A coming together of some of the finest anglers from Sweden and Norway in team form for a 7 team competition consisting of 4 anglers per team .
The venue is Lidan which is part of the town of Lidköping and the town is idyllic and beautiful walks gracing the river bank surrounded by full assortment of trees.
This year we have a team in the competition called Master Baits and Tackle (derive from this title what ever you think !?)
Arrival for me was on the friday evening and we stayed at the Billys Bed and Breakfast just out of town by 8 minutes and 10 kms away. 30 beds and 14 rooms available to the vast majority of teams competing so it induced a great atmosphere as we sat and drank a beer or three and mixed the ground bait and leams in readiness for the competition .
Norwegians Niklas and Andreasz
Jamie , Esa and Tonje (wife to Niklas and a top angler)
Jamie (just converted to Islam) praying to his DAIWA Pole God .
Esa with his new toy the BROWNING Sphere
Next morning after a superb continental breakfast we finished of our mixes ready for the first day
Down at the venue and the teams started to gather full of expectancy
Time for the draw and master of ceremonies Andreas Sanberg of the SPLASH team started the proceedings with explanations of the weekends event ably supported by Shaun Keavey , Mikael Tono , Tonje and Henrik.
The sections A to D had been pre-determined
Well what a drenching day in the rain we all had which did not help the fishing poles as a few got stuck , mine included ! Massive thanks to Andreas and Thomas for the pole joint rescue on my No 5 and No 6 joints - twice ! I have since waxed those joints.
After the initial bombardment of the pre-bait most anglers were quickly into small bjorkna , Skimmer but then it slowed a little so topping up the peg became essential . Not the best day for me but for others they were better .
Thomas with 13465 and 2nd in section
Myself with 7330
Jan with 3995
Finn-Erik with 7685
Mr.Splashono winner of C with 14775
Back at the B+B and it was Ibroprofen , beer , feet up and relax as i was knackered with my bad back and legs .
Out lovely host Billy fetched our orders for a chinese and Jamie had enough on his tray for everyone !!
Section 2nd place Russki also with a huge meal to consume and who ordered the Prawns in batter ?
DAY 2
I must say that the Bed and Breakfast run by Billy Bertilsson and his lovely wife is a great place to stop and for two nights and fetching Pizza Friday and Chines Saturday the whole lot cost 1290 SEK !!!
Lovely hosts and Jamie posed also
Day 2 on the bank
Perfect ! Car to the peg , be it 30 metres
Draw time , live on the bank and we are all in the same sections .
My C4 peg for the day ..........and no rain !
EXNER 8gr Butterfly
SENSAS 4gr Jean Francois
Maurizio Schiepatti 2.5gr Sirio
SENSAS 5gr HT18
I had a better weight today but got the feeding all wrong and lost too many fish . Thomas put me right later and i thank him for his honest advice .
Jan with 18250
12980
Thomas 2nd with 32890
Tommy with 13500 and a broken no7 section
Into D section and Anssi with 25365
Russki (Ben Dover) winner of D with 33825
I thank SPLASH for allowing me to show their own team photographs
Norwegian International Niklas Stenguland had a poor first day but made up for it by winning his section with 42835 also the match and also the best weight of the whole competition .
Lidan a truly great and fair venue which has produced some huge weights over the weekend considering the matches are only 4 hours long !!
