22/03/25 - Juniors Points Match #2 - Luckfield

As I drove along the winding road to Broadmayne, the crisp early morning was splintered into dappled shards of light as it shone through the thin, dark naked trees. Trees that stood impatiently for their new covering of summer foliage. The playful sunlight sparkled upon my eyes as I resisted the urge to allow myself to be mesmerised by its shimmering beauty. The Shadowed grey/green colours of spring were broken by dots of yellow and purple Primroses, and a hint of lilac blue of the youthful, yet to bloom Bluebells…

That was Thursday…Today was a completely different bucket of Haddock as I drove the same ‘Picturesque’ route to Luckfield. Only this time it was grey and damp, a bit like an old wet sock on a cold broken radiator.

Thursday had seen the Lead Coach, Uncle Jerry, and Martin the Duck-whisperer venture to Luckers to have a little practice before match day. The three of us were joined by seven other desperate hopefuls at the beleaguered venue to see what impact the Black feathered death had inflicted on the Jewel in our crown.

Despite a reasonably amiable attitude towards his feathered friends, the ducks eventually turned on Mr Roe with eye watering venom. Twice they flew straight at his head with extreme malice. Fortunately, ‘Duckman’ can move out of the way pretty fast for a big lad, and was able avoid personal injury. I was guilty by association because they came at me too, only this time in a shameless act of cowardice as they attacked me from behind. After all this intimidation, I could not help but be impressed by the lucky duck’s ability to shoot a stream of excrement exactly over the spot where a Bream was sleeping. It must have been sleeping because it yawned near Martins bait and was squarely foul hooked in the mouth.

I managed to persuade three fish on to my rusty hook, and Jerry had to be content with three Roach and a tree after a large Bream executed a perfect high speed hook transfer late on…

We all feared it could be a disaster on Saturday and that some would struggle to catch anything at all…

As a side note, I want to say how wonderful it was to see Anna back at the junior events, even if it was only for a visit. I found great amusement in using her as a human shield when Mia was about to cast. Thank you for coming and I hope we see you again soon…

Your juniors today were:

P1: Josiah Wells-Parkes. (His Lordship)

P2: Austin Scott-Kennedy. (Rat Boy)

P3: Alfie Ellis. (The Tall One)

P5: Alec Campbell. (The Quiet One)

P6: Harry Cryer. (The Human Windchime)

P7: Josh Roe. (Sadie’s Son)

P8: Jayce Hardware (The Special Agent)

P9: Mia Evans (She of the stern look)

Your fist of coaches (the correct collective noun of a group of seven angling coaches) today were:

Graham Howard – Ironman

Martin Roe – Iron Lung

Chris Painter – Iron Mask

Tim Broughton – Iron Girder

Si Wagner – Steam Iron

Jon Bass – Iron Constitution

Lloyd Richards – Ironclad

Uncle Jerry was away watch big in tight shorts chasing an egg round a field. He's missing the next one too because he will be in France. So it's 'Grand Garcons dans petite pantalons, pursuet le oeuf dans la jardin... or something like that...Please do not correct me, I am fluent in Franglais, gibberish and rubbish....

Peg One:

Josiah Wells-Parkes:

14lbs, 3rd place:

Firstly, many happy returns of the day to the original ‘Sexy Dad’. He kept it quiet, but Facebonk gave it away! Happy Birthday James!

A fairly quiet day by Jo’s standards, especially after the blistering pace he set for the others at the first match. There was a time that I thought he might not catch a fish. But when I got round to him, it was a relief to hear that he’d caught a skimmer. By the end of the match, he had nailed a large Carp as well as a smattering of small fish to finish in third place and collect some more good championship points.

Well done mate!

Peg Two:

Austin Scott-Kennedy:

2lbs:

The 2024 champion was as confident as ever for todays match, although he was under strict instructions not to feed too much. No rats were getting a banquet today.

