Sunday saw me back at Willinghurst for Round 2 of "Pikey's Winter League", I set up the league a few years ago for anglers who want to fish together, don't take it too seriously and were fed up of giving Daiwa Dorking their money in the Angling Times Surrey Winter League. This year we have 8 teams of 6 and the money is spread out so that we don't have great big payouts but £60 for winning an 8 peg section and £30 for second in section isn't bad is it. I also pay the top 4 in the £5 superpool.
Anyway, back to the match. With a number of decent team draws in the bag Ross drew first for us and picked out Peg 7, which on first inspection didn't look too promising. Keith Arthur was on New 16 - a fair peg on the lake, Ross was on Top 13 - which we didn't really fancy, Marcus Page was on Old Lake Peg 23 - but we'd not fished Old for ages so didn't know how that would fish, Alan Harrington was on Top 26 but was likely to struggle to beat the 4 pegs in his section that were on the main lake, Woody was on a reasonable but not a top peg on Oaktree and I was on Pittance 14 - a reasonable peg but there were a number of better ones on the lake.
The key at Willinghurst in the past few matches is just to drip the feed in, a few pellets or pieces of corn after every fish or bite. I started on the pole at 13 metres with corn on the hook and after twenty minutes I was still biteless, however as the rest of the lake was as well, I wasn't too worried yet. I've been taking a few dead maggotts to Willinghurst recently and whilst I've not caught much on them it wasn't going to do any harm to try them on the hook. So, on went one white and one red maggot and out went the pole. After a couple of minutes the float dipped slightly and just as I was expecting a roach, the elastic started to emerge from the end of the pole......and kept coming out ! I soon had a 4lb fish in the net and was winning the lake !
Twenty minutes later I'd had another 2 fish and life was looking good ! However, unfortunately the wind started to get up and got stronger and stronger, this made it really difficult to fish the pole at all and my peg just died. Squeeky (Stuart Wilson) at the next peg (Peg 12 - the peg that wins the majority of matches on Pittance) had initially struggled and all I could here was him moaning as everyone around the lake seemed to have caught the odd carp - except him. I was looking forward to a week of winding him up on the Total Fishing website until he caught his first fish, a tiny thing of about.............................18lb - I was very pleased for him, especially as his next one went 16lb !
I was getting fed up now as I couldn't present a bait properly on the pole and the tip just sat there motionless when I chucked the lead to the island, so, after a little walk to see Woody on Oaktree and go for a wee, I returned to my peg and deceided that with just over two hours to go it was time to have a go in the edge. Most pegs on Pittance are very shallow in the edge and with the water being quite cold, I'd set my edge rig at about 2 foot and just plumbed up until I found that depth each side. I'd fed a small cup of dead maggotts and a few micro pellets on both sides and started off with double maggott on the hook. I wasn't that confident of catching as the waves were making it like sea fishing but the float soon disappeared and I had a fish of about 7lb. For the next 2 hours I just kept swapping between both edge pegs and when I left one I just fed it with a few more maggotts. I remember John Clifford had caught a few fish in the edge on a worm the other week on Pittance so a quick rummage around in my bait bag revealed some worms that have been on a tour of the South of England for a few months so out they came and one was soon learning to swim ! I don't have a lot of confidence fishing with worms but when the float shot under and the fish wasn't foul hooked, I was beginning to think that they weren't so bad after all. I finished the match with 9 carp, a few roach and a couple of gudgeon which I expected to put me third on the lake behind Squeeky and Tony Yianni (the worlds dodgiest caster). Tony had 11 carp and a skimmer from Peg 16 but confessed that his carp were only small so I thought it could be close between us. Amy arrived inthe buggy to pick me up - that's the benefit of being the match organiser and whilst I usually leave my fish to be weighed by someone else so I can rush back and start sorting the money out, it is always nice to see your fish weighed so I hung on just to see me and Tony weigh. My fish went 49-8-0 and with Tony weighing a carp and skimmer in for 4-8-0, we worked out that he needed another 45lb to pip me. Lifting his second net out I thought he done me easily but the needle swung round on the scales and finally settled on .....................44-4-0 and I'd pipped him by 10 ounces ! As expected, Squeeky won the lake with 61-3-0 - well done mate, just think what a proper angler would have had though !
