I’ve decided to do something a little different with my yearly review this time around. In previous years, I’ve just done a shortened rehash of every match which makes for a rather lengthy post that I’m sure is as boring for you to read as it is for me to write!
Hopefully, you follow the blog and regularly read my posts so I won’t need to revisit all the lows but here are my highlights from 2022.
Summary
What a year! 2022 has been the best one yet as far as my fishing is concerned, I’ve probably fished more matches than ever before and had some really nice results along the way.
The year got underway with a couple of wins on the Isle, nine chub for 24lb 14oz from 123 (and yes I did have a moan when I drew it!) followed by 27lb 1oz of chublets from the Tank Traps a few weeks later. That broke my pb match weight on the Isle that had stood for a long time although if truth be told, I missed a golden opportunity to top 30lb for the first time when I had a landing net disaster among other things.
I’ve always loved my silvers fishing and had a fantastic run of results with four wins on the trot at Revels (and then won the fifth match overall), three on the bounce at Summerhayes (including a golden peg win) and two consecutive silvers wins at Landsend (which I visited for the first time in years).
Another lovely day at Revels with 20lb 7oz of silvers
As always I was really looking forward to the Stoke matches on the Parrett and my campaign got off to a great start when I drew a flier (peg 16) in the Evening Cup and won with 12lb 4oz of chub. I then had the top weight in the Stoke v Ilminster match with a lowly 2lb 13oz from peg 11. Sadly it was all downhill for me on the Parrett after that and the best I could manage was the odd section win.
I had a lovely evening to weigh 12lb 4oz of chub, roach, dace and gudgeon
We fished Hebditch’s a fair few times raising a tidy sum for charity and I had two wins along the way, both from peg 3. I was still doing loads of silvers fishing at a variety of venues with some good weights, 24lb 1oz on Sellicks, 27lb 7oz at Thorney Lakes, 23lb 6oz at Revels, 63lb 6oz at Coombe Farm (which was only second behind Nick P with 69lb) and the icing on the cake was the inaugural Clive and Ray’s Memorial at Summerhayes which I won with 18lb 2oz.
I had a really nice days fishing to weigh 18lb 2oz
Another crack at the Garbolino Club Angler of the Year was less successful and my 155lb was only 200lb off winning my section on Homeground! I did manage a joint section win on the River Stour in the Air Ambulance match which is one of my favourite fixtures of the year.
A new venue for me was Acorn Fishery which I’ve been wanting to fish for ages so when I saw they had a memorial match for Charlie Barnes, I booked in and despite bitterly cold conditions, I had a lovely day finishing second with 11lb 4oz of skimmers, tench, roach and a big perch.
Me with winner Martin Rayet and Vic Bush
My yearly winnings total was £2320 which was the first time I’d broken the £2k barrier but I did fish an awful lot of matches! I still haven’t managed to get back to Thailand again, so I’m determined to make that happen in 2023.
I also raised £400 through the Nugget-O-Meter in memory of my dear dad which was added to Stokes charity which goes to the Oncology Unit at Yeovil and this year in total they raised £2708 which is just amazing.
So like I said at the start of this recap, ‘What a year!’ I’m not really sure how I’ll better it but I’m sure I’ll have plenty of laughs (and breakfasts) trying.
New Venues
Higher Farm
Acorn Fishery
Coombe Farm
Wadmill Lake
Revisited
Landsend Fishery
Stathe Drain
The blog continues to do well and the feedback and comments I’ve received have been amazing, if you like what I do, please get in touch or if there’s things I could do better please let me know, I’m always open to constructive criticism. I would still love to feature more guest blogs and collaborations, if you’re interested, contact me using the form in the sidebar.
The number of hits sailed past 7 million and currently stands at 7,150,599 which is just amazing. I’m very lucky that the blog is supported by Peejay Tackle and I’m immensely proud to be associated with Bait-Tech, and they’ve got some more great products coming out for 2023.
So here are the stats (with how they compare to last year in brackets),
Matches won – 9 (+3)
Silvers wins – 19 (+17)
Winnings – £2320 (+£1102)
Golden peg wins – 1 (+1)
Matches fished – 90
Number of pick ups – 58 (+24)
Success rate – 64%
New pb match weights
River Isle – 27lb 1oz
Revels (silvers) – 23lb 6oz
Coombe Farm – 63lb 6oz
Thorney (silvers) – 27lb 7oz
River Parrett (Stoke) – 12lb 4oz
Acorn Fishery – 69lb 14oz
