It was quite busy in there probably as there was a delay while they cooked up a special for Bela although it has to be said he is now a picture of physical perfection and the envy of many.
A full house today with 20 fishing which was good to see, payouts were for the top 3, 1 silvers and 2 sections plus a Pairs match just to spice things up a bit.
Will had split the sections across the lake as opposed to a section on each bank which was a good move giving those down the sheltered end a chance of picking up, he has been trained well!
There was a bit of conflicting information during the pre-draw discussions over the results of Lee Wiliams's Saturday match on the lake. (see here)
Apparently some were saying there were had been seven weights over 100lbs but I had heard peg 10 had walked it with 150-odd but the next best weight was half that and quite a few had struggled.
I suspect they were getting mixed up with a match on Tile or another match that had involved some decent anglers!
Anyway, the Gimp drew peg 10 so it was unlikely to be producing a three-figure weight today.
Somehow I managed to avoid drawing a corner and ended up in the middle of nowhere on 15.
My pairs partner Matt Williams drew peg 2 which was going to be tough as the wind was pushing up the opposite end towards 11 which was occupied by Degsy Williams.
I made sure though before the draw I had £1's with Alan Healey, Steve Sewell and Pete Uzzell just to cover my losses and make sure I went home with something.
Alan drew next door to me on 14 so I could keep a close eye on that pound.
On my left side was the "Silvers Slayer" Lee Waller who was not very well hidden behind the reeds ... a few more months of growing would be required before he would be completely obscured.
Today I had a cunning plan, well it wasn't much of a plan as it was the same thing I always do at Sedges and involved a 6g pellet wag, a brand new catapult (I've lost 2 at recent Viaduct matches) and lots of 8mm pellets but I also had a back-up plan which involved lots of corn and a tin of hemp to fish on the deck at 13m and down the edge.
The left hand edge was a no-go as I couldn't get the rig anywhere close to the edge due to collapsed reeds under the surface so I set up 2 rigs at top kit plus 2 down the right margin.
One tight against the vegetation at 3 foot deep and the other a meter off where it was a foot or so deeper.
At the start I gave all the pole lines a generous helping of corn and hemp then went out on the wag after firing out a healthy dose of pellets towards the rope.
Most were doing the same, including Chris Gay on 7 who had a carp on within minutes.
And it didn't take long for my first one either which I suspected was fouled but it turned out to be a fairly hooked common of 14lbs ... not a bad start by any means.
The match started slowly for most and in the first hour I had a smaller carp plus another double that put me well into the running.
Both Alan and Lee had started off on the pole and neither were getting any bites, it seemed the only carp being caught were coming on the wag or shallow on the pole.
I had a quick look round my pole lines and never had a touch on the deep rig while the edge rig was being pestered by small fish.
Back out on the wag and it was still hard work and was made harder as the wind had increased and was pushing back towards our bank.
By halfway bites were still hard to come by and those that I was getting I was missing due to slack forming in the line, a few were walking the bank and the news was that some hadn't caught anything but Degsy Williams was, predictably, doing well on 11 and so too was Luke Pester on 8.
There was a lot of fizzing going on out on my wag line so reluctantly I set up a lead rod and chucked that out.
It did produce one fish and another when I struck at an "iffy" bite that came off almost straight away.
I was getting loads of liners so I swapped back to the wag but with a 10g pike float on instead.
That was an improvement and I managed a couple more fish on this before the end.
My pole lines never produced anything.
Alan did eventually catch a carp but it was the smallest carp in the lake at about 2lbs (he got a bit of stick today bless him)
As expected the match was won by Degsy Williams with 95-12 followed by Luke with 83-4
and Ryan Radford was 3rd with 57-7
My seven fish total went 56-5 which got me the section and (more importantly) all 3 pound coins.
The silvers was won by the gimp with 13-7 and the pairs was won by Ryan and the gimp who had mugged a 14½lb fish on his silvers gear just to enter into the spirit of things.
Full Result:
The match started slowly for most and in the first hour I had a smaller carp plus another double that put me well into the running.
Both Alan and Lee had started off on the pole and neither were getting any bites, it seemed the only carp being caught were coming on the wag or shallow on the pole.
I had a quick look round my pole lines and never had a touch on the deep rig while the edge rig was being pestered by small fish.
Back out on the wag and it was still hard work and was made harder as the wind had increased and was pushing back towards our bank.
By halfway bites were still hard to come by and those that I was getting I was missing due to slack forming in the line, a few were walking the bank and the news was that some hadn't caught anything but Degsy Williams was, predictably, doing well on 11 and so too was Luke Pester on 8.
There was a lot of fizzing going on out on my wag line so reluctantly I set up a lead rod and chucked that out.
It did produce one fish and another when I struck at an "iffy" bite that came off almost straight away.
I was getting loads of liners so I swapped back to the wag but with a 10g pike float on instead.
That was an improvement and I managed a couple more fish on this before the end.
My pole lines never produced anything.
Alan did eventually catch a carp but it was the smallest carp in the lake at about 2lbs (he got a bit of stick today bless him)
As expected the match was won by Degsy Williams with 95-12 followed by Luke with 83-4
and Ryan Radford was 3rd with 57-7
My seven fish total went 56-5 which got me the section and (more importantly) all 3 pound coins.
The silvers was won by the gimp with 13-7 and the pairs was won by Ryan and the gimp who had mugged a 14½lb fish on his silvers gear just to enter into the spirit of things.
Full Result:
1. Degsy Williams (11) 95-12
2. Luke Pester (8) 83-4
3. Ryan Radford (19) 57-7
4. Steve Burgess (15) 56-5
5. Chris Gay (7) 53-15
6. Steve Sewell (13) 41-3
7. Rich Jones (12) 39-1
8. John Bradford (10) 27-13
9. Adam Caswell (3) 25-14
10. Lee Tourettes Waller (16) 21-13
11. Mark Radford (6) 19-11
12. Rocket Ron Hardiman (20) 18-0
13. Steve o'Toole (17) 16-3
14. Matt Williams (2) 15-5
15. Will Dearlove (18) 11-9
16. Pete Uzzell (5) 11-3
17. Keith Ray (4) 10-11
18. Ross Sewell (9) 9-15
19. Alan chip shop Healey (14) 9-10
20. Keith Bilder (1) 6-11
2. Luke Pester (8) 83-4
3. Ryan Radford (19) 57-7
4. Steve Burgess (15) 56-5
5. Chris Gay (7) 53-15
6. Steve Sewell (13) 41-3
7. Rich Jones (12) 39-1
8. John Bradford (10) 27-13
9. Adam Caswell (3) 25-14
10. Lee Tourettes Waller (16) 21-13
11. Mark Radford (6) 19-11
12. Rocket Ron Hardiman (20) 18-0
13. Steve o'Toole (17) 16-3
14. Matt Williams (2) 15-5
15. Will Dearlove (18) 11-9
16. Pete Uzzell (5) 11-3
17. Keith Ray (4) 10-11
18. Ross Sewell (9) 9-15
19. Alan chip shop Healey (14) 9-10
20. Keith Bilder (1) 6-11
Silvers:1. John Bradford (10) 13-7
2. Luke Pester (8) 12-14
2. Luke Pester (8) 12-14
Pairs:Ryan Radford / John Bradford
