The Watchet Red team where drawn away to Bath Spartans. The venue which was chosen by the Bath team was Lower Ponds White Wicket Farm near Peasedown St John. The is a quaint little place tucked away in a little valley a place of isolation and solitude.. A proper home venue. A fishery with characteristics so far removed from your normal run of the mill modern day commercial. It is fed by a small dribbling brook at the car park end and made attractive by tall trees furnishing both sides of this charmed filled rustic lake. This is a place that could have been plucked from the poems of Wordsworth and Keats and gently dropped in to this green laden hollow. A place that had been nurtured and given tender loving care by the enthusiastic angling fraternity of the Bath Spartans gang for the last five years, and a mighty fine job they have done indeed.
This is the happy go lucky Bath Spartans team Now I know that I am not David Bailey but, any way the guy to left is the eventual overall winner. The angler in the middle is our very own John Barker, and the gentleman to his left is none other than fellow team mate Jamie Cook.
This is my opponent and name sake Pete from Bath spartans in peg two.
The results sheet.
As you can see from above Watchet Red won three sections and Bath Spartans won three sections so it came down to total weight in which Bath was victorious.
Section winners for watchet .
Dave Nash
Pete King
Yours truly.
Total weights were Bath 34lb 6.5oz Watchet 26lb
The Watchet Black team were away to Exeter on ki ora lakes also competing was HLS.
Watchet black came 2nd to Exeter losing out by 1 point.
Section winners for Watchet Black.
Paul Smith
Ian Townsend
2nd section
Nick Selway
Chris Mawson
3rd section
Alan Bland
Rob Dodd.
Next week 4th July it’s back to the bread and butter of the Watchet angling league which is at Shiplate on Hawthorns lake. Please note social distancing is to be observed and you must bring your own toilet roll and hand sanitizer.
It appears to me that this is a Marmite venue you either like it or you don’t and me being the glass is half full type person. I like it, I like it a lot. This indeed is a place of variation no two pegs are the same, each with its own characteristics with its nooks and crannies, little bays and inlets, coves and crevices, it as though each swim has its own story to tell. Each with a smattering of trees, bushes, rushes, and a mingling of shade and shadow. To me this lake oozes welcome a welcome of come and join me. One can well imagine spending a nice warm summers day fishing on this charming lake, fishing and chilling. Taking in, taking in what nature has engraved, to indulge one’s self with the buzz of insects and the twittering of birds and to delve into the realms of expectation, the expectation of what one might catch. To linger with one’s thoughts and dreams and to cloak oneself in this rustic setting. The angling great Richard Walker once said of catching a Crucian Carp, he likened it to playing a trick on a jolly little fellow. One can only speculate the environment in which he was when he conjured up this little phrase. A phrase concocted from a mellow type of fishing, a type of fishing which surely awaits at this little gem of a lake.
The Sedges Canal lake looking at peg 53
The match results .
1st on the Day was none other than veteran roll up fag smoker, chuck and chance feeder specialist Phil Dodd. Phil used his favourite method the feeder to tempt his fish. His predominantly used a small worm as bait. He weighed in 42lb 05oz.
2nd who was in favoured peg 41 was the one and only Alan Bland. Alan used pole only and his baits was meat and his much beloved paste. Alan put on the scales 33lb 14oz.
3rd on the day was angling power house Mr Paul Smith. His method was the pole and maggot approach, fishing mostly in the margins. Unfortunately Paul had a mishap when he (and in his own words) hooked a munter ie a very big carp which broke his top 2 pole kit. For his efforts Pauls weight was 33lb 06oz.
4th with 32lb 03oz was Ian Townsend on an end peg 53. Ian fished the far side with meat and pole.
5th place was Rob Dodd who had a bit of an of day owing to the fact that he was not in the top 3. This was just a minor hiccup one suspects, but never or less a creditable weight of 26lb 02oz was not to be sniffed at. The method employed was the pole and varies bait at varies distances.
6th was Birmingham city supporter Dave Gartenfeld who drew out peg 64. He fished the pole to the island and in the margins and had all his fish on meat. His day had a bit of a downside owing to the fact he lost 4 rigs. But never or less managed to find 21lb 07oz for the scales.
7th Was (now a Bristol resident) Dave Colley. Dave teased 20lb 04oz in to his net. He employed the pole with sweetcorn and maggot. All his Carp came to maggot though.