Peg two is currently festooned with evidence of some ‘anglers’ executing some imaginative casts. The tree is by far the best dressed on the whole lake, and Austin decided to add to that with some blistering casts of his own. Expect to see some parascending Squirrels until we get it all removed…

Only a few fish for Austin on a difficult lake today. But it’s a marathon, not a sprint and points is points…

Peg Three:

Alfie Ellis:

14lbs 10ozs, 2nd place:

Alfie had drawn the peg that the lead coach had fished on the Thursday before, and there is no doubt that he caught some lovely Bream by completely ignoring all advice given to him by the lead coach. To be fair, he did try the advised methods and, whilst he may not have caught as much weight, he definitely had a more interesting day. A smattering of Roach backed two very large late caught ‘Bweems’ was enough to secure second place on only his second competitive event with DDAS juniors. With some rig and elastic tweaks, Alfie could be a real contender this year. Very well done…

Peg Five:

Alec Campbell:

6ozs:

Our silverfish champion was always going to be up against it on a lake where the Lead Coach feared there were not many small silvers left. More Roach showed than we hoped for, but sadly not where Alec was fishing. In a points match, no one comes last. 11 points is better than none in a championship and that’s the way you must look at it. With silverfish event looming in the distance, I’m positive Alec will be back on form soon.

Peg Six:

Harry Cryer:

5lbs 14ozs:

Harry was fishing in the sheer cliff peg, not one of my favourite pegs for juniors. Having said that, it can have some very good form. With a decline in Roach numbers, it was big fish or bust for Harry today. It’s fair to say that maybe Harry is one of the more patient of juniors, and today he showed some proper resilience and sat it out for just two nice Tench on the feeder.

I did have to talk to Paul after the match. A warning has been issued. I don’t want any further action to be needed, and hopefully we can leave it all there.

Peg Seven:

Josh Roe:

17lbs 1oz, 1st place:

Young Josh wears his heart on his sleeve and when it ain’t going right, you know about it just by looking at his body language. He had foul hooked a good fish and was playing it well before it fell off. The usual ‘shut down’ did not arrive, however. Josh simply plugged the top kit back on his pole and got on with it. There was some decent Tench in the bag already when the tail hooked Carp turned up and, apart from some theatrical pole waving during the fight, Josh played it really well before the Lead Coach plunged the net in front of the confused Carp who was probably rather bemused to be going backwards just as much as forwards.

It was a sound performance from Josh today which secured him his first win of the year. On today’s efforts, you must say it will not the last.

great effort today kiddo!

Peg Eight:

Jayce Hardware:

8lbs 8ozs:

It was not an ideal start for Jayce today. A new rod snapped before it had a feeder tied to it, is not the best way to start your day. Carpet slippers for dad from now on!

That aside, Jayce showed some real promise with his casting skills for a junior of his age and on area of the lake where large fish can be found, Jayce found at least two of them in the shape of some snotty Bweems… It was a good effort from young Jayce today, and I look forward to watching his progress this year. Well done…

Peg Ten:

Mia Evans:

7ozs:

It is very fair to say that, with Uncle John’s hand injury, Mia’s time on the bank has taken a big hit over the last few months. It is obvious that her confidence is at a low by her reluctance to use methods outside of her strengths. Having said that, with a little help, she did use a waggler float and chuck a feeder about a bit. Sadly, her result did not mirror the effort she put into getting it. But with a long layoff, Mia could have expected a little ‘rustiness’ on her return. Now she is back, we can work on getting her fishing back up to speed…

It was worth all worth it to see Mia’s face light up when Anna turned up to see her.

Priceless…

A few rats were spotted going about their business around the lake today, which reminded me of Mrs H’s new hobby. Rather than pressing wildflowers in heavy books, she has taken it to the next level by pressing small mammals by sleeping on them in bed. (If you are squeamish, skip the next photo).

Another explanation is that it was an early 50th Birthday present from the gov’ner of the house and one of the most efficient killing machines on the planet, Matilda the cute Tuxedo Cat… It’s the second time Tilly has done this to Trudie, but at least she didn’t play with it with her feet thinking it was one of the cat’s toys… She’s left one in my cap before, and my favourite one which was underneath Trudie’s oxygen machine which generates a lot of heat. I will leave the rest to your imagination…

Brilliant support from all our coaches today. My thanks go out to Si, Tim, Jon, Martin, Chris, and Lloyd…

We will be at Revels for our next coaching event on the 5th of April where the focus will be on the continuation of our coaching program.

There may be a casting session between then and now. Keep your eye on WhatsApp for dates and details.

I hope that this was the worst event fishing wise this year. If it was, we got away with it quite well. Fishing is nothing if not unpredictable, and even 50 years of experience cannot give you all the answers…

See you next time…

The Mud-Slinger.