Hebditch’s Pond – Ruthie’s Cup – 7th July 2024

The final round of Ruthie’s Cup arrived and there were five anglers still in with a shout of winning, Roy and Nick were both on 11 points with Burnsey, Craig L and Harry all just a point behind. The draw would be crucial and the stand out pegs in each section so far had been 14 at Thorney and 3, 4 and 10 at Hebditch’s. We all met at The Ranch for a fantastic breakfast and were well looked after by Kirsty.

Then it was time for the ‘Tupperware Tubs of Terror’ and after skilfully managing to avoid the aforementioned pegs so far, I was hoping for peg 10 and a chance of a section win to finish the league on a high. First up were the anglers at Thorney, Nick didn’t draw well when he pulled out 13, then it was our turn and Burnsey went in first and only got 10, I drew 11 which I was fairly pleased with as it was second in the section in the last round.

Roy got peg 2 in the next section while Harry and Craig got 5 and 7 respectively in their section. So Burnsey was the only angler in the top five to draw one of the favoured pegs and was probably pre-match favourite but nothing is ever that cut and dried in match fishing and there were lots of different permutations still possible and in the event of a tie, overall weight could come into it.

My peg was on the end bank with bushes in the water on either side and my plan was a simple one, rigs for on the deck and up the water with 6mm Bait-Tech Carp & Coarse pellets. I was ready in plenty of time so had a walk round to annoy the Grand Wiz on peg 9. Thanks to Norts for the photos*

GW got us musically underway and I started off the end of the left hand bush with the deep rig and banded 6mm pellet. I was getting odd indications and pulled out of two very small pasties (there’s quite a few in the lake between 2-4oz). It took probably half an hour for me to hook my first decent fish which I successfully got away from the bush and it was in open water and not doing a lot. I began shipping back only for everything to go slack, I thought the hook had pulled but on closer inspection the hooklength had snapped, so the fish had obviously gone round something.

Most people I could see were getting odd fish while Terry ‘The Toast’ was bagging on peg 3 and even at this early stage was a long way ahead of everyone else, Andy S on my right was getting odd fish on the hybrid feeder and league leader Roy was struggling on peg 2. On the opposite bank Harry was catching well on peg 5 and probably winning his section, so very much in contention for the title. There were lots of ripples coming from Burnsey’s direction on my left but his jungle camouflage was so effective I couldn’t actually see him (the massive bush between us might have had something to do with it as well!).

It was steady-ish first couple of hours for me with four carp and two little pasties but I’d also lost four, but I think several were foulhooked. Then we reached the two hour mark when the pond normally switches off (apart from the noted pegs) and true to form, I couldn’t now get a bite. We also had some truly biblical rain (which was nice!) and that probably didn’t help matters either. I had a look shallow off the end of the bush and also at 14.5 metres but never had an indication even though odd carp could be seen cruising around.

Andy S was still catching quite consistently, plopping a little feeder not that far out so I plumbed up a new line in open water at around 13 metres and began pinging a few pellets over the top. I had a 2-3lb carp quite quickly which was encouraging but that was it and I was at a loss. A couple of times carp came within mugging range but by the time I’d shipped back and picked up the shallow rig, they’d buggered off! Also with the white water, it was really hard to spot fish, I did see a pod of carp so just lifted my deep rig out and swung it in front of them, I held the float out the water and the elastic wanged out of the pole tip before I landed carp number six.

With Burnsey expected to win our section, second was still up for grabs as I hadn’t seen Norts on 8 have much and there probably wasn’t much between me and GW on peg 9. I was hoping for a decent last hour back down by the bush but it’s just not happened and I only had one more little 2oz Ginster.

I packed up and went round to watch the weigh in, ‘Part-Time Priv’ on peg 1 hadn’t lasted the duration and was probably sat home drying out, Roy had 19lb 1oz on peg 2 and then Terry ‘The Toast’ had made the most of drawing 3 to weigh 65lb 12oz which would win the section and probably the lake.

Steve H on 4 had 8lb 10oz, Harry weighed 22lb 8oz next door, Rob C on 6 had four carp for 8lb 14oz and shy and retiring Craig L finished second in the section with 13lb 6oz. Ex Club Angler of the Year Norts had a rare off day with 5lb 11oz and gave us all a masterclass in how to weigh in! The Grand Wiz did well on 9 to weigh 26lb 3oz, Burnsey had 33lb 6oz which would win the section and then my disappointing effort registered 17lb 13oz. Andy S was last to weigh and had fished a tidy match catching on the feeder to weigh 40lb 12oz which was second in his section.