Having sorted out all the money, the weigh sheets started to filter back, and with me second on the lake, Alan Harrington third in his section, Keith second in his (the first time he has caught more than three fish in a match at Willinghurst) and Ross 4th in his, it was looking good for the team. When the final two boards arrived showing Woody second on a very hard Oaktree lake with 13lb and Marcus finishing third on Old, it meant we had a total of 38 points which I knew would be hard to beat.
The better news was that Mick the Bookie had been giving it the large one saying tht their team was going to win this and that and nobody else had a chance finished tied last ! Just get that £20 ready Mick !
Ian Summers drew peg 8 on New Lake and having caught well from it last sunday, caught even more this week and won the match with 71-4-0 in what turned out to be a very tight match.
Result
Ian Summers New 8 71-4-0
Bob Poulter Top 20 67-0-0
Derek White Oaktree 2 63-4-0
Squeeky Pittance 12 61-3-0
Jeff Simmons Top 10 60-4-0
Terry Cod Old 25 59-4-0
Teams
Pikey's Six 38
Foxy Five 32
Willinghurst Cabin 30
Decca 27
Willinghurst Muppets 27
Molesey 21
Missfits 20
Molloy's Mob 20
League After 2 Rounds
Pikey's Six 2
Foxy Five 6
Willinghurst Cabin 6
Willinghurst Muppets 9
Molloy's Mob 9
Decca 10
Missfits 14
Molesey 14
Thanks to Alan Harrington for stepping into the team as Haismans replacement (he was away at Andy May's wedding) and I would be grateful if someone could invite Gary somewhere for the next round at Gold Valley so we can keep Alan in the team ! We also lose Keith for one round - as he is otherwise engaged and we have the little bald Chelsea supporter (Hathers) standing in for one round aas we strive to stay top of the league.
Next week I have a Leatherhead club match on the ponds round the corner from my house but have wednesdays open at Willinghurst to fish first - come back Thursday to see how I got on.
Anyway, back to the match. With a number of decent team draws in the bag Ross drew first for us and picked out Peg 7, which on first inspection didn't look too promising. Keith Arthur was on New 16 - a fair peg on the lake, Ross was on Top 13 - which we didn't really fancy, Marcus Page was on Old Lake Peg 23 - but we'd not fished Old for ages so didn't know how that would fish, Alan Harrington was on Top 26 but was likely to struggle to beat the 4 pegs in his section that were on the main lake, Woody was on a reasonable but not a top peg on Oaktree and I was on Pittance 14 - a reasonable peg but there were a number of better ones on the lake.
The key at Willinghurst in the past few matches is just to drip the feed in, a few pellets or pieces of corn after every fish or bite. I started on the pole at 13 metres with corn on the hook and after twenty minutes I was still biteless, however as the rest of the lake was as well, I wasn't too worried yet. I've been taking a few dead maggotts to Willinghurst recently and whilst I've not caught much on them it wasn't going to do any harm to try them on the hook. So, on went one white and one red maggot and out went the pole. After a couple of minutes the float dipped slightly and just as I was expecting a roach, the elastic started to emerge from the end of the pole......and kept coming out ! I soon had a 4lb fish in the net and was winning the lake !
Twenty minutes later I'd had another 2 fish and life was looking good ! However, unfortunately the wind started to get up and got stronger and stronger, this made it really difficult to fish the pole at all and my peg just died. Squeeky (Stuart Wilson) at the next peg (Peg 12 - the peg that wins the majority of matches on Pittance) had initially struggled and all I could here was him moaning as everyone around the lake seemed to have caught the odd carp - except him. I was looking forward to a week of winding him up on the Total Fishing website until he caught his first fish, a tiny thing of about.............................18lb - I was very pleased for him, especially as his next one went 16lb !
