Wednesday 28th December - Roy Carter Memorial, Gloucester Canal

 This match is held annually between Christmas and New Year and organised by Steve Long and Dave Clapton. It's £25 to enter with £10 going to the Stroke Association, no peg fee and the rest in section and overall pools.

It is usually well supported with anglers looking to get out of the house after 2 or 3 days of festivities.

I kept checking the weather forecast leading up to the match and it didn't look good. Heavy rain and strong SW winds were coming our way.

I was up just before 06:00 and heading up the M5 at 06:40 to the draw in Widden Rugby Club. The forecast was spot on. Heavy rain, strong winds and spray, I did question my sanity but carried on.

I stopped in McDonalds in Hardwick and the only other anglers there were Jon Tocknell and Andy Jane which was a bit concerning as there are normally quite a few who call in there before a match on the Glossy.

When I got to the Rugby Club and booked in with Steve he said he originally had 46 but it was now down to 37. The weather plus sickness had put a few off, it was also the day of the funeral for Mike Pollard so some would be going to that. Still a decent match with 37 fishing.

Pegging today was simple, every peg in from 23 to 65. Obviously you needed to draw on the bend and anywhere between 45 and 49 would be nice plus 63 or 64.

I was 3rd in the draw queue and my drawing arm let me down again badly on the Glossy, peg 32 was my home for 5 hours in the wind and rain, bloody hell I thought, must have killed a robin on the way up.

I hate this area of the canal and have drawn it several times now and never, never done any good.

Simple set up today, bread feeder, ground bait feeder and short pole (top 7) due to the wind.

I fed all lines with a little bait before starting off on the bread, 30 minutes went by and not a sniff. Dale Maplas to my right on 33 landed a small roach as did the guy on 31 to my left, hmmm. 

Went on the ground bait feeder for 30 minutes still nothing, saw a couple of fish caught on the feeder to my left but nothing substantial. Had a look on the pole when the wind allowed and not a touch either.

Was thinking of packing up just before 13:00 when the tip went round, couldn't believe it, a small skimmer. Knowing that my section was fishing rock hard I'd have to stay.

I had another bite which I missed at 14:50 and that was it. I weighed in 11 oz.

There were blanks in my section but it was won by Chris Jones who took a few fish on the pole and tip for 2lb 3ozs.

It was a different story down in the 40's as you will see by the results.......

1st Tony Davis 27 - 05 peg 43

2nd Mark Brush 24 - 06 peg 48

3rd Nigellas Baker 24 - 01 peg 45

Sections ....

23 - 32 C Jones 2 - 03 peg 30

33 - 42 A Storkey 20 - 12 peg 41 

43 - 52 N Pickering 18 - 12 peg 46 default

56 - 65 N Richards 7 - 02 peg 64

The draw beat me today but £375 was raised for the Stroke Association.

Well done the legend that is Tony Davis, Tony has helped me up at Evesham this summer which I am grateful for.

No more matches this year. 

I have had an enjoyable year again and looking ahead I'll be on my local river Kenn, a few trips to Evesham and perhaps fish the Glossy over the next few months.

Happy New Year everyone and tight lines.