Hi and welcome to my first blog post on rod and line a report on the Watchet match that was fished on 05/10/2019 at The Sedges , Now the format for the match report and for future match reports was basically like the same set up you see on other blogs. Pictures of victorious anglers with their catches and of the gladiatorial match itself. Well as luck do have it, it wasn’t to be. This new website in some senses has taken on similar characteristics of BBC 2 Now what may you ask does this fishing blog has to do with BBC 2 I hear you all scream, well fishing brethren look at the video below.
A technical fault on both our opening shows, Watch the first part of this you tube video up to 0.48 unless you like playschool.
I had a phone call on my mobile by EE and was told that I really did need an up grade. So completely convinced Off I trundled to the EE shop to be told that the new mobile phone that I was was going get was the envy of the technological world, apparently it encapsulated the latest the latest technology from the combined technical might of NASA and Microsoft. Yea right.
So when I started to use the camera on the phone to take the usual sort of pictures that adorn other fishing blogs, everything seemed to be going to plan. I took photos of scenes of gladiatorial anglers in the car park, Photos of brick lake, victorious anglers oh and of course the picture of the results sheet. So far so good. Hmm.
Well When I to down load the lively pictures of the Watchet match my mobile phone with it’s latest electronic gubbins developed what seemed like a crafty sense of humour, with all my efforts I simply could not transfer pictures from my phone to my computer Well thanks then. Hence next time I am taking a digital camera.
Well as the saying goes the show must go on.
The weather for the match was heavy cloud with the odd snippet of sunshine. A slight to moderate breeze was blowing from the carpark end towards the canal lake. But to start of with its was calm for the first hour. The Winner was new kid on the block Ian Townsend who amassed top weight of a 108lb 14oz Ian had peg 11 and had most of his fish was caught to his right against the reeds on double corn.
2nd was Eric Searle with a weight of 102lb 14oz Eric according to many of the anglers present Eric was on the feeder what bait he was using was a mystery.
Eric I truly believe used to work either at Bletchley park with Alan Turing or military intelligence. Let me explain, when you ask him how he caught his fish he replies with code words. For example sweetcorn might mean maggot or worm might mean paste, The pole might mean waggler rod, or double caster might be the code word for banded pellet. Only Eric knows what code words means what.
Paul Smith made third place with a creditable weight of 65lb 4oz this included top silvers weight of 22lb 5oz Paul had the majority of his fish on the pole at varying distances on worm. A point of note with Paul who was pegged next to me (he on 9 and yours truly on peg 8) hooked one of the largest bream me and him have seen for a long time. You know the scene hook a decent bream on the pole and it jumps out of the water like a marlin. Unfortunately for Paul this creature of the deep slipped the hook.
The guy who was in number 4 position was our very own match secretary Alan Bland. Alan was on peg 14 had a total weight of 52lb 9oz Alan had 5 carp which he caught 4 of them on his beloved paste at a distance of 8 metres straight out he had 2 in the first hour and 2 in the last He did have one from the edge.
Now in 5th place was a certain Pete Curnow (me) I was just pipped by Mr Bland with a weight of 51lb 5oz The first hour on was on the tip and switching baits and on the hour whilst using worm my first wrap around a carp that had to be weighed. This beast tipped the scales at 14lb 9oz. But bites where at a premium and with about 2and ½ hours to go I opted to fish meat in the margins and for me it was a get out of jail card as I had another 5 carp.
Lying in the number 6 position was the ever improving Alan Jenkins with a weight of 38lb 4oz Alan had one of the corner swims, in his case peg1, Alan fished the tip to the reeds and caught mostly on pellet.
Dave Gartenfeld in 7th and next to me had 36lb 4 oz. Dave had a carp of 13lb 6oz which was caught on the pole at 12 metres. He also took most of his fish in the margins, the main bait being corn.
Next in the ranking was the veteran Tony Richards Mr Bee man himself his final weight was 24lb 10oz caught mostly on maggot. 19lb 2oz of carp and 5lb 8oz of small slivers.
In 9th place was none other than the man himself the one and only Dave Nash who was on the golden peg ( the rule of the club is that you can win the golden peg obviously on the top weight over all or you can win it if you have the top slivers net) Well Dave is one of the top slivers angler in the club and it looked pay day for but alas with all his skill could only muster 15lb 14oz of slivers
which beaten by Pauls Smiths slivers haul of 22lb 5oz Dave had the corner peg number 10 and unfortunately for Dave owing to the wind direction, the modest amount of green algae that was present decided to make a B line for Dave swim so much so poor Dave could not at times get his float to settle in the scummy water. Ha Ha Ha.
Last in the results table but no means least was none other than Mr Bob Pascoe a devoted slivers man but often plagued by carp to his utter annoyance. Mr Pascoe was fishing of peg 6 and had a total weight of 19lb 2oz.
| Pos | Name | Peg | Slivers | Carp | Total |
| 1st | Ian Townsend | 9 | nil | 108-14 | 108-14 |
| 2nd | Eric searle | 12 | nil | 102-14 | 102-14 |
| 3rd | Paul Smith | 9 | 22-05 | 42-15 | 65-04 |
| 4th | Alan Bland | 14 | 9-08 | 43-01 | 52-09 |
| 5th | Pete Curnow | 8 | 0-14 | 51-01 | 51-15 |
| 6th | Alan Jenkins | 1 | 1-04 | 37-00 | 38-04 |
| 7th | Dave Gartenfeld | 7 | 2-00 | 34-14 | 36-14 |
| 8th | Tony Richards | 4 | 5-08 | 19-02 | 24-10 |
| 9th | Dave Nash | 10 GP | 15-14 | 6-14 | 22-12 |
| 10th | Bob Pascoe | 6 | 10-07 | 8-11 | 19-02 |