Big, Big, BIG pressure was put on for this one, not only had I stupidly challenged a full time angler called Andy Stonner but this was the final round of the YMA winter series, I was up there near the top and there was a few others that were in with a shot, The main rival was Carlos chegers, I couldn't let the myself lose to him after all the jibberish I had talked about on the YMA banter forum surely?.... Or could I? A few PM's were sent on the forum wishing me good luck, little did I know I had bitten off more than I could chew.
Well the day started off with the normal stupid earliness that most match anglers are now accustomed with, 6am , Tackle in the car, off to the tackle shop to get some fresh bait. Bait in the car and off i set to the cafe which was this morning 20 miles past the venue! I'm a sucker for a breakfast that comes with chips as some of you know. I met Nige, Maf and Ade at the cafe, A bit more pressure was added onto me as I get some more stick, time to eat, Smashing breakfast down the old cake hole and all I want to do is sleep but nope off we trot to the lakes, At warp speed 99 we went down the lanes to Lindholme following maf shumacher. Arriving at Lindholme I'm pleased that I aint gonna have to wait in the breakfast cue as it looked rammed.
Chegers was sat there in his gimp suit, so paid on, It came to the draw, chegers shouts "draw me one patsie" so I did "46" Bollocks thats on a point, I'd drawn him a flyer, My turn peg 20, which i didnt have a clue about so a little walk around and found the peg i thought was 20, looked good, corner peg, wind blowing into it, Sharpy was next to me, this could be a decent match, decent draw for once!
So off i trots to fetch my tackle, plonked it down on the peg, Bait made, all plumbed up, One for 11 metre into the corner with a MAP 14 4 x 10, 0.10 straight through with a 20s 808, 10's elastic, Plumbed up to perfection, 1" off bottom for the troutsie's, Maggot was gonna be fed on this line, I was really hopeful on this line as it looked so ace! Rig 2 was 14.5 metre up the bank about 1 Metre off the rushes, same rig as the 1st one, Final Rig was used at 7 metre and 13 metre, staight out into the open water, Same depth at 7 and 13 so I was well happy! Drennan Roach 4 x 14 0'10 to a 0.09, size 20 808.
This is the first match for ages that I was wel confident with all the rigs, peg, It all looked bob on! I heard a bit of commotion behind me, It was Dazza he come for a chat! WRONG he came to tell me that Andy was saying I was on the wrong peg, "Bollocks sod off" I told him "Your having a laugh" he looked serious! I looked at the steak in the groung and it said 22, Oh shite, What the hell I'd set up on the wrong peg! 10 minutes to time, I'm sure Andy waited until 10 mins to time to tell me, he was scared of loosing I reckon!
Quick move 2 pegs down and I'm on the right peg! Quick plumb around and the depths were near enough the same, so a few quick adjustments and I was all set. Wind was now off my back which i was kinda happy about, kinda miffed about as I knew the fish would be facing into the wind! I was now next to Jeff Gott, another person who was in the race for the Winter series winner.
Kev, Stonners traveling partner came around for a chat he was well pissed off, he was well not happy with the peg he was on 11, worst peg on the pond he said, and he'd drawn it twice in a row! Whilst we were chatting time must of been called as I saw sharpy pull a fish out, What the Feck! Has time been called and we didnt hear it?? Looks that way, so Kev runs back around to his peg and I sit on my box and start fishing, Out to 13M open water line first, few micros and maggots cattied out, and I sit and wait, and wait, and wait, 30 mins has passed and I havent had a bite!
Time for the next line to be tried, the near reed margin at 11 metre, First drop in the float burries and I'm into the first fish of the day, a roach of about 1oz! back out and the same again, they don't put up much of a fight on 10 elastic, Next time out, the float goe under and i strike into a underwater submarine and the elastic comes out like a laserbeam, jesus, what the hell is this? then flipper the dolphin decides to do a few tricks out of the water, or could it be a trout? Yup it sure was, now I never knew trout had teeth until I unhooked it and its teeth ran along my fingernail! From then on I unhooked them all in the landing net, This line continued to produce all the way through the match, trout F1's a few small stockies, All to either red maggot or Sweetcorn, I kept trying the open water rig but I couldn't buy a bite dispite feeding it continusly, They backed off quite a lot during the match and I ended up fishing at 16metres for the last 2 hours, My back is still hurtin(Tuesday).
