2017 Championship: Round 1

2017 Championship: Round 1 - Match 1, Mepal, 5th June 2017

It was good to see a few new faces and the return of some not seen for a while, Kevin also made his debut this season and 15 of us filled most available swims.

This venue however really is the domain of just one angler, The Mepal Marvel Rob Turner, who after three wins in a row has perfected his tactics, winning this time with nearly 58 lb of mainly bream. Despite trying to stop his hat trick with a weight limit of just 2 lb/carp he still managed to double the total match weight by fishing hair rigged worm with swim feeders full of choppy. His 7 bream averaged around 5 lb each, for example 3 in one sling went 14 lb 11 oz. The bigger of 2 carp was 12 lb and he also had rudd to 10 oz. He did issue a warning that he was now going to master Reach Lode so watch out!

John Reed was heard trying hard again, finishing with a respectful 8 lb + and an aching arm from attempted far bank tactics. Let’s hope his enthusiasm with the weed rake is tempered by the time he gets to Reach Lode, we don’t want a repeat of his swimming attempts from last season!

Kevin revealed one of his new season secrets, the brightest fluorescent electric-purple pinkies you can possibly imagine. I could see them from my swim 20 yds away and I guess the fish could too. He had dyed them himself, as could be told from his purple fingers, and he included them in small ground bait balls to light up the depths. He freely offered me some to try once I was too far behind to catch him up! This helped compensate for his regular offerings of casters via catapult, returning the rain I made him when our swims were reversed last year.

Most others had a civilized match, except when Glen beat son Mark by 1 oz, Mark let it be known what he thought of that.

Overall it was thought the rudd had been putt off by the murky coloured water being pumped into the pit from nearby quarrying. It will have settled for future visits so we’ll see.

Our next match on 18th June will be on Reach Lode at Upware, Mike has cut plenty of swims but as usual please book your place via Trevor, details as per the club book.

Ian Claydon