Watchet Angling Defeated By Cwmbran In The Bait Tech Cup. Fished on Saturday 29th May 2021.

They came, they fought and they conquered. The angling might of the Cwmbran Nobblers were the opponents of the minnows of the match fishing world the humble Watchet Angling club. The competition was the first round of the Bait Tech cup which is run with the help of the Angling Times and was formerly The Van der Eynde cup.

The venue for this angling mismatch was non other than Avalon fisheries. The Watchet Club was split in to two teams. Those who finished in the top six of last years league table became The Watchet Black team, and the next six became the Watchet Red team but alas some of the Watchet guys who finished in the next six had other plans. So some of the Watchet team where made up of two guests Jamie Cooke of Sedges fame and our good friend and ex member from Dorset John Barker.

Hence it was Watchet Black versus Watchet Red versus Cwmbran Nobblers.

There were six sections of three anglers, one angler from each team. The winner from the section would get one point, second placed angler would get two points and the angler who came last would obtain three points. Just for the record if an angler blanked the poor sod would get four points.

So the team with the lowest points would be the winner. Simple.

The results.

Peg	Angler	Team	Weight	Points
23	Eric Searle	Watchet Black	14 lb 09 oz	3
21	Jamie Cooke	Watchet Red	59 lb	1
20	Ian Driscoll	Cwmbran nobblers	37 lb 11 oz	2

Peg	Angler	Team	Weight	Points
19	Rob Dodd	Watchet Black	15 lb 09 oz	2
17	John Barker	Watchet Red	9 lb 03 oz	3
16	Phil Weaver	Cwmbran nobblers	64 lb 11 oz	1

Peg	Angler	Team	Weight	Points
14	Phil Dodd	Watchet Black	6 lb 07 oz	2
13	Bob Pascoe	Watchet Red	4 lb 10 oz	3
12	Rob Skellett	Cwmbran nobblers	42 lb 01 oz	1

Peg	Angler	Team	Weight	Points
11	Ian Townsend	Watchet Black	50 lb 13 oz	1
10	Dave Nash	Watchet Red	5 lb 08 oz	3
9	Martin Challenger	Cwmbran nobblers	30 lb 03 oz	2

Peg	Angler	Team	Weight	Points
7	Alan Bland	Watchet Black	29 lb 08 oz	2
6	XXXX	Watchet Red	XXXX	4
5	Martin Thomas	Cwmbran nobblers	59 lb 07 oz	1

Peg	Angler	Team	Weight	Points
4	Paul Smith	Watchet Black	13 lb 01 oz	2
3	Pete Curnow	Watchet Red	11 oz	3
1	Shaun Wilson	Cwmbran nobblers	48 lb 09 oz	1

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Points to note

Poor Shaun Wilson who drew peg one set up and owing to the forces of nature had to relocate to peg two. What only can be described as white fluff falling from trees deciding to accumulate in his swim, making it totally unfishable.

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The Watchet Red fished with a man short owing to the fact Dave Colley couldn,t make it because he had to visit a sick friend. Dave would’ve been on peg six.

Now the eagle eyed amongst you would’ve notice that yours truly on peg three had managed an abysmal weight of only 11 oz. Yep once again I managed to win the unenvied prize of the wooden spoon, and this time I managed to do it in some style. But for the record and this is damage limitation shall we say, the previous two years in this competition I managed to win my section.

Hence as you can see both the Watchet teams where firmly put to the sword by a truly professional and competent performance by the Cwmbran Nobblers. The Cwmbran Nobblers now go through to the next round. A final word, I found the Cwmbran side a most friendly bunch of guys indeed, they were very chatty and most accommodating and very approachable and were a pleasure to fish against regardless of the result. Just one small disappointment though being Welsh I was expecting at the the end of the match a nice rendition of Man of Harlech. But no doubt they had other other things on their minds such as getting home and having a celebratory drink of a pint of Allbright bitter.

Once again guys well done and all the best for the next round.

Ardent readers of this blog will know of my interest of the goings on at Dunwear ponds and the making of the Railway pit into a match lake. Well I was given permission by the chairman of Bridgwater Angling Association to get on to the far bank which is currently closed to members of the club and to take photos and a video. The plan is to have the match lake up and running by June the 16th. There are plans I’ve been told to make a car park just as you go in to the Sedgemoor road end . Also I have been told that there are plans to build a bridge from the proposed car park to the far bank on Railway pond but we will have to wait and see.

The next match for the Watchet club will be Saturday June 5th at Trinity Woodlands.

So see you then.

Pete C.

Amendment

This post was published late Monday morning. I goes to work at 2 pm and at 7:45 pm I get asked by the boss if I want a early finish so I says “yes”. So I ‘m thinking I have a change and go home via Dunwear ponds instead of my normal route. So I get to the main gate to the ponds of of Dunwear lane. I look at the gate and me thinks there is a new notice so I takes a picture. See below.

So then forget about June the 16th. It is likely that the Railway match lake will be ready on July the 1st. Oh well as long as it benefits the fish we can wait.

Pete C