The final time was shouted and I didn't really see many others catching, I saw Ade catching well and Jeff had a lot late on, So I thought I had done well! Walking round Maf had admitted to 10lb, In my own head I thought i had 25 - 30lb, but admitted to 20lb, How has chegers done? and Andy? Well after walking round to have a few people it turns out Carlos has fished a tidy match and has done well. First to weigh in was Maf, his 10lb turned out to be 27lb dead!! Ade was next, 23lb odd, Crikey, Going around the lake it looked like there was a few other good weights, Funkmaster had 27lb 2oz, NJC had lost to maf be 4oz and had 26lb 12oz!Steve had a busy day be the looks of things and had loads of small stockies for 20lb dead, Chegers had 25lb 8oz, Oh dear this aint looking good for me, Andy Stonner put 35lb 8oz on the scales and I realised that I had been beaten by everyone i'd challenged, "ooops", Round to my peg and I put 20lb 4oz on the scales, Jeff Gott had 18lb 12oz, It was gonna be tight at the top of the table, It was clear that chegers had won the YMA winter league. Good job carlos, shame your crap in summer like me!
The points table finished with Carlos at the top, with me and Jeff Gott joint second and Ade in 3rd,
The weights table finished with me at the top! Steve in second place and Chegers in 3rd place.
Off to the pub for a quick drink and a chat, Monies were handed out and I had won my section! Result, Much abuse came from the lads, Andy bought the beers, I ened up not leaving the pub until 7pm as I got some sound advice about entering the open scene which I plan to do this summer.
Overall a shit result but the banter leading up to is was second to none and the match was a good 'un, Cheers lads, Heres to the Summer series, And Andy 1-0 pal!!!
Tight Lines
Matt
Wednesday 19 March 2008
Thursday 6 March 2008
Supercup Round 1
Long time no blog, but here goes nothing.
Bridges AC were the opposition for the day, We heard roumours that they were a good team with a few top anglers to boot and they also thrashed Crowle 8 - 0 or something daft last year on there home water which happened to be the same water they took us to, Lambwath Lakes on the very farest east coast you can get! Now we had a very close match with Crowle last year, so to be fair I was expecting us to get a proper thrashing.
Early start again for this one as we were meeting in the Scoff a lot cafe in Hull at 7:30, Easily a hour and 10 traveling from my end, so I was up with the morning chorus at 5:30 to get me woke up and sorted for a day of full concentration. I set off at 6:30 and plooded down the motorway to the cafe, Ariving at the cafe i was 2nd there as NOB was already there with a copy of Advanced pole fishing in hand, 2 large breakfasts ordered for me and Chris, cool this day is going well so far! 5 minutes later Monkstain arrived, then Nige, Tony and the rest of the mob. After the team plan being given to us from Nige we set off on our way in convoy to the pub where we was meeting Bridges AC which was 15 minutes away.
Arriving at the pub it was closed down ???? whats the point of meeting at a pub thats closed down??? Mine and Mafs idea of having a pint to settle the old nerves was blasted straight out the window, Instead we all stood shivvering our tits off for 20 mins while the draw was done. Chris and his golden arm picked the envolope for odds and evens, we got evens. next was the draw for the pegs, not sure how this worked but my peg got drawn for me and put me on peg 14, A decent peg where the carp had been showing, nice start, everyone else drew there pegs, Chris was against the flyer on the pond, Ade on the corner peg oppersite me, Tony on the corner peg on my bank, and I was next to corner.
Down to the lake and unloaded all the tackle out the car and hiked off to my peg,which i managed to walk straight past and continued all the way around the lake nearly back to the car park, what a pillock! After the walk back to my peg I saw that i was fairly well sheltered from the wind which was nice presentation should be decent. After a 10 min sitdown and to watch the water for movement I finally got my breath back and started setting up.
All my bait was set out nicely on the sidetray, 1/2 mags, 1/2 pinkies, 2 pints of Caster, Tin of corn, Micro pellets for the cone. Next was the task of setting up all the methods mentioned in the team plan which took ages.
Nearly whistle time, I'm shitting it as the guy next to me looks like he can fish a bit! Pressure is on today.
Whistle time and I start on the straight lead chucked to the rope with corn on the hook, I tighted up and the rod flys around, crikey I wasnt expecting that as i hadnt even put and feed out yet. Anyways I was too busy fannying around with my catty and I missed that bite. Second chuck and its in exactly the same place, I'm on fire! The rod rips around and I'm into the first carp of the match, A small stockie of about 12oz is in the net, I havent blanked and the 3 points is off the bored for a DNW, wahey! The next few chucks resulted in a few missed bites, Before I decided to spray some casters in on a waggler line and get some silvers in the net, these were there straight away and i started catching a few silvers.
