Verulam Angling Club
Match Result
Date : 31st
January 2010
Venue : Lakeside
Farm
Match : Championship #15
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Commentary by Stan: On a day following -5c overnight temps for the second night running we were greeted with a thick covering of ice across the majority of this comfortable sized lake. Lakeside Farm was a new venue for us and, despite the conditions, impressions were very favourable as, on arrival, the lady owner made us comfortable with complementary tea and coffee in the very warm 'club house'.
Only 13 turned up out of the original 24 booked in. Some had called earlier in the week but it was disappointing that some regulars did not have the courtesy to let Brian or myself know - a simple text would suffice. As it was, 13 was a manageable number as, after an hour of Brian, Richard and Dan crashing around in a boat, plus efforts from others including Roger and his icebreaker, 13 barely fishable swims had been created. If you look at the picture (right) you can see the bank where we reached up to peg 13, about halfway along the island.
We kicked off about 10am with a 3pm finish scheduled. Those in the low numbers had little ice to worry about and were soon fishing. Those in pegs 7-13 had to spend up to an extra hour netting out chunks of ice to provide sufficient space to fish and, hopefully, bring fish to the net.
Whilst spirits were high, to be honest, most thought that just getting a bite would be a result. So imagine the excitement when, within minutes of starting, a few bites developed and a few chunky roach made their way to waiting keepnets.
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 Brian and Richard paddle over my 'hot-spot' |
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I took longer than most to get started. I wasn't too worried as I had trickled a few pinkies and some punch crumb in at 9m and had to spend 15 minutes extra remaking rigs as my peg was about 10ft deep. By the time I was ready to go, Nick Darke, two pegs to my left, had already netted a big roach and a bream and both Kev H and Roger to my right had caught roach on chop worm. It didn't take long for my first roach to appear but it then took another 30 minutes or so before my second. But when they returned I was able to keep them coming quite steady, mostly on caster, feeding after every fish. Two pegs to my left, Nick was also keeping in touch with the fish, using maggot over cupped-in groundbait. And amongst his 2-6oz roach were a few bigger lumps to a best of 1.05 and a second bream of 4.02 to add to the 3lb'er he caught early on.
As the icy wind picked up and the geese and swans made more of a nuisance of themselves it became clear that the best pegs on the day were those in deeper water. But, by 3pm, everyone had caught and all were pleased that they made the effort and would look forward to a return visit. The end result was never in any doubt but my roach had gone along way towards catching Nick and he needed that big bream to win. |
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POSITION
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NAME |
WEIGHT
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POINTS
|
COMMENTS |
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1 |
Nick Darke |
|
100 |
two bream to 4.02 + roach to 1.05 |
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2 |
Stan
Kiddle |
9.04 |
95 |
all roach |
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3 |
Dan Patrick |
3.15 |
90 |
|
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4 |
Alan Thomas |
3.14 |
85 |
|
|
5 |
Brian Lakin |
3.13 |
80 |
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6 |
Matt
Young |
3.00 |
75 |
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7 |
Roger Smith |
2.11 |
70 |
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8 |
Kevin Laird |
2.00 |
65 |
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9 |
Allan Bayman |
1.13 |
60 |
Golden Peg |
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10 |
Andy K |
1.05 |
55 |
Silver Peg |
|
11 |
|
1.03 |
50 |
|
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12 |
Josh Blavins |
1.00 |
45 |
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13 |
Richard Wheatland |
0.06 |
40 |
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Total Weight |
46.08 |
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