Verulam Angling Club
Match Result
Date : 28th February 2010
Venue :
Match : Championship #14 (re-arranged from 10th Jan)
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Commentary by Stan: It was Groundhog Day for Nick Darke. He had taken advantage of a chance to practice by fishing a knock-up match with BT on the Saturday….and drew the same peg on the Sunday. Therefore he already knew the roach were not feeding well and that a shoal of good bream lived a short feeder chuck near the end of the island. On the Saturday he had four but spent a lot of time on the pole. Sunday he stuck with what works, worm and maggot with a small groundbait feeder, to take six bream to walk the match with 18-05. Even if the roach were feeding, the conditions made it very difficult. Those on the left-hand bank had the gale force winds and driving rain over their shoulders…but, apart from Nick, only a few fish were caught. Best was Roger Smith with just 1-02 from the far end corner peg. Around on the windy side even the lee of the island didn’t stop Ivan’s brolly pole bending 90O and to his left Kev Laird and Tim Jones did well to fish poles out to 11m. Both caught some small roach in the last few hours when the rain eased off with Kev just beating Tim. The next few along stuck it out on the feeder, keeping one hand on their brollies but Steve Burfort and I had the full force of the wind so, unless we wanted to fish with out backs to the water, we had no choice but to leave our brollies in our holdalls. On days like this, when the roads turned to rivers and the fields to lakes, you realise that your waterproofs are anything but. Being just 3c didn’t help so frequent trips to the ‘club house’ for the complementary teas and coffees made life a little easier. Steve and I stuck with the feeder. I opted for a ‘hole-less’ opened ended feeder, clipped up at 30yds where there was 10ft of water and feeding crushed caster and chopped worm and maggot. Two early 6oz roach lifted my spirits but Steve’s maggot feeder and single maggot at 40yds produced, by mid match, about 4 fish. With nothing to loose, I swapped to a maggot feeder and single hook bait and as it hit the bottom the tip pulled round. Strange I thought so I lifted the rod and found a 2lb bream on the end. No more followed so I unclipped and fished the last hour chucking out to the island, about 70yds away. This worked well and seven more roach to 8oz kept me ahead of Steve who continued to catch some small samples. To my left, Alan Gardener’s patience paid off with three fish in the last hour and Brian, with five minutes to go, landed a 1.07 bream – his only bite. All in all, disappointing considering the fish stocks. But a good result for Nick as his win moved him up to Runner Up in the Championship, knocking Matt Young back to 3rd and denying him also the £50 for winning the Division 2 Championship. My second place gave me 95 points but, with five wins and five runners-up places already it didn’t affect my end of season total of 975 out of a maximum 1000 points. |
POSITION |
NAME |
WEIGHT |
POINTS |
COMMENTS |
|
1 |
Nick Darke |
18.5.0 |
100 |
Six bream to 4lb |
|
2 |
Stan Kiddle |
4.10.0 |
95 |
1 bream plus roach to 10oz |
|
3 |
Kevin Laird |
2.12.0 |
90 |
Some small roach |
|
4 |
Tim Jones |
2.10.0 |
85 |
same |
|
5 |
Steve Burfoot |
2.7.0 |
80 |
same |
|
6 |
Ivan Coleman |
1.9.0 |
75 |
etc |
|
7 |
Brian Lakin |
1.7.0 |
70 |
|
|
8 |
Alan Gardener |
1.5.0 |
65 |
|
|
9 |
Roger Smith |
1.2.0 |
60 |
|
|
10 |
Allan Bayman |
0.5.0 |
55 |
|
|
11 |
Colin Earle |
0.5.0 |
55 |
|
|
12 |
Matt Young |
0.5.0 |
55 |
|
|
13 |
Andy K |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
14 |
Josh Blavins |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
15 |
Kevin Hawes |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
16 |
Mick Fortnum |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
17 |
Phil Daniels |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
18 |
Richard Wheatland |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
19 |
Steve Young |
DNW |
1 |
|
|
|
Total Weight |
21.08 |
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