Maver Pairs Final 2009

I apologise for the delay in updating my blogs in recent weeks, but things have been rather hectic lately. I have been lucky enough to secure a new job working on Pole Fishing magazine for DHP, which I start in the middle of september, as well as having a few big matches to prepare for, and a holiday to take!

All in all, its been an awesome few weeks though, getting the job at Pole Fishing has given me a real boost, and I can’t wait to get started. I am going to do something a bit different to the way I normally write these blogs and start with one of the most recent matches, as there is more to tell about it then come back to some of the older ones!

Last Wednesday me and Matt Godfrey travelled from where we had been staying in Cornwall to Larford to practise for the Maver Pairs Final which took place last weekend. We were both suffering from severe sunburn following a few hours too many on Crantock beach in the previous day.

For this reason, We travelled very light when we got to the venue about mid day, as there was quite a walk, so we only took a landing net each and a feeder rod. It was the first time I have fished the venue in the height of summer and to say I was pleasantly surprised was an undertstatement, as is the phrase ‘ a bite a chuck’ to describe what the fishing was like on the Match Lake! I fished for about two and a half hours and had well over one hundred pounds, with Matt also catching a load from the specimen lake.

We were stopping at our mate Jim Smith’s house in Pershore for the duration of our stay, and after a brief exploration of some of the local hostelries, it was home to bed, to make sure we were well slept for our only proper day of practise the following day.

We had to fish on Arena Pool the next day, as there was an army festival on the other two lakes. It was brilliant though, we made rigs up for half the day and spent the rest of the day bagging, something we are not used to living ‘up norf’ and all! I just couldn’t get over how many fish there were in that lake. At one point, I put some meat on my hand, and lay on my stomach with my hand in the water, I could feel them feeding all around where my hand was.

We caught well over a ton a piece, and soon it was time to go back and prepare for the next day when we had a feature to do for the Angling Star. It was to be me and Matt versus Adam Richards and Joe Carass, so sleep and prepartation were desperately needed.

We dined out in style that night, sampling the delights of Pershore’s Thai restaurant, it was really nice, far too classy for a pair of scruffy fishermen!

Come the next day and the dynamic duo rolled up just after me and Matt, and after an experiment which saw f1’s landed on a fly rod and centrepin reel, we got ourselves sorted for the feature. “Who wants the lovely reed fringed end peg with the wind blowing into it?” Asked Adam. It didn’t take my little ginger compardre long to sniffle it!

The other three of us sat in a line, with me being in between Joe and Adam. Stewart Lister acted as a blocker by fishing next to Joe on the end peg, as he was doing a feature for a different publication. A banter filled day ensued, with me opting to fish to the reeds in front of me on a top kit in the deep water, largely because I didn’t have much of an edge, though I must admit, by turning around and fishing towards Adam at a funny angle I probably could have found some shallower and in hindsight I probably should have done that.

It was first blood to me after a couple of minutes and a two pounder was soon in the net. I caught fairly well on this line, and to be honest at the end of the match I thought that it would be close between me and Adam to see who had won.

Now anyone who has fished near me and Joe when we have drawn near each other in the past, will no we have a habit of being rather daft in terms of our banter, and the day saw our personas shift from aspiring anglers to French noblemen, vying to keep “the upperhand” and branding each other “pigs” and “ dogs”. Alain the photographer branded us mad as hatters.

At the end of the four hours, you will appreciate then that I was dismayed to find that it wasn’t me who had the upperhand but him, with my carp going 122lb, and his 140lb. Adam weighed 150lb to win the match and Matt weighed 128lb which put me and the auburn extractor last and second to last, meaning we now have to go on a night out in Knaresborough dressed as ladies, as that was the bet. Gutted! Still I learnt what proved to be a valuable lesson, the bigger fish feed in the really shallow water tight to the bank.

A fish and chip supper and several cups of tea set us up for an evening of preparation, numerous rigs and hooklengths were tied, and it was off to bed nice and early so we were fresh for the big day.

Maver Pairs Final

After a hearty breakfast at Larford we paid our money and sat eagerly waiting to be called up to draw. The pairs were called up one by one, and we were fourth from last on the list, so didn’t get our chance to shine until almost everyone had gone. In went my hand and out came peg 59 on the Specimen Lake for Matt, and peg 37 on Arena Lake for me- the peg in between where Joe and Stewart had been the previous day.

We had already cut up six tins of meat each, but on arriving at my peg I knew that more would be needed , so took the meat cutter to another five tins. Based on the lessons I had learned the previous day, I opted to start on the deeper water on a top kit, as I had a run of fish early doing this, before moving up the slope later in the day and catching the bigger specimens in inches of water close to the bank. That was the plan anyway! I also set up a method feeder rod in case things were harder, but hoped not to use it.

I only set two rigs up, but made two duplicates of each of them in case of accidents! I used 0.22 Mosella Xedion direct to a size 14 PR27 Hook. Float choice was a J10 dibber for the really shallow water, and a 4.12’s KC Carpa 3 for the top kit line. Rigs were matched to the black and red J Range Lastix elastic.

At the all in I fed a handful of meat on the topkit line before putting a full pot down either margin, within seconds of dropping in carp number one was on!

I had I reckon 15 fish in the first our off this deeper line, perhaps averaging 3lb. After this, bites were getting really iffy, and a look in the shallow water produced only a couple of fish before they seemed to spook. A look on the method was needed as I could see Ben Leach catching really well on this on the opposite bank. I waited five minutes for a bite before getting one, then waited another five minutes without a bite, which I felt was to long so it was back down the side.

The plan was to feed one side really heavily, let the fish settle over it while fishing the other side, catch one and swap. A hungry pack of ducks soon put an end to that idea however, as as soon as I moved my pole away from an area they would get there heads down and scoff all the meat!

Whether it was because the light levels dropped, or the fish just finally honed in properly on my bait, around half way through the match the fish seemed to lose all their inhibitions on my right hand margin line however, and it became solid!

I caught one a bung down here for the remainder of the match. At the all out I didn’t know what weight I had got, but felt sure I didn’t have enough to beat Ben Opposite or Paul Holland above me, as both had caught really quickly for what seemed to be the duration of the match.

When the scales arrived, Ben was leading with 88kgs, and I was genuinely astounded when my six weighs totaled 92kgs! I ran round to see how Matt had gone on, and he told me he had come third in his section with 46 kgs, so we would have four points, and by the sound of it there were quite a few people tied on the same score.

I went back and packed up, taking my tackle to the car with the help of Ben Fisk, who came to interview me as I was pleased to learn my weight on the day was enough to win the match individually. This didn’t really sink in at the time to be honest, as the pairs result was still unknown and it was that that we were gunning for. We knew that Gary Pook and Darren Davies had won with two section wins, but from what we had heard no one had better than 4 points, but a lot of people were tied on 4 points.

When the results were finally announced we were delighted to learn that we were 2nd beating Tommy Hillier and Paul Holland and Stewart Lister and Harry Billing on weight.

We left the venue with just over £3000 between us and a Maver Nanolith waggler rod a piece, on what we both agreed was the biggest and best result of our lives. There was a sort of stunned silence on the way back to the digs which isn’t like me and Matt at all.

Awesome is the only word that can be used to describe the day, which was rounded off nicely with a Thai meal and a couple of pints.

As I said at beginning, I will update with how we went on in the Pole Pairs Final the following day, and in the matches before we left for Cornwall later in the week.