Looks as they say can be deceptive. Just have a look at the photo taken during the match, there is blue sky and the sun is out and shining. This scene can be depicted as a nice summers day and it is nice and warm. Wrong! it was bloody cold and participants on one bank could easily have suffered from hypothermia or frost bite or both.
But it was this scene that made my mind wander. Wander back to the golden age of children’s TV. The years of the 70’s and early 8o’s Saturday morning TV back then was dominated on the ITV channel by a programme called TASWAS. TISWAS was acronym of Today Is Saturday Watch And Smile. This zany program was stitched together with sketches with an odd assortment of comical characters such as the phantom flan flinger, the dying fly and Trevor Macdoughnut. This mixture of madness was presented by The wonderful Chris Tarrant and the delightful Sally James.
But when the series ended for the season it was replaced by a program with a similar format called The Fun Factory hosted by Jeremy Beadle, Therese Birch and Billy Butler.
Just like TISWAS it had it’s share of amusing characters, but one in particular stands out, that of Mr Nasty. One of his fortes was to pick a volunteer from the studio audience (which it must be said consisted of all kids) and have a argument with them.
On this particular occasion which is the subject of this part of the blog a victim was chosen, a young kid about 12 was invited to sit at Mr Nasty’s desk. Mr Nasty then produced a photograph similar to the one shown below.
Mr Nasty’s argument was that this picture was taken in a hot place. His reference point for his logic if one can call it that was that the suns temperature is 5000 degrees and the sun is prominent in the sky hence it must be a hot place. The sheer weight of the bombardment of sarcasm, illogic, rudeness, intimidation and subterfuge dealt out by the aggressive Mr Nasty was such that the poor boy was simply over whelmed and wrong footed at every turn by such an onslaught and thus in the end just put up the white flag and simply gave in. But as memory serves me right I think that the poor kiddie at the end who ended up a total bag of nerves and probably still suffers from post traumatic stress did get given a prize of sorts. so the moral of the story is that if you swapped the photo that I took with Mr Nasty’s, he still would have won the argument.
Near the end of the program Mr Nasty announced a new competition for the viewers at home. A prize would be given to who ever sends in the most nastiest parcel or package. Well as you can imagine the chance to get ones name mentioned on national TV was a great incentive. Children’s minds ran riot and the most disgusting and revolting things known to man were concocted, put in packages and parcels and duly posted of. Now the competition as you probably can gather was announced on a Saturday morning. Come the following Thursday it was mentioned in the press and on TV that several tons of packages and parcels which had been addressed to Mr Nasty at Granada TV (makers of the program) had to be destroyed by the Royal Mail owing to the odious, repulsive and revolting contents. Animal excreta, body fluids, used nappies and other horrendous substances were the culprits which set in motion the actions of the post office. Now I am willing to swap photos with Mr Nasty but not packets or parcels.
Oh by the way the match was fished at Trinity Waters on Woodlands Lake on Saturday the 9th of April 2022.
First on the day was able match man Rob Dodd who on peg 14 tempted most of his fish in the margins more or less right at his feet. The winning bait was sweetcorn. His weight of fish was a creditable 83 lb 8 oz.
Mr consistent AKA Steve Warren found himself in the money yet again. Finishing in 2nd place Steve tempted a weight 63 lb on what appears to be one of his favourite tactics that of meat and pole. This was achieved on peg 10.
From peg 27 Ian Townsend got 3rd spot with a fine weight of 60 lb 8 oz. All caught on corn. In amongst his catch was a carp of 16 lb.
In 4th we find a new kid on the block that of Stuart Frampton. Before the start of the match me and Stu had a good old chin wag because as school kids we used to hang around in the same gang. Stu had a good day and put on the scales a reasonable weight of 51 lb 1 oz. Pole and meat was employed also Pellet fished shallow was utilised. A fine specimen of a carp weighing 17 lb 01 oz was part of Stuart’s haul.
In at number 5 was Eric Searle who on peg 23 alternated between feeder and pellet and pole and maggot tempted 32 lb 1 oz.
Yours truly managed the dizzy heights of finishing 6th. From peg 21 I had all my fish from the margins to my right. Baits used was sweetcorn meat and maggot. Total weight was 26 lb 12oz which included a carp of 12 lb.
Ian Grabham who on peg 9 got into 7th place with 19 lb 3 oz. Corn for the carp and maggots for the skimmers.
Ian Ricketts managed to put on the scales 14 lb 14 oz from peg 24 for 8th place. This was obtained with pellet and feeder pole and paste.
Dave Nash in at 9th had the top slivers weight from peg 7 with 13 lb 6 oz. Dave who had no Carp just used the waggler at 25 yards with red maggot.
In 10th we see good old Alan Jenkins who on peg 29 caught a weight of 11 lb 13 oz. Alan used mostly the pole and when asked about bait used just gave a simple reply of “all sorts”.
Now this only happens once every so often but we had a joint placing. In at 11th was both Alan Bland our beloved match secretary and another new kid on the block Mike Griffiths. Ironically both were pegged next to one another. Alan on peg 11 used pole corn and maggot and Mike on peg 12 used just pole and maggot. Both weighed in with 11 lb 2oz.
Tony Richards who was pegged next to me on 22 finished in 12th just scraped in with double figures with 10 lb 2 oz. Pole and maggot was his method.
Tony Richards who was pegged next to me on 22 finished in 12th just scraped in with double figures with 10 lb 2 oz. Pole and maggot was his method.
The one and only Bob Pascoe was in 13th spot with an all silvers catch of 6 lb 10 oz obtained with pole and maggot.
Paul Smith found himself in unfamilar territory at number 14. Paul who usually does a lot better struggled from peg 13 with an all silvers weight of 5 lb 13 oz this was got with pole and maggot.
In last place on peg 28 was Nigel Coram. Poor Nige had a night mare and just weighed in 11 oz. But with this fella it’s a case of watch this space.
The next match for some is the bait tech cup match against Exeter at Kia Ora lakes at Cullompton on Saturday 23rd of this month. The week after is the match on specimen lake at Landsend fishery on the 30th.
Until then Tight lines Pete C.