****HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE****Sorry I missed you…
I looked into the rear-view mirror as I drove to Chickerell and saw a slightly dishevelled and unshaven character looking back at me. Not quite the pristine wrinkled prune that usually frequents the junior sessions.
The week had been tough for Mrs H and included a hospital trip to A&E on Thursday. It’s not relaxing knowing your beloved is at home and not feeling well, even less so when you know that your phone could ring with ‘the call’ at any moment.She was too ill for me to stay all day, so I got the ball rolling with the draw, left the match in Sgt Bracey’s more than capable hands, and headed home.
I would only be around for the last 75minutes or so, the length of this blog will reflect upon how little of the match I witnessed…
I do have a little request to parents in future, if you have booked in for an event and cannot attend for whatever reason, could I ask for a little curtesy call or a message to let me know please?
Thanks…
Lack of available coaching bodies meant that the four taster sessions booked in for the day had to be cancelled at the last minute. If anyone is reading this and would like to help out with the juniors, let me know and we can have a chat about it. I’m not looking for multiple consecutive weekends of your time, just some extra help should we need it and/or some relief for our regular coaches to take some time off without it impacting on the events like it did this weekend….
The draw for the day went as follows…
Peg 1: Josh ‘That’s how you catch Silverfish, Jerry’ Roe.
Peg 2: Austin ‘Rambo’ Scott-Kennedy.
Peg 3: Harry ‘Windchime’ Cryer.
Peg 4: Jack ‘T’other Jack’ Cryer.
Peg 5: Harry ‘Jeremy Paxman’ Wilmer.
Peg 6: Jack ‘Twiglet’ Copp.
Peg 7: Alec ‘The quiet one’ Campbell.
Coaches for the day were…
Jerry ‘Drill Sgt’ Bracey.
Chris ‘The Captain’ Ward.
Jon ‘Nowt wrong with me car’ Bass.
Cameo appearance by Graham ‘Moonlight Phantom’ Howard…
Peg One:
Josh Roe:
Josh seemed to be fishing well and was the benchmark having weighed in first. He tipped a very respectable 15lbs 4ozs onto the scales which was good enough for third place on the day. He fished well and his success had made him a little giddy as he told Jerry, ‘See? That’s how you catch a decent weight of silverfish!’…
Jerry’s eyes flickered as he tried to think of a child friendly response, whilst the rest of us spun away sniggering, and trying not to laugh. Ah bless ‘em…It was a good effort from Josh today and his journey towards becoming an angler to be reckoned with took another step forward today.
It wasn’t all beer and skittles, however. Martin had asked me to draw Josh a peg as close to the carpark as possible. I didn’t get the memo and drew him as far from the carpark as he could get. Martin’s response was riddled with horrific expletives and threats to my personal well-being. None of them can be written here. I placated them later on by talking about Uncle Jamie (Hughes), which seemed to do the trick…
Peg Two:
Austin Scott-Kennedy:
Austin stood in the carpark looking for all the world like an angler from the Belgian National team from the mid-to-late nineteen eighties. His green over trousers were complimented by an over-sized three-quarter length jacket in blue with red and yellow detailing. The hood stood proud above his head and made him look highly streamlined, aerodynamic even… All he needed was Sensas towelling apron and a very floppy 11-metre pole to hand, and forty-five large balls of ground bait and the image would have been complete. Austin couldn’t quite keep up with Josh today and lost some ground in the championship race. But fourth place with 12lbs 10ozs gave him some good points to take home with him.
Peg Three:
Harry Cryer:
Harry was ‘sat’ in a chair looking like a pile of laundry from a distance. I thought it was only cats that could contort themselves into shapes like that, but it seems I was wrong.
For whatever reason, Harry wasn’t ‘feeling it’ today. Maybe fishing for silverfish is not what Harry enjoys?
Unfortunate for a silvers match.
Spurts of enthusiasm enabled him to catch enough fish for 8lbs 8ozs and sixth place on the day.
Peg Four:
Jack Cryer:
Jack was a little more animated than his brother and was catching steadily when I saw him. He was sat in the peg that owner Jim usually uses to feed the fish from. This meant that Jack would be plagued by F1’s and Carp for most of the day. Having to slide Carp back without weighing them is a bitter pill to swallow in a match. But that’s the way it goes on matches like today. Similar to Austin, Jack fished a good match and should be happy with his weight of 12lbs 3ozs and 5th place on the day…
Peg Five:
Harry Wilmer:
No show…
Peg Six:
Jack Copp:
Dominance of junior events has become the norm for Jack. With more wins than anyone else, Jack was still in hot contention for the title even after missing TWO events this year due to other commitments. Today was no exception. At the end of last year, Jack had clearly been studying the top anglers either live or on YouTube. What resulted was a young lad trying too hard to be fast. It was frantic and a bit wild at times.
