the winners had.
BNF - with part of a near 100lb haul from the Glebe
Scone - Angling writer, float maker and all round good egg !
"Hathers" with his 3-8-0 roach from Timsbury Manor - some claim it was really a hybrid, I couldn't possibly comment !
"Fordy on the Telly" with 40lb of prime River Kennet chub.
.........and this one weighed 5-2-0
Alan Dove with a small Skimmer Bream of 15-8-0 from Walthamstow Reservoir
Fred Davis plied Alan Dove with coffee all day then when he went to attend to a call of nature caught this one with his gear !
Colin Ormston (Billy no Fish) with the reason that some anglers still fish rivers !
Phil Stone (Pebs) with a fine net of roach and rudd from Witherington Farm
Total Fishing.com ventriloquist Gary Haisman with his two new dummies - Billy No Fish and Pebs.
