Evesham 2014 and the best anglers in the country descend to the town for a few days of fishing , watching , drinking and talking. This year however we have our man in the Saturday event , Mr. Vince Callaghan , fellow director of MIDLANDS ANGLING SUPPLIES LTD.
The Friday evening was a meeting point for Vince , myself and Northern representative of MAS , Mr. Ian Chadburn . We positioned ourselves at the local hotel , the First Choice back on the main A46 road and their started our liquid refreshments in the restaurant next door and continued via taxi in to town at the local watering hole , hole being the operative word !
We soon started to see the anglers in town and came across Cathal Hughes and later Dean Barlow. I was hoping for some rather decent food however the Wetherspoons was at best poor .
Oh well the company was good and the beer was watered down :)
Our man (Vince Callaghan ) was on his number 8 at the is point so common sense did prevail as we decided for him to get the short taxi drive back to the hotel in readiness for the breakfast at the meadow.
At breakfast we were joined by Mark Downes , joint manager of England and we shared a breakfast where the plate items were the sausage and bacon were just shown to the cooking pan (hint to the breakfast people , next time cook it !)
Mark was in good voice and we shared some hints of what is to transpire with the SENSAS brand in the coming months . He is indeed a talented man and has a wise head for business , i look forward to dealing with him much more in the future.
Who ?
Back at the main Tents/foods/beer tents/products store area bets were being taken on the competing anglers …….ummm , thought about a tenner on Lee and Vince and Wayne , should have done it as Lee won at 25-1 !!
Ian pointing to our man at 25-1 , worth a bet for a section ?
The competitors started to queue for their draw period , the air was tense and jovial however a draw is so essential as many were predicting pegs 1-16 as the ideal pegs to draw based on Wednesdays Veterans match which contained many Barbel in those numbers.
With Vince qualifying it was a must that his Father and girlfriend Toni were to attend . A great day for the Callaghans, win or lose , the attending and fishing is the greater on this truly mammoth event .
The draw started and some sent their lady luck wives and girlfriends into the drawing process .
Dave Harrell - one of Englands finest anglers gets into the bag
Wayne Swinscoe drew peg 2 - you have to fancy that ?
Leicester great Pete Jayes drew before the bridge - reasonably happy !
Mark Downes - feeling lucky ?
Des Shipp
Leicester man Steve Hemingray
Our man Vince Callaghan plucks out peg 44 - section prize to go for !
Vinve in preparation period
Proud Dad , Ken looking on
GO TEAM MAS
Even though the nerves were on Vince still had time to joke a little
Ian Chadburn ( Vince's bank runner ) and myself decided to take a break before the start.
The draw complete this is how they stood before the off.
PEG BY PEG
Robert after the 2nd hour of the match took a turn for the worse and a ambulance had to come - his health of late has been awful yet he has received all kinds of treatment with his heart plus having kemo !! . He was even working this week at the age of 76 with his son . Get a speedy recovery .
Dean started well on the Bloodworm and took 5 quick roach
Rubbish dropped by SCUM - hate to see our countryside littered by the vermin
Mr. Arthur took an early Perch
Callum long lining at 14.5m
Dave in classic pose
Rob finding it tough to get anything feeding.
Perch were the early takers
After first 2 hours Wayne showed the art of light waggler fishing and started to take a steady stream of small fish up in the water on bronze maggot.
Cathal was finding it tough but stuck to his task.
Soar ace Tony also finding the fish a little shy.
Vince in search for a Perch mode.
The Welsh great Clive branson showing the art of light waggler fishing using his trusty Normark Microlight.
Rob on the search also
Back at the Ferry i decided to take a coffee and apple pie and try and avoid the beer tent.
The breakfast was 5/10 , think the Apple pie could be better , it was 9/10 :)
Alan was showing a master class in pole fishing. The man was a machine as i watched take consistently small offerings but unfortunately this is what the match had come to.
With 90 minutes to go the rain came and also a change of fortune as VC's peg cam alive with 2 eels for about 2LB , could this make him a section winner ? Lee Edwards in the same section was blistering ahead of the whole field with a fine waggler display on very light tackle as the chub surrendered to his delicate approach.
Number 2 eel soon after number one , TEAM-MAS followers on the bank were now getting excited , can he get a section ?
Final whistle blew and nothing else after the eels
Vince weighed in 2-13 , there was a 2-14 and a 3-0 above him , thats how close it was with Lee Edwards eventually weighing just short of 16LB to obliterate the match . he just needed 4oz to take the section however there was similar on many sections as an ounce was a large difference.
Consolation prize for Vince was a hook a Duck set :)
Truly a fantastic weekend even though i stayed just the one night . Next year it will be for 3 days and maybe i can qualify , i definitely will fish the Vets on the Wednesday prior to the weekend .
Fabulous bank holiday event - watch out for the MAS next year.