8th spot was taken by Dave Nash who just employed his top 2 and maggot for 15lb 11oz.
9th place was occupied by new kid on the block Dave Searle. This new kiddie fished the far side with meat and pole and managed to eek out 12lb 01oz from peg 59.
10th was yours truly. I was on peg 57 Not the best in my humble opinion. I had 10 bites in total which equated in to 3 golden Tench and 1 nice skimmer for a total weight of 7lb. Used meat and expander pellet. I had 3rd silvers, won a fiver.
11th was out of form Eric Searle who could only muster a weight of 6lb 13oz from peg 52. Eric used maggot and pole. But it’s a case of watch this space.
12th Was flower power man Pete King. Fishing on peg 43 Pete could only tempt 5lb 07oz of fish. He employed the pole and mostly meat.
13th was it seemed out of sorts Bob Pascoe who’s normal place in the run of things is normally in the top half of the table. Bob could only collect 3lb, all on meat and pole.
14th was dear old Alan Jenkins with and dare I say it a meagre 08oz but mate there is always next time.
15th went to relative new comer who Ashley Johnson who dry netted and spoke of having only 6 bites. Kick ass next time mate.
Position
Angler
Silver
Carp
Total
Peg
1st
Phil Dodd
2lb 10oz
39lb 11oz
42lb 05oz
63
2nd
Alan Bland
None
33lb 14oz
33lb 14oz
41
3rd
Paul Smith
9lb 14oz
23lb 08oz
33lb 06oz
61
4th
Ian Townsend
1lb 03oz
31lb
32lb 03oz
53
5th
Rob Dodd
9lb 12oz
16lb 06oz
26lb 02oz
45
6th
Dave Gartenfeld
1lb 03oz
20lb 04oz
21lb 07oz
64
7th
Dave Colley
6lb 01oz
14lb 03oz
20lb 04oz
44
8th
Dave Nash
4lb 6oz
11lb 05oz
15lb 11oz
47
9th
Dave Searle
2lb 11oz
9lb 06oz
12lb 01oz
59
10th
Pete Curnow
7lb
None
7lb
57
11th
Eric Searle
12oz
6lb 01oz
6lb 13oz
52
12th
Pete King
1lb 07oz
4lb
5lb 07oz
43
13th
Bob Pascoe
2lb 03oz
13oz
3lb
42
14
Alan Jenkins
7oz
None
08oz
50
DNW
Ashley Johnson
Just to say this coming weekend the Watchet mob will be split into two teams, Watchet Black and Watchet Red, for the Bait Tech cup competition.
Watchet Black will be away to Exeter at Kia Ora lake near Cullumpton.
Watchet Red will be away to Bath Spartans at lower ponds near Peasedown St John.
That old adage “all good things comes to those who wait”. Well believe it or not it is 91 days since our last match and boy have we waited. We have endured, endured a span of weeks that seemed to some extent that we were living in a post apocalyptic world. They called it Lock down but it might just have been called lock out. A lock out of things we loved so much. A lock out from reality. An isolation from the norm, an isolation that shoved us through the door in to a world that no one in this country had ever experienced before.
While we can understandably show great joy that our much loved pastime has been dragged from its mouth balled state and plonked back in to the land of normality. But we should not take our eye of the ball. Lock down was a means to an end, it was a necessity, a must do. For since our last match 40,000 people has passed away. To put that into perspective its a number greater than the population of Bridgwater. Stalin once said “one death is a tragedy but a million deaths is a statistic”. (Surely this saying is a product of an evil mind). Well thank god the death toll is not a million. But take the figure of 40,000 and there are 40,000 tragedies. Somewhere within lies the scale of the toll, the agony , the sorrow, the anguish, the grieving and the mourning. Least we forget. We must never forget.
But it’s human nature to hail the return of that we love and cherish. We knew the day would come but no one could fore tell precisely. But on this overcast, grey laden, blustery, showery Saturday, here we are. The gang is back. We few, we happy breed, we lovers of fishing we band of match anglers. The arena is open let us once again immerge ourselves and travel down that magical road and let the humble compete with the mighty. Let battle commence.
