2015 - GREENHILL AC - BOB SHURMER MEMORIAL TROPHY - THURLASTON MOAT

A great honour to fish the Bob Shurmer trophy and below is one of the photographs from the GAC archives of a match i won back in the 80's on the Thurlaston lake and Bob helped me to stretch the net out ,

Only 6 turned up for the match with many not turning up due to the expected poor weather. A hard frost greeted us which would prove to make the match a little tough !

All was calm and cold in the first part of the morning , it was the calm before the storm.

2 hours into the match a took a walk and Richard on peg 6 was feeling the cold

My Peg 2 office for the day

The match deteriorated after 2.5 hours as strong winds and rain started to hammer down and umbrellas started to get broken.
We all decided to end the match an hour earlier as it was quite clear proper angling was almost impossible . Most of us could not feel our fingers and the rain was soaking through our clothing. Managed winning with 4-4 from peg 2

Andy on peg claimed 2nd place with 1-10

2015 - Day in the garage sorting the tackle.

Today i took the opportunity to quantify the ground baits / leams / additives that our Midlands stock has.  Vince recently brought up a quantity from our distribution centre in Windsor as we have orders to fulfil and a selling at a show or two .


I also had to get the garage fairly clear in readiness for the MAS team when they fish the SENSAS CHALLENGE in early March as the whole team are stopping at the house over a 5 day period. (The whole of the competition is to be filmed and it covers interviews with the team members whilst stopping at our house ……. so watch out for TEAM - MAS - TV )

Just over 500 kilos of Groundbait and leam stored here at the moment

Additives , flavours

and leams

2015 - SENSAS CANAL MASTERS ROUND 5 - John's day !

I missed the round 4 due to illness so i was rather pleased to get back into the competition with a chance to make the final. I drew peg 81 and knew nothing about its position and previous form until i got to the draw and learned it fished very tough on the round 4 however it was really cold and windy last time out. Today's weather was rather pleasant with a very slight breeze , grey with the promise of a little sun later. The section to my right contained Midlands Angling Supplies rod John Kilby , who had drawn end peg 90.



Peg 81 for me

All set up and raring to go

Sunday's office

Just the 4 rigs , 2 x Perch rigs on CCX1 4x10 to 0.14 /16's
                         2 x Bloodworm rigs using JEFF2 0.2gr, 0.9/0.6 22'S fine

Typical view on the Loughborough canal these days with so much new developments taking place.

A few small Perch and 2 better samples came his Peter Madleys way . He eventually took second in our section aided by 2 bonus Perch .

Joe Roberts had 12 see-through perch and roach and took an early exit when it was clear that the normally winning peg on the section was doing it again.

Nick Moss to my right in the other section keeping busy

My Day ;

I tried to go for large Stripeys knowing a few of them would put me in the frame . I tried 4 lines , 2 on the choppy , one on the joker/blood and a punch line . The latter 2 failed to produce and the choppy was the successful with several small Perch ( best about 4 oz). My friend to the left faired better with his 7 and had the 2 bonus taking him 1400gr . Our section was decimated a little with early finishers and non-attenders !! Only 3 weighed in from the section with the same old peg winning it with 3150gr (peg 74)

The weigh in to the section to my right would prove more interesting with Nick Moss on peg 82 gaining a respectable 1140gr after a blistering start in the first 2 hours. His team mate Gary Smith on peg 83 took a very nice catch of 1970gr with a very good last hour.

                Young Paul Sanders took the section on peg85 with a splendid catch of 2220 gr with a much needed bonus Perch to edge out Gary.

                The next three weigh-ins were critical as Midlands angling supplies rod John Kilby was on the end peg . When i visited him at the end of the match he was so distraught as he had lost a 10oz skimmer on the whistle !!

                On peg 88 was Andy Taff - 1280gr
                On peg 89 was John Potter - 1240 gr

                 …..Last peg John Kilby on peg 90 ……..1300gr !!!

                4 qualifiers existed in the section so John took the honours on default by beating 2 very good anglers to his left , it was close but richly deserved !

       

Andy

John …. a very good hemp man !

John Kilby with his qualifying return ……….Your in the Final mate !!!!

