I left it a bit late fishing only 3 of the qualifying matches to try and get a place in one of the BH Finals at Evesham that form part of the Festival. My only other visit to Evesham was back in January when we tried to qualify as a team but failed.
As luck would have it my last 2 qualifiers saw me joint first in my section and a section plus zone win in the final one earning my place today.
4 of the team today fishing for a share of the £7,000 prize money, Mike Martin, Clive Branson, Kevin Ellaby and myself.
The draw today was at 09:00 with fishing 11:30 - 16:30, 80 pegs so my biggest match of the year and in some very good company concerning angling hero's and others with massive achievements.
Prior to attending the event you need to completed and return a registration form recording who you fish for etc. You also could record any significant achievements! As I didn't have any angling ones I was tempted to write ''married to the same woman for 42 years'' but that probably would be a bit risky!
There had been a lot of rain prior to the match and I had been keeping an eye on the gauge up at Evesham. On the Friday the river was still rising, not a lot but it was a lot colder than of late so not good. The level was predicted to stabilise on the day of the match.
On arrival there was a good buzz about the place and I took a look at the river by the Ferry with Mark Brush of DGL and who also had a lot of experience here. It was fairly pacy and had a lot of colour in it. Mark suggested it would be an out and out feeder job with perhaps pegs 1 and 2 plus the Ferry Meadows being the favourite place to draw, in other words bream.
We queued up to select our peg from the matrix. Clive B was first in the queue and blow me didn't he end up with 35 which is a great draw for chub and it would suit him with his favourite waggler tactics if the conditions allowed.
I was about halfway to draw and when it came to my turn my lucky letter and number was still there so why not ..... ended up on 61, 63 was the peg to draw in this area really but I was told I had the best peg in my section which was 57 - 61.
The peg was literally a few metres from where I had parked so plenty of time to set up.
A quick phone call to team mate Sam Johnson back in Weston Super Mare gave me a few tips on top of the ones I had gained after the draw.
On the inside line, 5 metres out the pace of the river looked OK so I set up a 2 gram bodied float but soon decided this was too light and put it back on the winder. I set up a 4 gram flat float instead which took a bit more shot in order to hold it back properly but it went through nice. A b560 18 hook to 0.11 was put on the end as you can get tench in this area. It was also nearly top 4 deep and a nice clean bottom.
I only set up two other rods, a ground bait feeder and a maggot feeder.
To my right on 62 was Rob Wootten and to my left young Dan Chalk being coached by his Dad Trevor.
When the match got under way I bait dropped 3 lots of chopped worm and maggot on the pole line, didn't feed anything elsewhere.
Starting off on the pole with double red looking for an early perch gave me one first run through. I say run through but very slow and holding back then letting go ever so slightly.
Around me and looking down the match length it looked like most were putting in the ground bait feeder.
About 15 minutes in I had a small pommie, only a blade but still something in the net.
Due to the pace of the river I put in another lot of chop and maggot which instantly gave me another perch about 4oz.
Bank walkers informed me Andrew Murphy above me had a 3lb chub first put in, at this point I didn't know that he was in my section.
Still, a long way to go and get your head down I thought.
A better perch of about 8 oz came at the end of the first hour and word from passers by suggested it was fishing rock hard. John Tocknell who was walking the bank indicated I was doing OK.
A decent eel was hooked at the end of my run, at first I thought it was a big perch or a tench, I was praying it didn't bite me off. Safetly netted and unhooked as it was just in the bottom lip.
I managed a few more perch and baby roach up to the halfway mark before it went dead on the inside so decided to go out on the maggot feeder about a quarter out.
A little rattle first put in suggested there was something about and then a good pull round on about the 3rd cast and another eel. I didn't mind as I couldn't see anyone below me doing any good.
I had a small skimmer 20 minutes or so later and that was it on the maggot feeder, I had a half hearted look with the GB feeder but felt it was maggot or nothing.
I had been feeding the pole line with maggot while out on the feeder, just firing a few maggots in upstream.
I managed to add some gudgeon, ruff and micro roach on the inside which gave me a total weight of 3lb 4oz. The section was won with 4lb, but I beat the pegs either side of me. Just needed a couple more eels so close!
Here is the final results, given my weight and peg I didn't think I done too bad overall and will definitely be trying to qualify for next year.
Well done to team mate Clive Branson for coming 4th overall today.
I'll probably fish the last Staverton match this coming Wednesday followed by the first match in the Commercial House League at Newbridge next Sunday.
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