But now Jack is much smoother and efficient in his movements. The wildness has been tamed and what you see is an extremely competent junior. He is more than ready to leave the nest and take the next step into the wider world of match angling.
Jack celebrated his new sponsorship with Malman Floats (which I’m proud to say I had a very little part in securing for him), with an impressive display of silver fishing.
A hefty net of 21lbs 9ozs consisting mostly of smaller fish, but helped out with a hybrid and a couple of ‘Proper dogs’ (large Roach), Jack jogged his way to a relatively easy win.
Well done Twiglet, proper job…
Peg Seven: Alec Campbell: End peg Alec was in quiet form early doors. I don’t think mornings suit him and I’m guessing that he would lead the vote for more evening matches in the calendar!
Despite the rather muted start, Alec had to be feeling quite confident after some good weights at Harbourbridge earlier on in the year.
I had pegged the match so that every junior had plenty of space either side of them. But peg one would have a little more pressure than the others because of the short sessions of Alexander and George who could not/would not stay for the whole session.
His catch rate improved after the pressure to his right had dissipated and he was able to hammer enough small fish out to weigh 16lbs 2ozs, and to secure yet another second place including a voucher for £10 to spend in Alan’s Angling. Well done…
With three points matches remaining (subject to change) and 75 points still on the table, the championship is still wide open as we sprint through October.
Mathematically there are still five juniors still able to win the title. Realistically there are only really two, with a third as an outside bet.
The five are…
199 Austin Scott-Kennedy
177 Jack Copp
145 Alec Campbell
139 Jack Cryer
128 Harry Cryer
The Silverfish Championship has become interesting too…
42lbs 4ozs A. Campbell.
35lbs 11ozs H. Cryer.
32lbs 10ozs J. Roe.
32lbs 5ozs J. Cryer.
32lbs 2ozs A. Scott-Kennedy.
29lbs 10ozs J. Copp.
I am extremely pleased that the silverfish only matches are forcing the weights of silverfish up. I don’t like giving out trophies for a weight of fish caught over a season that you can easily catch in 5-hours! This is much more reflective of ‘proper fishing’…
Both titles are still up for grabs despite concerns that all may be lost at one point. Proof that you should never give up…
Can Alec extend in the Silvers?
Can Austin keep his lead?
Would you bet against Jack?
Stay tuned…
Thank you to Jim Roper for allowing the use of his fishery today. Thanks also to Jerry, Chris and Jon for carrying the day when I could not...
The next event is at Luckfield for a Coaching session on the 26th of October. There will be taster sessions on a lake with only ten swims. So, there will only available (subject to change) so book in early.
I think we need to talk about what rigs to use and when after what I observed today. One float does not do all and, although catch rates were good, there are always ways to improve. Using the right rigs could be (definitely is!) the answer…
The next match is our first ever visit to the famous Viaduct fishery in Somerton. The former home for the qualifying rounds of some of the country’s biggest competitions has, in the past, thrown up some huge weights (Before we entered the Todber age).
The date for this match on FRIDAY 1st November during the school holidays.
This is significant because this is the day when a pellet ban comes into effect.
Maggots, CASTERS, Worms, Meat, Sweetcorn, Pinkies are all allowed.
The Carp can be BIG and you may only need 9 or 10 fish for 100lbs. You will have to monitor your net limits carefully if you start to catch well.
The Viaduct rules are very strict and are as follows…
Read, digest, and remember…
Carp net limit – 60lb, over 70lb = disqualification.
Silverfish net limit – 50lb, over 50lb = zero for that net.
Fish are not to be moved out of the keepnet once they have gone in.
All keepnets and landing nets to be spread out on the bank to dry and not introduced to the water until 5 minutes before the start of the match.
You can fish no further than half way to the next angler.
Pellet Rule - Only coarse or carp pellet to be fed, all other types of pellet only allowed on hook. (not during the pellet ban)
Pellet Ban (includes hook baits) - Start of November - mid March. (includes boilies, pop ups, wafters etc.)
Boilies, dumbells, pop ups, wafters etc. allowed on the hook but not to be fed. (not during the pellet ban)
No bloodworm & joker.
2kg of groundbait maximum allowed, to be fed through a feeder or a pole cup. Small nuggets of groundbait/soaked pellet can be fed by hand up to 5 metres.
Only 1 envelope can be won on a cost cutter match.
No feeding with a pole while you have a rod out.
PVA is not allowed to be loose fed.
No method feeders, banjo feeders or coil feeders.
No candle or rattler floats.
All leads and feeders must be free running, no fixed rigs, no elasticated feeders.
All leads and feeders must have a minimum hook length of 12 inches. No tucking or using any other method for reducing hook lengths.
Barbless hooks only.
No use of braided line.
No baits on the surface but you can pop baits up.
No floating poles.
No standing on your box.
Until the next time…
Juniors Sec…
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