The last match finally arrived and it couldn’t be any closer in the league with Alvin winning and me and Moses just 1.5 points behind. Realistically I didn’t think Alvin could be caught because he needed to be last in his section with either me or Moses winning ours. We met a little earlier and decided to fish from 5:30 to 8:30, I drew peg 9 and was fairly happy because I didn’t have that poxy wasps nest behind me. I had Rob two pegs to my left and venue expert, Moses, two pegs to my right although he was in the other section.
I only had time to set up the whip and mix a little groundbait before we were off. I started on maggot and fed the odd nugget of groundbait but missed several bites before connecting with a tiny roach. I had a couple more before trying caster and I couldn’t get a bite on it! I was really struggling and after half an hour I only had five or six fish. Robin had yet to catch and I thought the evening had all the hallmarks of being a tough match. After an hour I was up to 21 fish and had included a couple of better roach. I couldn’t really see what the others were doing and shouting up to Rob, he confirmed he was finding it hard going too.
If anything hour two was worse and although I was getting lots of bites I just couldn’t hit them and initially I was putting it down to tiny fish but then when I did connect with one it was a better roach! I was feeding two lines, one straight out at 4 metres and the other towards the reeds on the inside and I was catching more fish from the latter swim. I was hoping the fishing would get better as the light failed but it just didn’t seem to happen for me and Rob.
The last hour arrived and the light started to go really quickly, there were bats everywhere although at least they weren’t poxy wasps. I was still missing more bites than I was hitting and I don’t think I hit two on the trot all night. It didn’t help that I just couldn’t see my float for the last 15 minutes! I ended up with 51 fish and I thought I had between three and four pounds. Rob called the all out and it was a mad rush to pack up before total darkness arrived. Moses asked how I’d got on and I said I had really struggled for 3lb or so, he replied that he had 10lb+!!!!! This was a bit gutting as up until tonight me and Moses were winning the heaviest weight (sponsored by Paul Church Motors) with 9lb 7oz.
The scales started with Rob who had 2lb 7oz and then I weighed 4lb 4oz to end with a single section point, even if Moses won his now (which it looked like he would), we would be tied on points. Moses weighed an excellent 12lb 12oz and then Fieldy had 9lb 6oz and Alvin started to say that he reckoned he would be last in his section. This was how it turned out when he weighed 6lb 15oz, which meant me and Moses had leap frogged him into first place by half a point! As it was never stated at the start of the league what would happen in the event of a tie we decided to split the money for first and second and we ended up with £62 each. Looking at the results, if we’d have gone to weight Moses would have won whereas if we’d gone to points countback I’d have taken the verdict by one point so a fair result I think.
Moses had a nice pick up as he won on the night, jointly won the league and he also had the heaviest weight prize, well done mate.
1 – Moses Holbrook (Ilminster) – 12lb 12oz
2 – Graham Field (Taunton) – 9lb 6oz
Final League
1 – Jamie Rich and Moses Holbrook – 12.5 points
3 – Alvin Jones – 13 points
Heaviest Weight (Sponsored by Paul Church Motors)
Moses Holbrook – 12lb 12oz
So a good end to the league for me although ten matches is two too many and I think 6-8 would be better for next year.
I’ve had a bit of grief over ‘slagging off’ the pond in my recent posts and in my defence I’d just like to point out that it’s just my opinion and the fishing currently isn’t my cup of tea. I hear pleasure anglers bag up and that’s great news and I also think it’s a really good place for youngsters as they’ll get plenty of bites. It’s just it doesn’t fish as well in matches as a few years back when you needed 15lb upwards to win and that was usually quality roach with the odd big perch or chub and I get fed up fishing the whip all the time. You only need to look at the match attendances of a maximum of 6 for the evening series and we’re now getting the same sort of number on a Sunday. Anyway I’m back here on Sunday and that will be my last visit this year and I’m really looking forward to getting back on the river.
I can’t go without thanking Paul Church Motors for their kind sponsorship and Alvin for running a good little league.
I thought your comments, based on the match results were justified. Its funny that pleasure anglers always do better, since they always will if they are the only anglers on the lake (and I have seen "pleasure" anglers frequently overestimate weights). Besides if this pond cant handle 6 anglers fishing at the same time, then I would suggest it isnt suitable as a match venue
I agree, I used to love the place and had some fantastic winning weights up to 20lb+. The pond is fed by a couple of feeder streams and the pond always used to colour up after rain but the main flow of one has been diverted round the pond and as a consequence the pond is a lot clearer now. Also the roach and perch have bred like wildfire and I think they need thinning out so they can grow on in size. In relative terms, it's still quite a young lake and is changing year on year so maybe it will improve.