Sunday saw us back at Willinghurst for Round 2 of my Winter League and after finishing second behind Plummers team (Down tthe Edge) on Round 1, my team, aptly named "Over the Hill" needed a decent draw and result to put us back where we rightly deserve to be !
As the captains lined themselves up for the 9am draw Ross ambled over to watch and after a couple of team draws was obviously getting bored and decided to try and guesss which ball each captain would draw from the bag. Having go tthe first one correct and then the second, he decided to suggest Peg 5 to Smiffy when he came to draw for us (as it lines up a few decent pegs) and out came.......Peg 5 as Ross made it 3 correct guesses in a row !
The team draw put Ross, Paul Taylor (subbing for Haisman who I think had gone for a day out with his 2 new Polish mates), Smiffy and me on potential lake winning pegs and Swannie on a peg that was a bit hit and miss. However, with only 8 pegs on each lake, there weren't actually that many pegs that I wouldn't have been happy with.
My draw put me on Peg 13 on New Lake which not only produces a few fish from time to time but it is also quite close to the cabin which makes organising the match a bit easier as I can just leave my nets in the peg at the end and pop over to the cabin to sort the money out before the result sheets start to filter back.
I started fishing pellett on the long pole in front of me and although everyone else seemed to have an initial spurt of on eor two fish, I had none. I'd not set up a Paste rig (no honestly I hadn't) but as Plummers was catching a few behind me on Horseshoe, I quickly lobbed out a lead and made one up.
First put in on a shorter line (about 11 metres and off to the right) I had an indication and then a fish of about 6lb. Next put in I had a "Barney Rubble" and I was back in the game ! The next coupl eof hours were as boring as a boring thing as despite switching about between pole and bomb and tryin gthe margins, I couldn't get a sign at all. One more fish followed with an hour to go on three pieces of hair rigged corn on the lead but that was it for me. A very disappointing day indeed from a peg I expected to catch from.
The lake was won by Mick Seymour who drew the favoured point opposite me (Peg 6) and weighed 50lb for a comfortable victory over Gedge Cooper (no I didn't believe it either) with 29lb and me third with 24lb.
As the boards started to come back, Smiffy came second on Horseshoe with 54lb on a lake won by Mick The Bookie - no seriously he did, I know some people are still ringing me to ask if it was a mistake on the weigh sheet but he did apparently weigh in 82lb.
Paul Taylor finished second on Old Lake with 74lb beaten by 2 x Fishomania finalist Ian Covey with 77lb and Swanny managed to catch a few edge dwelling carp on Oaktree to win the lake with 25lb. So with only Ross and the board from Pittance to come back, we were sitting pretty (well as pretty as our team could look) with 28 points out of a possible 32.
As we were sitting waiting I heard someone say "I think Ross has won it" and sure enough he had with just over 100lb. So teamwise it was a superb result with 36 points out of 40 and my third in section being our worst result.
Despite bashing Plummers team by a massive 11 points, they still sneaked in second with 25 pts followed by a three way tie for third place between Decca, Molesey and Foxy Five.
Unfortunately I left my results sheets at Willinghurst so don't have them to hand but I'm sure the results were something like this.......
Result
Ross Nursey................Pittance 12....................100-4-0
Dave Bacon..................Pittance 1........................89-4-0
Mick The Bookie........Horseshoe 12..................82-12-0
Ian Covey...................Old 24...............................77-0-0
Paul Taylor................Old 19...............................74-0-0
Teams
Over the Hill ..........................36 pts
Down the Edge.......................25 pts
Decca.......................................22 pts
Molesey...................................22 pts
Foxy Five................................22 pts
League - After 2 Rounds
Over the Hill.....................3 pts
Down the Edge.................3 Pts
Molesey............................6 pts
Foxy Five.........................7 Pts
I'm back at Willinghurst on Wednesday and on Sunday we are having a "Jolly Boys Outing" to Swindon to fish a new venue to us - Walters Lake which Mick the Bookie has been telling us is on eof the best fisheries around - come back here on Monday to see how we got on.
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.