Meanwhile blokey next to me is into a decent carp, oh dear the pressure is back on, He nets it and it looks a good 3 lb so im behind, I continue catching silvers quite quickly, Altough blokey next to me is into another good carp, this one is much bigger and it looks about 8lb, Oh shit, Ive had it now, I still keep going at the silvers and keep catching and he hooks into another carp and he nets it, at this point I'm not happy and am fearing the worst, Its about 12 lb to 3lb to him.
I wasn't having this, I went out on the pole at 7 metre and stated really bagging the silvers as anyone knows 7 lb of silvers is easy to catch if there having it at close range, Things started to look up when i got a tench of a lb, then I lost one next chuck, then another lb tench in the net, Then a 1lb perch graces the keepnet, whilst i'd had all these blokey next to me hadnt had a fish, He then plumbed up a line at 7 metre and had a blast on the pole, which proved fruitless for him, whereas I continued to bag the silvers, It was maybe his 12 lb to my 8lb, I was catching up.
We were now into the 5th hour and maf to my left had started catching on bomb and hair riged bread punch, So i tried the Corn on bomb again to see if there was a few on my rope, I sat for 10 mins without a knock and i was watching matey next to me net another carp, he'd now had 6 carp for about 18lb and I was still on 8lb, I was fearing the worse when my clutch started ripping out! Ah another carpy in the net for me, I chucked back in and the tip ripped round again. Another carpy in the net for me. Me and Maf were matching each other fish for fish and We were fishcaking the Bridges guy in the middle of us, We had double hookups a few times. His fellow team members were giving his some right stick about being battered off both sides, which was a great laugh for me and Maf. I kept catching all the way through the last hour and so did maf. With 5 minutes left and his team mates badgering the Bridges Guy in the middle of me and Maf stuck a bomb rod out, A few minutes later he hooked a lump, The whistle went and he continued to play this obviously large fish, before this guy hooked this fish Maf was a clear 6 - 7lb ahead, He landed the fish and it looked a easy double, Me and Maf were gutted, Maf had been pipped in the dying minutes of the match and it was close between me and the guy next to me.
Turns out the lump was enough to secure that section, I beat the guy next to me, Ade beat the guy next to him, Chris got beat by the geezer on the flyer, Tony looked like he had won the match. This was going to be close!!!
Following the scales around the lake, we were going section for section, until the final one, which we won, so that made it 4 all!!! close so that means it went down to a Final weights count, which unfortuatly we lost with there 112LB to our 95LB.
On to the pub to see who had won what, Tony (Carpmeister) got a round in, cheers dude! He also won the match with 26lb odd, 2nd place was 25lb odd and was a Bridges angler, 3rd place was me with 21lb odd :D
So all in all, We got 2 of the top 3 places and 4 of the section wins so we came away with the most prize money :D
Two years running and two years its been very close! Better Luck next year eh lads! Big up to everyone who took part in the Match and the practices, Top drawer performance by everyone.
Till next time.... Tight lines :D
Bridges AC were the opposition for the day, We heard roumours that they were a good team with a few top anglers to boot and they also thrashed Crowle 8 - 0 or something daft last year on there home water which happened to be the same water they took us to, Lambwath Lakes on the very farest east coast you can get! Now we had a very close match with Crowle last year, so to be fair I was expecting us to get a proper thrashing.
Early start again for this one as we were meeting in the Scoff a lot cafe in Hull at 7:30, Easily a hour and 10 traveling from my end, so I was up with the morning chorus at 5:30 to get me woke up and sorted for a day of full concentration. I set off at 6:30 and plooded down the motorway to the cafe, Ariving at the cafe i was 2nd there as NOB was already there with a copy of Advanced pole fishing in hand, 2 large breakfasts ordered for me and Chris, cool this day is going well so far! 5 minutes later Monkstain arrived, then Nige, Tony and the rest of the mob. After the team plan being given to us from Nige we set off on our way in convoy to the pub where we was meeting Bridges AC which was 15 minutes away.
Arriving at the pub it was closed down ???? whats the point of meeting at a pub thats closed down??? Mine and Mafs idea of having a pint to settle the old nerves was blasted straight out the window, Instead we all stood shivvering our tits off for 20 mins while the draw was done. Chris and his golden arm picked the envolope for odds and evens, we got evens. next was the draw for the pegs, not sure how this worked but my peg got drawn for me and put me on peg 14, A decent peg where the carp had been showing, nice start, everyone else drew there pegs, Chris was against the flyer on the pond, Ade on the corner peg oppersite me, Tony on the corner peg on my bank, and I was next to corner.
