I cannot start the report without a mention of “special thanks” to Hamper John who turns 65 on Wednesday 15th March who sponsored EVERYONES paid for Breakfast on arrival at the fishery.
John had 3 x tickets left over and as it was a shame to waste, he had em all on his sidetray for the match instead of his bait- but alas nowt left come the end!
First match of season and Tunnel Barn Extension was the venue and after the recent milder spell, hopes were high a few fish would have a chew…
Draw was at 8.30am and fishing was from 10.30 to 3.30pm so plenty of time for a relaxed nice set up for all
At start a new member was welcomed to the club in “Eddie Maher” who as people have 
been accustomed to needs a club nickname so here’s the obvious
Enjoy the club “Stobart” it’s a good craic 😉
Match Section
Overall it fished pretty well I would say for an early March Match with over 460lb of fish caught and nearly everyone getting quite a few bites.
Most fish were caught on pole but looking around the lake it was good to see everyone doing it slightly different with some fishing long to far bank or islands, some down the track, some in margins, and some like Gavin under his feet catching the wise older fish.
On a similar vein “Worms” Ivison had located some wiser ones as well…
For the avoidance of doubt I explained these are called “squirrels” and cannot be weighed in!
1st place was a bit of a miracle escape and I finished very well on Peg 19 to end up with 49lb 5ozs, just edging out “Rumbold” Mick Edwards into 2nd place that has started this year like last year with an early frame.
Mick was on Peg 33 at top end of lake and caught 48lb – 7ozs on mainly 2+2 feeding micros fishing pellet and had plenty of bites throughout the day.
Mick’s face said it all when he knew he’d smashed Denny…..take that ooooooooosh!
3rd place was opposite me to my right and was a real surprise as from everyone I could see down the length I thought he had absolutely hosed the match!
Last years “Club Champion” Denny “The Chimp” starts strong in 2017 and you can see my counselling is going great and I can just about write this after 3 months..
Denny was on peg 7 and weighed 41lb 14ozs by starting off fishing long but away from island catching steadily on Xpander pellet feeding micros, and then when the F1s backed off he chased them over to the island down the shelf in approx 3 feet of water. F1s are a speciality to Denny and he is always going to be there or thereabouts as in fairness he has got them pretty sussed.
In 4th place was Darren “Semi Pro” Mills on Peg 25 with 38lb 12ozs who did a bit of all sorts including 2+2 ish feeding caster for a mixed bag silvers and F1s.
The 1st section was won by Gavin on Peg 13 with 36lb 10.5ozs catching very very short but its noticeable he is getting into the habit of being in the money
The 2nd section was actually won by DEFAULT by Mick “No Barrow” Drew on Peg 28 with 26lb 8.5ozs catching mainly on 2+3! However “Catmeat” Causer did finish top in section by quite a way with 34lb 7ozs – but didn’t go in the pools.
Mick Drew’s new Box Sticker
My Match Good or Bad Result
I started off down shelf to right of island aMicks new sponsored box sticker!tt 13mtrs and it was very slow I lost an f1 after 20 minutes and persevered too long. So I went closer to island and I could get pretty regular bites on 4mm pellet feeding micros but these fish were miniscule (4-6ounce fish) compared to what I could be seen being landed by Denny/Darren/Mark Causer/”Turps” Tarrington etc.
It throws me with everyone’s different sized landing nets LOL as you look at the size of fish in relation to landing net.
I had 3 better f1s across but I could see I was lagging way behind so I started feeding a margin line for later and luckily this came good with better F1s.
I genuinely was well out on my estimation I thought I’d had 15-18lb going to last 90mins due to smaller fish + 3 x decent f1s, however my strong finish last hour I was hoping for 35lbs ish so stated 30lbs. (small fish are hard to gauge)
In reality the margin fish averaged bigger but no way did I think I had 49lb+ so I must have put close to 28lb+ last hour and 20mins.
In summary I got “lucky” and picked a pocket but sometimes it goes for you and sometimes the calls go wrong!
The grudge £quid off “Saddle Sore” Sadler + “The Chimp” was most welcome! J
Next Match Info:
Fisherwick Lake Match Pool Saturday 8th April
The Big Fella
Adroit AC 