7 Teams of 8 made up of:
Diawa Gordon League
P I Thatchers
Sensas Nomads
Sensas Lobbys
Sensas 88
Garbolino Blackmore Vale
Premier Angling (first time they have entered)
Usually there are 2 matches on the Gloucester Canal, 2 on the Huntspill and 2 at Newbridge on the Bristol Avon. This year one of the Glossy matches has been dropped and we are on the Avon at Chippenham and Melksham.
Nomads Team today was:
Clive Branson (c)
Rich Whitmarsh
Mike Withey
Mark Williams
Stretch
Chris Hook
Leigh Wakefield
Me
Team manager Mike Martin also came up to bank run.
We eventually got Clive to go up and do the draw in-between filming for his vlog.
Sections today were, Monk Meadow Woods, Permali, Hempstead Straight, Hempstead Bend, Netheridge, 2 Sections at Rea and 1 upstream of Pilot.
Stretch managed to get hold of a draw grid a few days before the match and it didn't look too bad but sets 3 and 4 were the more favourable option.
Clive came back and we were on set 2 and I found myself on peg 63 at Netheridge. That was the best draw I have had this year on the Glossy with plenty of water to have a go at and a big chuck to far bank vegetation although in recent weeks Netheridge has been poor.
Two feeder lines and two pole lines today. Due to the canal towing hard over the past few weeks I set up a 3 gram flat float as well as a normal 2 grammar. Both had size 16 wide gape hooks to fish a big ish bait. 4 balls went in at the start at 9 metres and 2 at 5 metres. I started off right across on the feeder which was about 40 odd turns.
Mike sat behind me initially and then a few things happened which he found quite entertaining.
1. Nicky Ewers on 64 cracked his pole cupping out.
2. An angler in the dead arm landed a bream (club angler not in the match).
3. Craig Pinker on 62 snapped his feeder rod casting out and got a rower to retrieve the bit that broke off before it sank.
4. Nicky Ewers landed a bream on the feeder.
All this in the first 15 minutes!
Mike strolled off up toward the bend to check on Clive who was on peg 45. He hadn't been on the Glossy for a few years but we did give him advice and info on how the peg had fished the last few weeks.
It took about 30 minutes before I had my first indication on the tip. Not that positive though. I had one more small pull and a big liner and that was it on the tip. I was blanking the first 3 hours of the match until I had a small perch on the longer pole line using the flat float. A bootlace eel followed and a small perch at 5 metres and that was it. I was expecting to catch a few bream or skimmers on the pole after bait dropping in a load of worm and caster but it just didn't happen.
Nicky had a couple more bream a skimmer and an eel for 11lb which was more than enough to take the section. After that the next best weight was 2lb 13oz. Jon Tocknell and I tied for last in section with 6oz so another one to forget. I really can't work out what has happened this Spring on the Glossy its like I have gone back 3 years.
As I headed back to the van Mike came around the corner from the bend where Clive was and asked how it went.... err .......it hadn't. He told me Clive had done ok taking 6 bream, one on the tip and 5 in the last 20 minutes on the short pole! So 2nd in Section with 19lb behind Jack Jones on 23lb. Even the bend had fished poor.
Back at Gordon League Rugby Club half of the Team had done really well.
Mike Withey had 29lb from Permali and won the match. Great result for Mike who had also framed in Holland recently on the Voorne Canal.
Bream slayer Mike Withey
Stretch had also won his section in Monks Wood with 7lb odd.
Steve ''Stretch'' Saunders
Our man of the match though has to be Mark ''Whippet'' Williams who comfortably won his section on the unattractive Hempstead Straight with 9lb odd.
Mark with his catch
Clive with his catch
So 3 section wins and a 2nd in section plus 1st in the match and a 5th in the match and we ended up 3rd in the team placings. Just a shame Chris, Leigh, Rich and I bombed out.
But..... that's the Glossy for you.
Individuals on the day...
1st Mike Withey Sensas Nomads 29lb 4oz
2nd Jack Jones P I Thatchers 23lb 3oz
3rd James Carty P I Thatchers 22lb 13oz
4th Steve Priddle Sensas 88 19lb 15oz
5th Clive Branson Sensas Nomads 19lb 13oz
6th Martin Barrett P I Thatchers 17lb 11oz
Teams...
1st P I Thatchers 42
2nd Diawa Gordon League 39
3rd Sensas Nomads & Garbolino Blackmore Vale 33
5th Sensas 88 30
6th Sensas Lobbys 26
7th Premier Angling 21
So ''licking wounds time'' and need to have a word or two with myself as its gone a bit pear shaped.
I think it went wrong when Mike failed to deliver the ice lollies due to them melting before he got to me.
Next round is on the Huntspill end of June.
No comments:
Post a Comment