Summat Fishy!

I did the peg draw myself and briefly ran through the rules, which in fairness I thought we would keep simple:

• Total cumulative weight wins

• No fish under 10lbs count

• Abide by the rules of the fishery

• Common sense

It was the common sense rule that was always going to be a problem!

“All in” was called and it took all of 2 minutes for the first dodgy tactic to come into play! Team Westlands set afloat a fish finder, attached to a bait boat the size of the QE2!

After a bit of long distance banter Team Westlands were awarded the first yellow card, I mean a fish finder on their home turf?!?!?  Come on!

No sooner had things died down when the man with the golden appendage (Rik Hurst) bent into a fish. This was received with all the usual abuse, most of which isn’t suitable for print. After a short battle this stunning 25lb Common fell to a Screamer Baits, CarpNutz boilie:

After such a promising start, the next few hours brought a couple of none scoring pasties for Team Screamer Baits.  As the temperature plummeted and the 60mph winds moved in the social began!  

Let’s just say that I need councilling after Alan jumped me (No means no Alan) and Lee Postlewhite had trouble with the whole gravity thing...The rest is best left unsaid.

With the winds building everyone bivved down for the night and hopes of more fish were seemingly getting blown away, along with Brents unhooking mat and weigh sling!

However, it was Brent who saw the first action of the evening.  To what was believed to be a “good” fish but Brent employed his usual catch and release policy and then blamed Gonk!

After yet more pasties and regretting the “under 10lb” rule, Team Screamer Baits finally got on to the score board with this 17lb Mirror captured on CBS Fish Mix pop ups:

Saturday morning brought even stronger winds and even more controversy, as Lee's rod screamed off on a Screamer Baits CBS pellet, only for it to be landed by Alan from Team AA Baits in his swim?

I was more than happy to let Team AA Baits claim the 22lb Common, given that the owner of Alan of AA Baits caught it on a Screamer Baits boilie!  So at the half way stage this meant the positions were as follows:

1st:   Team Golden Rocks

2nd:  Team AA

3rd:  Team Screamer Baits

With everything still to play for it was time for Mat Griffin to stop playing with his spod and land another point scoring fish for Team Screamer Baits. He did so in fine style taking us to the top of the leader board, with this stunning 20lb Mirror caught again on CBS Fish Mix.

That evening everyone sheltered from the weather and kept their fingers crossed for a lucky break.

Sunday morning brought the smell of bacon, sausages and we seen more small carp on the bank for Team Screamer.  With time running out we knew that just one fish could win it as the lake record stood well over 40lb.

Then with only an hour to go, Team Westlands hooked into a fish and everyone knew it was a kipper. After a battle that seemed to last an age, it was safely landed, but was it big enough to take the prize?

Unfortunately, for Team Westlands it wasn’t to be...

However, this stunning 27lb Mirror captured by Richard Sintler was to be the biggest fish of the competition. This left the final standings as: This left the final standings as:

1st:  Screamer Baits (Phill Broderick & Matt Griffin)

2nd: Weslands (Richard Sintler & Charles McKellar)

3rd: Golden Rocks (Rik Hurst & Lee Postlewhite)

Pictured below is Alan of AA Baits presenting Team Screamer Baitswith the winner’s trophy

(Winners:  Matt Griffen left and me, Phill Broderick - the one with the glasses)

All in all everyone had a great laugh and more importantly we raised a lot of money for Claire House Childrens Hospice, Wirral.

Westlands have kindly inviting us back for another event and Alan demanding an AA Vs. Screamer match we could be on for a few more matches in 2010.  Hopefully another opportunity to raise more cash for charity.

Once again a big thank you to all those who sponsored the event and made it possible.

Westlands Angling

Twin Lakes, France                                  

Carlsberg

UK Blinds

Screamer Baits                                                     

AA Baits                                  

Cleveley Bridge Fisheries                      

Bain Valley Fisheries