Down to the lake and unloaded all the tackle out the car and hiked off to my peg,which i managed to walk straight past and continued all the way around the lake nearly back to the car park, what a pillock! After the walk back to my peg I saw that i was fairly well sheltered from the wind which was nice presentation should be decent. After a 10 min sitdown and to watch the water for movement I finally got my breath back and started setting up.
All my bait was set out nicely on the sidetray, 1/2 mags, 1/2 pinkies, 2 pints of Caster, Tin of corn, Micro pellets for the cone. Next was the task of setting up all the methods mentioned in the team plan which took ages.
Nearly whistle time, I'm shitting it as the guy next to me looks like he can fish a bit! Pressure is on today.
Whistle time and I start on the straight lead chucked to the rope with corn on the hook, I tighted up and the rod flys around, crikey I wasnt expecting that as i hadnt even put and feed out yet. Anyways I was too busy fannying around with my catty and I missed that bite. Second chuck and its in exactly the same place, I'm on fire! The rod rips around and I'm into the first carp of the match, A small stockie of about 12oz is in the net, I havent blanked and the 3 points is off the bored for a DNW, wahey! The next few chucks resulted in a few missed bites, Before I decided to spray some casters in on a waggler line and get some silvers in the net, these were there straight away and i started catching a few silvers.
Meanwhile blokey next to me is into a decent carp, oh dear the pressure is back on, He nets it and it looks a good 3 lb so im behind, I continue catching silvers quite quickly, Altough blokey next to me is into another good carp, this one is much bigger and it looks about 8lb, Oh shit, Ive had it now, I still keep going at the silvers and keep catching and he hooks into another carp and he nets it, at this point I'm not happy and am fearing the worst, Its about 12 lb to 3lb to him.
I wasn't having this, I went out on the pole at 7 metre and stated really bagging the silvers as anyone knows 7 lb of silvers is easy to catch if there having it at close range, Things started to look up when i got a tench of a lb, then I lost one next chuck, then another lb tench in the net, Then a 1lb perch graces the keepnet, whilst i'd had all these blokey next to me hadnt had a fish, He then plumbed up a line at 7 metre and had a blast on the pole, which proved fruitless for him, whereas I continued to bag the silvers, It was maybe his 12 lb to my 8lb, I was catching up.
We were now into the 5th hour and maf to my left had started catching on bomb and hair riged bread punch, So i tried the Corn on bomb again to see if there was a few on my rope, I sat for 10 mins without a knock and i was watching matey next to me net another carp, he'd now had 6 carp for about 18lb and I was still on 8lb, I was fearing the worse when my clutch started ripping out! Ah another carpy in the net for me, I chucked back in and the tip ripped round again. Another carpy in the net for me. Me and Maf were matching each other fish for fish and We were fishcaking the Bridges guy in the middle of us, We had double hookups a few times. His fellow team members were giving his some right stick about being battered off both sides, which was a great laugh for me and Maf. I kept catching all the way through the last hour and so did maf. With 5 minutes left and his team mates badgering the Bridges Guy in the middle of me and Maf stuck a bomb rod out, A few minutes later he hooked a lump, The whistle went and he continued to play this obviously large fish, before this guy hooked this fish Maf was a clear 6 - 7lb ahead, He landed the fish and it looked a easy double, Me and Maf were gutted, Maf had been pipped in the dying minutes of the match and it was close between me and the guy next to me.
Turns out the lump was enough to secure that section, I beat the guy next to me, Ade beat the guy next to him, Chris got beat by the geezer on the flyer, Tony looked like he had won the match. This was going to be close!!!
Following the scales around the lake, we were going section for section, until the final one, which we won, so that made it 4 all!!! close so that means it went down to a Final weights count, which unfortuatly we lost with there 112LB to our 95LB.
On to the pub to see who had won what, Tony (Carpmeister) got a round in, cheers dude! He also won the match with 26lb odd, 2nd place was 25lb odd and was a Bridges angler, 3rd place was me with 21lb odd :D
So all in all, We got 2 of the top 3 places and 4 of the section wins so we came away with the most prize money :D
Two years running and two years its been very close! Better Luck next year eh lads! Big up to everyone who took part in the Match and the practices, Top drawer performance by everyone.
Till next time.... Tight lines :D
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