When the results came in from Thorney, Jake was top out there with 79lb 11oz, Chedz was second with 60lb 3oz, Chanter had 46lb 1oz and Nick weighed 29lb 2oz.

Section D (Thorney)
1 – Jake Berkely (Tackleuk) – 79lb 11oz
2 – Nick Chedzoy (Stoke) – 60lb 1oz

Section A (Hebditch’s)
1 – Terry Morgan (Stoke) – 65lb 12oz
2 – Andy Saunders (Sharp MG) – 40lb 12oz

Section B (Hebditch’s)
1 – Harry Hebditch (Stoke) – 22lb 8oz
2 – Craig Lyttle (Stoke) – 13lb 6oz

Section C (Hebditch’s)
1 – Andy Burns (Stoke) – 33lb 6oz
2 – Chris White (Stoke) – 26lb 3oz

So with all the results in, who would be crowned Ruthie’s Cup Champion? The front runners at the start of play, Roy and Nick both finished well down in their sections leaving the door open for Burnsey and Harry, who both scored maximum points, to sneak in. It couldn’t have been any tighter really with just two points separating the top five places, Burnsey took the title with 14 points thanks to a superior weight advantage over Harry and Roy managed to stay in the frame with 13 points thanks to his massive combined weight, meaning Craig finished fourth and Nick fifth.

1 – Andy Burns – 14 pts (134lb 1oz)
2 – Harry Hebditch – 14 pts (117lb 2oz)
3 – Roy Worth – 13 pts (156lb 15oz)
4 – Craig Lyttle – 13 pts (118lb 7oz)
5 – Nick Payne – 12 pts (103lb 7oz)

I have to say, I’m well chuffed for Andy winning it as I know how much it means to him as his partner is Ruthie’s sister and he’s always loved the pond, well done mate, genuinely pleased for you.

Massive thanks must go to The Grand Wiz for his superb organisation of the series, Kirsty at The Ranch for looking after us so well, The Hebditch family and Mark Ragless for allowing us to use their lakes, Chanter’s lovely wife, Teresa, who did a brilliant job with the results and spreadsheet and of course all the anglers for supporting the matches for a fantastic cause. There were lots of amazing gestures along the way as well with several people putting their winnings back in the pot and Rob Cox who donated £100 today, awesome mate.

We have a presentation night this weekend so I’ll get some photos and update this post and also I’ll see if I can get the final amount raised for charity (which goes to Yeovil Oncology Unit) and I’ll put that on here as well.

Presentation Night Update

As promised, here’s a quick update from the presentation night at The Ranch, the food was excellent, the anglers were in great form and we had loads of laughs (even Craig made me chuckle at one point!). The Grand Wiz gave a lovely speech and his daughters presented bouquets of flowers to Teresa for her hard work doing all the results and Kirsty and her team for looking after us so brilliantly.

Then it was time for the results and the top three all received Sensas buckets packed full of goodies courtesy of Steve Chant and M5 Angling (awesome support, thank you). Roy and Burnsey both returned their league winnings which was very kind of them (especially Burnsey being a Yorkshireman!).

I also have to say Andy (Burnsey) gave a lovely, quite emotional speech and as I mentioned earlier, I was chuffed he won as you could see how much it meant to him, well in mate. The Ranch also did a raffle on the night with loads of fantastic prizes which raised an amazing £190 (although my drawing arm continues to be crap there as well!).

So with the draw, returned prize money and a very kind £30 donation from Rachael White, the evening raised £420 which added to the £1025 already in the pot, takes the total to an amazing £1465, brilliant stuff.

Norts and Burnsey both kindly donated £2 to the Nugget-O-Meter which now stands at £278.

There’s still a great offer running if you fancy treating yourself to some new fishing gear, use the exclusive discount code AgainstMenandFish10 to get 10% off when you shop online at Somerset Angling

Also I still have copies of my book available from eBay here or Amazon here

And if you could spare five minutes to leave a nice review on Amazon, it would be very much appreciated.

Next up – Todber Manor

Coming soon – Lots more match reports

#sponsoredpost #affiliatelinks