Saturday the 27th August was the Wychavon Final and I qualified for this match on 17th August with over 13lb of roach and chub, my best ever weight at Evesham.
Team Nomads was well represented with Sam Johnson, Clive Branson, Chris Smith, Kev Ellaby and myself.
I met with Sam at Hampton Ferry for breakfast nice and early as we had to register for the match by 08:45.
This was the first day of the Festival and when we arrived to register at the Crown Meadow the Angling Stalls, Beer Tent, Food Vans etc were all setting up.
80 anglers fishing so all but 8 pegs in along the Town and Ferry length but there had not been a match on it for over a week.
I was fairly well up the draw queue and picked out disc A5 on the Battle Ship Matrix, when it was turned over it was peg 20. I had been on 21 before which was the peg upstream of the bridge.
Pegs 19 and 18 above me were not in so a bit of room but 21 was in. I was happy enough with the draw but would not be a match winner.
It was a bright warm day but I was confident I could catch.
There was some cover across so a waggler was set up but not used much as there was a downstream wind which made presentation difficult. I also had a maggot feeder for the same line.
My main line was going to be between 13 and 14 metres with 3 hemp rigs between 0.3 and 0.4 grams and a 1 gram rig at full depth.
As I was setting up my board was placed behind me. When I completed my forms a week before the match under notable achievements (which really is for angling achievements) I put "married to the same woman for 44 years" lol and they actually put that on the board !!!!
Thanks to Rich Whitmarsh for the photo
As members of the public walked passed I could hear them laughing when they read it.
On the "all in" at 11:30 I started off on the waggler while pinging in hemp down the middle. I was soon chucking that up the bank due to the wind and cast out the maggot feeder still pinging in hemp.
A couple of rattles on the tip saw me catch a small perch and a few sprats.
30 minutes in and I went on the pole with caster on the hook. First run down on the 0.3 gram rig I had a 1 oz roach followed by a slightly better one which I netted. The wooden bannister at the side of me was a problem with the 4 metre net handle but there was no rush.
I was ticking over nicely during the next hour, not bagging but getting bites and taking small roach. Then .... it went quiet and sun was overhead not ideal.
A couple of chucks with the feeder didn't produce anything either.
Back on the pole I fed a few casters with the hemp and with hemp on the hook got a few more roach but very small.
At the halfway stage I had no more than 1.5 pounds.
It didn't get much better for the rest of the match but in the last 30 minutes I put the hemp rig about 10 inches over depth and held back a little which got me a few decent gudgeon.
Only weighed 2lb 3oz but if you look at the board below you will see how hard it fished.
No real surprise where the winning weights came from.
Results below......
Sunday 28th August was the Evesham Final, I don't think I would have been fit to fish it had I qualified. We had Clive Branson and Terry Parrott from Team Nomads on the bank.
Clive done ok with a big 5lb and won his section and only a pound away from a framing place.
Monday 29th was the Team match and we had what I believe was a strong line up against the best.
Team Nomads was ...
Me
Clive Branson
Kev Ellaby
Terry Parrot
Chris Smith
Registration was supposed to open at 08:00 but when I got there at 07:30 nine Teams had already registered meaning we would be 10th out of 16 to draw.
Before I went up to draw some of the guys said don't draw set .......... as if I could influence what I drew.
Luckily I drew set 15 which they were happy with, thank goodness lol.
Clive was on 15, Chris on 34, Terry on 50, Kev on 67 and I was on 85.
A discussion on the approach for each peg was had and off we went to do our best.
Peg 85 was the furthest I had been down the 89 peg match length. 2lb odd had come off it the day before which wasn't bad down that end so 3lb plus was my target to do well.
Chris gave me a low down on the peg and said it was deep in the middle and then shallowed up from there to the far side.
It would be a lot quieter down this end as most spectators would be on the Crown Meadow and the Ferry sections.
I did set up a waggler for across - not used all day.
Maggot feeder - not used all day.
3 hemp rigs as used on the Saturday for 13 /14 metres.
A 2 gram bulk rig for the middle 13/14 metres.
0.6 rig with number 8"s as bulk for down the edge 6 sections out for the worm line.
While setting up an Evesham regular came down and said he was on the peg the day before and caught very small skimmers in the last hour down the middle over ground bait. Thanks mate.
At the start I put 2 bait droppers full of chopped worm in short and 2 balls of ground bait with choppy and dead pinkie plus a few casters down the middle I also pinged a few grains of hemp in on the same line as it wouldn't do any harm.
Starting with a worm head on a 16 down the side I had a dumpy perch 2nd run down so blank avoided.
That first hour was great, I caught perch right down the peg and landed a couple of 6oz fish which I was more than happy with and estimated I had 1.5 lbs which was well on the way to my target.
Team mate Andy Thomas turned up as bank runner for us and when I told him what I had he said I was doing really well.
A look over the ground bait after putting in some more worm with maggot got me a small skimmer straight away. I was also regularly pinging in hemp.
Small roach also turned up and more small skimmers. I topped up with another ball of ground bait and had a look over the worm again but no more perch.
Back over the ground bait with caster or maggot still brought me the odd fish and I lost a couple of good fish (probably big perch) when the hook pulled out. I could have stepped up from the 18 hook but it might have cost me some smaller fish and every ounce was important today.
Andy kept me up to date with what was going on in my Section of 16 and I was doing quite well.
A look on the hemp brought me a couple of roach but they were very small and due to there size I missed a lot of bites so abandoned that and went back looking for small skimmers.
This was a good move and they were easier to hit.
The scales started on the end peg and as expected 89 done well putting over 7lb in the net which is mega down this end, the next peg up had 5lb. Below me weighed 2lb plus and I had a nice 4lb 8oz.
Andy was up the other end of the section and phoned me to say I had come 3rd so 14 points from 16, that'll do I thought.
Kev done very well taking 10 points from the worst peg in the team draw, Terry had a bummer, Chris done great contributing 12 points and Clive had a tough day after loosing a barbel on the whip above all things and 3 points.
We ended up 10th from 16 but we go again next year.
That's the end of Evesham for this year, I'm already looking forward to the campaign next year after having a lot of success on the venue over the last 2 months.
Next up is the Area Festival in Co. Cavan next week ...... to be sure
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