Back in the Carillion Hockey and Cricket club the riches were divided to the days victorious few.
Again Joff delivered the goodies and he himself took a 5th on the day with an automatic qualification to the final, we ll done Joffmiester !!

One qualifier to go , i need 8 qualifiers in my section draw   :)

2015 - SENSAS CANAL MASTERS ROUND 3

First big match since Christmas saw 70 plus anglers assemble on a very cold morning . Our hearts and stomachs were rewarded with hearty breakfasts dished out by the breakfast team at the Carillion Sports club home of our headquarters of all the Master matches.

 Team Breakfast working hard

 The breakfasts were flying out

 Team Midlands Angling Supplies rod John Kilby stoking his boiler ready for the mornings cold.

 Masters at work …..Joff and Brian always working hard to provide the very best in match fishing organisation.

Draw time and ………..

 Fantastic cold winters morning in the sun and the view to my left

 Todays activity centre

 View to my right

 Sunday lunch for the fish expectants

Todays rigs were: 

SENSAS Jeff 2 0.2gr 0.9/0.7 SENSAS feeling 22 hook 

SENSAS Lombadier 0.3gr  1.0/0.8 SENSAS feeling 22 hook

and A SENSAS CCX2 4x8. 0.14/16 hook

After clearing as much ice as possible the match started with the ice holes closing up again so it was a case of fish and clear the ice on occasions with the pole cup and landing net. SENSAS legend Joe Roberts to my right was soon of the mark with a quick succession of 2 perch and a roach and other either side of me also gained a few bits , where are mine ? At that point i had my first fish a perch on double bloodworm and followed that by loosing another as i played the line past the ice .

In the first hour Joe lost a big Perch through the ice and Dean Guess and Tony Marshall battled the ice flow to gain a reasonable return of small fish.

It was not till the first boat went though pushing the ice everywhere that i gained my first decent fish , a Perch of about 14oz just of the keepnet ! About an hour later i was fishing the stern of a barge close in when i hit a beast and after 20 second play trying to pull it out i lost it to the ice ! , i was livid !

About 20 minutes later i got my consolation price a brute of about 2.5 LB , thoughts of winning the section were now a reality however after only catching 3 more smallish Perch but losing another 2 small ones for the remainder of the match i was thinking i would by at least 0.5 kilos behind most , i was.

 Lee Wright on peg 90 with 2.050

Mark Perkins , section winner 2.300 peg 97

 4th in section with 1750 on peg 100

 Joe Roberts also lost fish like me and potentially could have won the section on peg 102

 Drennan rod Dean Guess with a kilo on peg 103

Tony Marshall peg 103 DNW

Another great day be it a very cold one but pleasant in the direct sun light. Bring on round 4 and another chance to qualify !

2015 - Wigston Canal Blaby

I decided to take a membership card out with the Wigston AC at the beginning of the year and thought since i had some time of i would try after a 30 year gap since last fishing the venue.
Since i resided in Blaby then i plumbed for fishing as local as possible and a 4 minute car journey took me to the canal at Newbridge road between Glen Parva and Blaby.

http://www.wigstonanglingsociety.co.uk/where%20to%20fish/default.html

There i came a cross an angler who was one of the senior members of the Wigston AC ,  Chairman Steven Pratt

We had a good conversation and talked about the many aspects of the Wigston AC waters and talked of our commonality in Leicestershire local angling.

View to my left . What a fabulous area this is with brand new houses and apartments either side . Must be great for walks into Leicester from here.

Based on his advice i decided to fish below the lock to the left of the Whetstone Bridge close to the overflow outlet.

 My target area for catching (i hope)

I plumbed up and found a very nice 4'6'' to 5' boat road with a good 3' shelf . I decided to rig up three tops :
1 - EXNER prototype 0.15gr to 0.9/0.6/24's  …...  for the far shelf
2 - SENSAS CCX2 4 x 10 0.14/16  …… for some Stripey action.
3 - SENSAS Jeff2 0.3gr to 0.9/0.7/22's …… middle and far track.

 The day was hampered by a gusty wind which played havoc with presentation but in-between the gusts presentation allowed the float to go down at regular intervals and my net of small Roach and perch was nice even though it was not a huge weight it was still having bites that cheers you up .
Approx 25-30 bits. (sorry about the focus)