On Sunday we were back on the Parrett for the Novice Shield which is also the culmination of the six match series for the Memorial Shield. Going into this one, Hainsey was leading with 45 points, I was a point behind and Dave Pope was in third spot with 40 points. Your best five results count and both Chris and me had a 6 pointer as our dropper. He also had a slight weight advantage so I would need to either beat him by a point and 1lb 4oz or finish two places higher than him (something I hadn’t managed so far in the series!).
Although a big ask, we were at Kingsbury and although not my favourite stretch, it was a possibility if I could somehow draw an end peg (which are normally a big advantage). The massive flaw in that strategy of course is that Chris could also draw one and when it comes to drawing end pegs at Kingsbury, for me they’re as rare a rocking horse poo (the last time was in 2020!).
After a lovely brekkie at the Ranch we headed to the river where we were met by Bob and Dave for a rolling draw. There weren’t many pegs left in the bucket and Bob said the two ends (1 & 16) were still in there, I went for it and pulled out……. number 12, darn it, my drawing arm is still rubbish. Bob, who obviously hadn’t learned anything from watching me avoid end pegs for five years, then asked me to pull out a peg for him and number 4 was the result, he should have known better!
Hainsey on 6 also hadn’t drawn particularly well, so with us both in different sections and our swims fairly evenly matched, it was still advantage Chris. Kingsbury isn’t permanently pegged so I wasn’t exactly sure which swim I’d drawn. I was the last peg in the second field, one I’ve never fished before and it looked nice with trees opposite and lots of small fish topping.
I set up 0.75 and 1 gram bodied floats to fish down the middle and a 0.5 gram DH16 for fishing across to the far bank cover. Today’s side tray contained maggots, casters and Bait-Tech Super Seed Aniseed hemp.
The Grand Wiz got proceedings underway with his whistle and I cupped in some hemp and caster down the middle at 8.5 metres. Starting with single red maggot on the hook, I missed a positive indication first put in before catching a chunky little chublet. It was a bite a chuck from little chublets, dace, some big gudgeon and a roach although I did pull out of two slightly better fish and bumped a couple.
After a really good first hour I had 30 fish for around 2lb but I knew it wouldn’t last although I wasn’t expecting bites to just stop like someone had flicked a switch! I tried adding a section and going further across and downstream but it was like the swim was devoid of fish. Even though it was still relatively early on in the match, I knew any chance of the fairytale ending to the series had realistically gone and my race was run for another year!
Of course I was still giving it my best shot as there was always the (very slim) chance, Hainsey was struggling or it was fishing hard but I knew I was grasping at straws. Some bank walkers reported he was getting a small fish a chuck but wasn’t winning his section as Dave P had caught a couple of big chub. I knew then that my efforts were futile as even if I somehow won my section and he finished second in his, I would still lose out on weight.
I could get the odd bite from 13 and 14.5 metres down the peg but after catching 30 fish in the first hour, I only added 6 more fish during the next four hours! After packing up the weigh in began with Derek G on 15 (as 16 wasn’t drawn) and he had 2lb 8oz which included some monster gobies, Rob C was next and just an ounce shy with 2lb 7oz.
Derek ‘The Gobio Gatherer’ weighed 2lb 8oz which was second in our section
Rob C was close behind with 2lb 7oz
Danny B on 13 had a nice roach and some smaller fish for 1lb 9oz, I weighed 2lb 2oz and then Fieldy had 1lb 2oz so our section had been really tight until we got to the Grand Wiz who had caught all day to win the section with 7lb 9oz of chub, roach, dace and gudgeon, he lost a chub as well.
Danny B weighed 1lb 9oz on peg 13
I had 2lb 2oz of chublets, dace, roach and gudgeon
Fieldy had 1lb 2oz on peg 11
The Grand Wiz had a lovely day catching 7lb 9oz to easily win the section and come second in the match
A brilliant weight that would normally be enough to win the match but Dave P on the next peg up (in the other section) had a fantastic 12lb which included six chub plus some roach and he’d lost several chub as well. The ever consistent Hainsey finished second in that section with a great small fish catch of 4lb 13oz which would see his name on the Memorial Shield, well fished mate, just too good.
Section A
1 – Dave Pope (Stoke) – 12lb
2 – Chris Haines (Haines Angling) – 4lb 15oz
3 – Cliff Gaylard (Stoke) – 3lb 7oz
Section B
1 – Chris White (Stoke) – 7lb 9oz
2 – Derek Goad (Stoke) – 2lb 8oz
3 – Rob Cox (Ilminster) – 2lb 7oz
A massive well done to Chris Haines for winning the Memorial Shield, he fished a blinder, winning two of the matches outright and excluding his 6 point dropper, he recorded a winning score of 48 from a possible 50 points. Dave Pope also had a great series and his excellent winning weight today saw him pip Chris to the Aggregate Shield with 26lb 7oz. Nick Payne won the President’s Trophy for the best chub with a fine specimen of 2lb 14oz.
On a personal level, of course I’m gutted to have fallen at the last hurdle in my quest to win the Memorial Shield but a great draw was required to do that and I didn’t get it today. It does feel a little like I’m destined never to win it after now finishing second three times in five years. I feel like I fished a good series with four great results at Parrett Works including a match win, two seconds and a section win.
It was close right up until the end and I don’t even really feel like there were any ‘if only’ moments. In the first match I did pull out of a couple of fish that might have seen me beat Chris and today I lost enough for second in the section which combined would have seen me win it but that’s all irrelevant really as everybody loses/bumps fish. Conversely in the second match I had a ‘get out of jail’ 2lb chub which on another day, snags or snaps me!
Points scores from the six matches;
Chris – 10
Jamie – 9
Chris – 9
Jamie – 9
Chris – 6
Jamie – 6
Chris – 10
Jamie – 10
Chris – 10
Jamie – 10
Chris – 9
Jamie – 7
It’s all part of what makes match fishing so addictive (for me anyway), last weekend I had two awesome days and then a week later I got kicked squarely in the spuds both days, it’s what keeps me coming back for more, highs and lows!
Thanks to very kind donations from Rob Cox (£3), Nick Payne (£3) and me (£2), the Nugget-O-Meter jumped to £363.
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 – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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