Welcome
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So see you then Pete C.