I was getting fed up now as I couldn't present a bait properly on the pole and the tip just sat there motionless when I chucked the lead to the island, so, after a little walk to see Woody on Oaktree and go for a wee, I returned to my peg and deceided that with just over two hours to go it was time to have a go in the edge. Most pegs on Pittance are very shallow in the edge and with the water being quite cold, I'd set my edge rig at about 2 foot and just plumbed up until I found that depth each side. I'd fed a small cup of dead maggotts and a few micro pellets on both sides and started off with double maggott on the hook. I wasn't that confident of catching as the waves were making it like sea fishing but the float soon disappeared and I had a fish of about 7lb. For the next 2 hours I just kept swapping between both edge pegs and when I left one I just fed it with a few more maggotts. I remember John Clifford had caught a few fish in the edge on a worm the other week on Pittance so a quick rummage around in my bait bag revealed some worms that have been on a tour of the South of England for a few months so out they came and one was soon learning to swim ! I don't have a lot of confidence fishing with worms but when the float shot under and the fish wasn't foul hooked, I was beginning to think that they weren't so bad after all. I finished the match with 9 carp, a few roach and a couple of gudgeon which I expected to put me third on the lake behind Squeeky and Tony Yianni (the worlds dodgiest caster). Tony had 11 carp and a skimmer from Peg 16 but confessed that his carp were only small so I thought it could be close between us. Amy arrived inthe buggy to pick me up - that's the benefit of being the match organiser and whilst I usually leave my fish to be weighed by someone else so I can rush back and start sorting the money out, it is always nice to see your fish weighed so I hung on just to see me and Tony weigh. My fish went 49-8-0 and with Tony weighing a carp and skimmer in for 4-8-0, we worked out that he needed another 45lb to pip me. Lifting his second net out I thought he done me easily but the needle swung round on the scales and finally settled on .....................44-4-0 and I'd pipped him by 10 ounces ! As expected, Squeeky won the lake with 61-3-0 - well done mate, just think what a proper angler would have had though !
Having sorted out all the money, the weigh sheets started to filter back, and with me second on the lake, Alan Harrington third in his section, Keith second in his (the first time he has caught more than three fish in a match at Willinghurst) and Ross 4th in his, it was looking good for the team. When the final two boards arrived showing Woody second on a very hard Oaktree lake with 13lb and Marcus finishing third on Old, it meant we had a total of 38 points which I knew would be hard to beat.
The better news was that Mick the Bookie had been giving it the large one saying tht their team was going to win this and that and nobody else had a chance finished tied last ! Just get that £20 ready Mick !
Ian Summers drew peg 8 on New Lake and having caught well from it last sunday, caught even more this week and won the match with 71-4-0 in what turned out to be a very tight match.
Result
Ian Summers New 8 71-4-0
Bob Poulter Top 20 67-0-0
Derek White Oaktree 2 63-4-0
Squeeky Pittance 12 61-3-0
Jeff Simmons Top 10 60-4-0
Terry Cod Old 25 59-4-0
Teams
Pikey's Six 38
Foxy Five 32
Willinghurst Cabin 30
Decca 27
Willinghurst Muppets 27
Molesey 21
Missfits 20
Molloy's Mob 20
League After 2 Rounds
Pikey's Six 2
Foxy Five 6
Willinghurst Cabin 6
Willinghurst Muppets 9
Molloy's Mob 9
Decca 10
Missfits 14
Molesey 14
Thanks to Alan Harrington for stepping into the team as Haismans replacement (he was away at Andy May's wedding) and I would be grateful if someone could invite Gary somewhere for the next round at Gold Valley so we can keep Alan in the team ! We also lose Keith for one round - as he is otherwise engaged and we have the little bald Chelsea supporter (Hathers) standing in for one round aas we strive to stay top of the league.
Next week I have a Leatherhead club match on the ponds round the corner from my house but have wednesdays open at Willinghurst to fish first - come back Thursday to see how I got on.
