Saturday March 26th saw the resumption of the Watchet Angling club match league and I just like state that the club is hale and hearty. A good turn out emerged and as usual banter, insults and wise cracks were a plenty. The winter league for mad and hardy ended three weeks ago and in the end the attendance was meagre. The last two matches had a trivial turnout of just four people. One could just say the spark of competition had deserted and the whole thing fizzled out. But lets not take away the fact regardless of lack of enthusiastic competitiveness that congratulations should not go amiss on Dave Nash the eventual winner.
First on the day (and here I am trying to tempt fate in the nicest possible way) was once again the clubs Mr consistent Steve Warren . Steve pulled out peg 34 which is on the road side and his method was to use pole and hard pellet throughout the match. 52 lb 6 oz was his winning weight.
In second place we find Taunton boy Ian Grabham who had a reasonable haul from car park peg 37 of 43 lb 14 oz. Ian kept things simple from what can some times can be a difficult peg by fishing mainly the margins with maggot.
Third place was the well known guy in match fishing circles Robert Dodd. Rarely out of the top five Rob fished peg 26 and managed to put 39 lb 14 oz on the scales. His plan of attack was pole (what else for this guy) and maggot.
NHS hero Dave Colley obtained 4th from peg 13. Dave alternated between pole in the margins and pellet feeder across to the far side. Bait was maggot and pellet and his weight was 25lb exactly. I must admit he really did look cool in his shades.
5th spot was occupied by one of the two clubs octogenarians Tony Richards . Tony who had peg 36 the one nearest the hut had in total a weight of 21lb. But this angling veteran took the money for top silvers which came to 10 lb 13 oz. So it’s a big well done to him. What else for Mr Richards but pole and pinkie.
Fishing on peg 28 was laid back fisherman and Ex head bailiff of Bridgwater Angling Association Philip Dodd. Phil employed the method feeder with dead maggot to tempt an all carp net of 17 lb 6oz. Phil was 6th placed.
The clubs other octogenarian Bob Pascoe occupied the 7th place with a bag of 17 lb 5oz from peg 7. Bob managed a silvers haul of 10 lb 2 oz which gained him second spot in the silvers table. Bob fished a lot to his left in the margins with maggot and pole. Bob mixed his fishing by having a good old jolly sing song. Good on yer mate.
Nigel Coram in 8th made the best of a below average peg. The culprit concerned was peg 21. But Mr Coram endured and ended up putting on the scales 17 lb 2 oz. Tactics used was pole with paste and maggot. Well done bud from a crap peg.
Yours truly was 9th with a weight of 15 lb 15 oz from peg 9. I had two carp on hard pellet with method feeder on the far bank and three carp from the pallet to my right which I caught on sweet corn. Am ruing the fact that I’d hooked four more carp that unfortunately evaded my net. “PANTS”. But it was a pleasurable day and was enhanced by having Bob Pascoe next to me and hearing him having a good old sing song.
Alan Jenkins was to my left on peg 11. Good old Alan had a haul of 15 lb 7 oz. This happy go lucky bod used pole with a variety of bait such as maggot, chopped worm and caster. Also used was feeder with pellet. Alan got 10th spot.
In at number 11 was Ian Townsend on not the best of pegs, number 17. But perseverance paid of and Ian managed to obtain double figures with 13 lb 14 oz. Pole fished with meat in the margins was the mainstay of his attempt.
Placed at number 12 was Eric Searle. This formidable carp guru was at odds from the biggest pallet on the lake that of peg 15. This was another out of sorts swim and thus Eric Struggled and just managed to get in to the realms of double figures with 10 lb 14 oz. Pole to the margins with pellet and corn was what was employed by Eric.
Dave Nash the silvers expert couldn’t produce any of his magic which won him the winter league thus slumped to next to last place with a total catch of 5 lb 15 oz. Dave did cheer himself up however by paying me a visit during the match (owing to boredom through lack of bites) and giving me maximum abuse. Peg 32 was Dave’s peg for the match.
Poor Alan Bland had a torrid time from peg 19. Our much beloved match secretary could only muster a small weight of 3 lb 4 oz. This earned him a placing rank of 14th. But to be fair the pegs from 15 to 21 were the most unfancied pegs on the lake.
New kid on the block Ian Ricketts had the unwanted stigma of having DNWI next to his name. But it was not a clear cut case of Ian not catching any fish. It was probably more to do with him trying to keep his sanity. Poor Mr Ricketts had drawn peg 30 which is on the road side and backs on to the Big 8 carp lake. Directly behind him was a group of carpers in their bivvy. Add in to the mix a visit from one of the wives/partners who then started to read the riot act in terms of an in-balance of time spend on the bank and time spent at home with the kids and the consumption of a vast quantity of Thatchers Gold. Things got a little bit out of hand with some other carpers allegedly joining in the ruction and taking sides. There was a bit of argy bargy to an extent that some one called the police to report a domestic. Poor Ian was trying to concentrate on his fishing but alas the commotion behind was just to much and probably did what a lot of anglers would of done and packed up.
Just after 2 o’clock a series of loud bangs erupted and disturbed the peace and tranquility of the match. At first I thought the Russians had given up on Ukraine and decided to take Summerhayes instead. From my peg I could see vast solid plumes of black smoke and through the trees a raging fire. It appeared that some one decided to have a rather large bonfire on one of the properties adjoining the fishery. More bangs followed and the black smoke prevailed. Minutes later Pete the owner came around, I duly pointed my finger at him “what have I told you about playing with matches” I said. Pete went on to explain that a car was on fire next to the entrance to the fishery and just wanted to warn people.
At 18 minutes past a fire engine arrived to douse the flames and was present for about 40 minutes. The fire crew were very considerate indeed by just activating their blue flashing lights and not operating the siren. A Ploy as not to frighten the fish.
The match had ended and the weigh in had taken place, most of the tackle had been packed in to the back of cars and vans etc. The results were analysed and as usual at this time excuses and abuses were exchanged. It was during this period of so called reflection, two police officers appeared on the scene. First thoughts by the Watchet gang was they had come to investigate the events of the car fire. But the boys in blue had come to sought out a domestic. If only they had come sooner perhaps Mr Ricketts would of weighed in.
March 14th just gone was a nice sunny day and seeing it was the last day of the River season I decided to take a bike ride to Parchay and from there walk along the north bank pass Bussex Bend up as far the out fall of the river Sowey and Lanacre Rhyne. This is about a mile from Greylake car park. Now people who are regulars to this blog will know that I visit this remote stretch on an ad hoc basis. The last time I fished this stretch I meet a couple of contractors who worked for the EA who told me of a plan to construct a series of islands in the bank. Well construction of one of these proposals has now been been completed. (see video below). So a stretch of a possible match fishing location has now been thwarted. Thanks!
This construction is about a mile from Greylake car park going to wards parchay. More bank taken away from the anglers.
The next match for the Watchet club is at Woodlands lake at Trinity Waters on April 9th.
Until then it’s tights lines to one and all.
Pete C.