” Right lets see a loaf of bread, eggs, cheese, oh and fags.“
“No honestly I reckon I got a good chance in this match”
“Right if any one asks it fell of a back of a lorry”
“It’s him I tell you, go on you check his pockets”
“well I thought it was going to be nice and warm with no rain”
Right then the results.
postion
Angler
Silvers
Carp
Total
Peg
1st
Rob Dodd
43lb 12oz
32lb 04oz
76lb
10
2nd
Paul Smith
21lb 02oz
53lb 06oz
74lb 08oz
26
3rd
Dave Nash
30lb 08oz
34lb 04oz
64lb 12oz
22
4th
Alan Bland
11lb 08oz
49lb 08oz
61lb
29
5th
Ian Townsend
4lb 10oz
56lb 01 oz
60lb 11oz
13
6th
Bob Pascoe
4lb
48lb 06oz
52lb 06oz
14
7th
Phil Dodd
1lb 07oz
37lb 12oz
39lb 03oz
25
8th
Ashley Johnson
06oz
37lb 06oz
37lb 06oz
11
9th
Alan Jenkins
12lb 14oz
20lb 14oz
33lb 12oz
31
10th
Pete Curnow
7lb 09oz
15lb 13oz
23lb 06oz
28
11th
Dave Colley
6lb 05oz
8lb 08oz
14lb 13oz
6
12th
Dave Gartenfeld
1lb 03oz
6lb 02oz
7lb 05oz
7
First on the day and carrying on from where he left off before lock down was number one club angler Rob Dodd who had a weight total of 76lb. But in amongst that was a cracking weight of slivers which came to 43lb 12oz Rob fished the pole 9.5 meters and the margins on his beloved worm.
A cracking bag of Slivers well done Rob.
2nd top rod was angling stalwart Paul Smith who started of on the waggler but then fished the inside line with worm and soft pellet. Paul weight was a very descent 74lb 08oz.
Paul with the 2nd highest weight.
3rd was the one and only Dave Nash who topped the scales with 64lb 12oz. Mr Nash fished close in on dead red maggot.
4th was Alan Bland who used his favourite bait for most of the time, Paste. Fished the margins for most of his catch. His weight was a not to be scoffed at 61lb.
In at number 5 was Ian Townsend who fished the margins and close in on the pole using meat had a good little weight of 60lb 11oz.
Part of Pauls catch was this nice Perch of 2lb 2oz .
6th was Slivers man Bob Pascoe, bulb t this time could only muster only 4lb of slivers but had a trick up his sleeve when he banked 48lb 06oz of Carp. His haul was caught on the pole using corn. Bob had a ledger rod set up with (wait for it) a spring tip. A relic from the 1970s.
7th was angling veteran Phil Dodd who was on the feeder and managed to put on the scales 39lb 03oz His baits where worm, maggots and dead reds.
Phil with his whopper,
8th place was new kid on the block Ashley Johnson who happens to be Dave Gartenfeld grandson. Well Ashley had a very reasonable weight of 37lb 12oz. He alternated with using pole and corn and feeder and hard pellet.
In 9th place was fishings have a go Alan Jenkins who put 33lb 12oz on the scales. Alan had a nice eel of 3lb 10oz. Nice one mate. His method was meat and maggot on the pole.
Alans eel of 3lb 10oz.
10th place and in his least favourite venue owing to the fact this is probably one of his best results for this place was yours truly. Typically started of on the feeder when later it was discovered that all the fish were in close. But never mind I had 23lb 06oz and was not last. Main bait was meat.
11th placed was NHS front line worker Dave Colley. This gentleman put l4lb 13oz on the scales but the weather conditions did not help for were he was. He means of attack was mostly meat to his right from peg 6.
12th Was one of Brum’s finest Dave Gartenfeld who struggled through out and could only collect 7lb 5oz for the scales. Dave was on peg 7 next to Mr Colley so perhaps the weather was also an affecting factor.
Pete King was not present ( a note from his parents).
Owing to the ongoing situation with lockdown conditions affecting certain people Tony Richards and Eric Searle were unable to attend. But the club wish them well and hope to see them on the bank soon.
Before the we started the draw for the pairs competition took place and the result of the draw is listed below
Rob Dodd v Dave Gartenfeld
Phil Dodd v Dave Nash
Pete Curnow v Dave Colley
Alan Bland v Ian Townsend
Paul Smith V Alan Jenkins
Bob Pascoe V Ashley Johnson
The next Watchet Match will be on the Canal lake at the Sedges on Saturday June 20th.
