BAIT-BOAT BOB FOR PRIME MINISTER!!!
He's taken some proper stick during the series, but our own (our very own) Bob Moss had the session of the our series today. In fact, he caught more in one match than the rest of us had caught during all the other matches put together. Bob had 26-12-0 of bream and skimmers from the short length at Pinfold Lane. George Falconer was aside him, and had been telling everyone Bob was pogging the match - he couldn't see the eventual 1st, 2nd & 3rd placed anglers who were on Bob's other side!!
In my section I'd drawn next to the dastardly angler known to all as the Slithering Adder (Gazzer Marchant). Myself and Gary Kelly shook on a friendly challenge with Gazzer - the wager being the princely sum of £1.00. By 10:20am, I was readily surrendering my quid - not a chuffin' sign of a fish anywhere, (I've seen more sign of life in an iron-lung) while Gazzer was into his second decent net skimmer.
It took the arrival of Jimmy 'deep pockets and short arms' Jeffers before there were signs of optimism. In the first hour and a half I'd tried the bread line, the snig line and the two groundbait lines without any indications of life. I was edging ever closer to the stick-ups with corn on the hook when Gazzer lifted into an altogether more substantial specimen; a hybrid around 2lb. Jimmy went off up the bank to investigate and came back uttering a single word - 'worm'. Not a very nice insult to receive on the bank and I was thinking to myself that 'you can go off people', but I eventually realised he was on about Gazzer's hookbait of choice. Some examples were dutifully chopped and cupped in, then a smaller one was impaled on the hook. I shipped over to the stickups and within a matter of 30 seconds the float slid away and I was into a skimmer just short of a pound. I tried again with more of the same; Jimmy was sat on the bank predicting the grand-daddy of the first fish. We waited - and waited. We waited some more, but nothing happened. In fact that was the sum total of the bites in my peg.
The fish tipped the scales at 14oz, which gave me 5 points. To my right, Gazzer (Lostock Black) had 2 points with 4-9-0, Paul Banks (BAS) having got 1 point with 6-3-0. To my left, Steve Mayo (Leigh White) had a cracking 8dr gudgeon, then big Sam Cairns (Leigh Cherries) had 2-10-1 and Ant Marsden (Sams Tackle & Bait) failed to trouble his own scales after foul-hooking a Pike then not seeing another fish for the entire match. We advanced still further (compared with last week) finishing 8th on the day, with Hindley and the mighty Sams beneath us.
So that's Southport's first W&DAA Spring League over with and its been a very beneficial experience for those of us who haven't had much exposure to team fishing. There have been some highs & lows along the way, but there have also been a lot of laughs - it's brought us all together as a team. The consensus is that we should boldly go where no lunatics (within recent memory) from Southport have gone for a long time - the WDAA Winter League 2009. Until then, it'll probably be a summer of matches on the Sluice and a smattering of commercials as the mood takes.
The challenge match with the Lostockers is now a definite, with them wanting it earlier rather than later so look out for more information about time, date, place, etc... There may well be more challenges as the summer progresses.
Oh, and look out for the new clothing range on the bank soon... It's the future Jerry - with a hood and draw string...
In my section I'd drawn next to the dastardly angler known to all as the Slithering Adder (Gazzer Marchant). Myself and Gary Kelly shook on a friendly challenge with Gazzer - the wager being the princely sum of £1.00. By 10:20am, I was readily surrendering my quid - not a chuffin' sign of a fish anywhere, (I've seen more sign of life in an iron-lung) while Gazzer was into his second decent net skimmer.
It took the arrival of Jimmy 'deep pockets and short arms' Jeffers before there were signs of optimism. In the first hour and a half I'd tried the bread line, the snig line and the two groundbait lines without any indications of life. I was edging ever closer to the stick-ups with corn on the hook when Gazzer lifted into an altogether more substantial specimen; a hybrid around 2lb. Jimmy went off up the bank to investigate and came back uttering a single word - 'worm'. Not a very nice insult to receive on the bank and I was thinking to myself that 'you can go off people', but I eventually realised he was on about Gazzer's hookbait of choice. Some examples were dutifully chopped and cupped in, then a smaller one was impaled on the hook. I shipped over to the stickups and within a matter of 30 seconds the float slid away and I was into a skimmer just short of a pound. I tried again with more of the same; Jimmy was sat on the bank predicting the grand-daddy of the first fish. We waited - and waited. We waited some more, but nothing happened. In fact that was the sum total of the bites in my peg.
The fish tipped the scales at 14oz, which gave me 5 points. To my right, Gazzer (Lostock Black) had 2 points with 4-9-0, Paul Banks (BAS) having got 1 point with 6-3-0. To my left, Steve Mayo (Leigh White) had a cracking 8dr gudgeon, then big Sam Cairns (Leigh Cherries) had 2-10-1 and Ant Marsden (Sams Tackle & Bait) failed to trouble his own scales after foul-hooking a Pike then not seeing another fish for the entire match. We advanced still further (compared with last week) finishing 8th on the day, with Hindley and the mighty Sams beneath us.
So that's Southport's first W&DAA Spring League over with and its been a very beneficial experience for those of us who haven't had much exposure to team fishing. There have been some highs & lows along the way, but there have also been a lot of laughs - it's brought us all together as a team. The consensus is that we should boldly go where no lunatics (within recent memory) from Southport have gone for a long time - the WDAA Winter League 2009. Until then, it'll probably be a summer of matches on the Sluice and a smattering of commercials as the mood takes.
The challenge match with the Lostockers is now a definite, with them wanting it earlier rather than later so look out for more information about time, date, place, etc... There may well be more challenges as the summer progresses.
Oh, and look out for the new clothing range on the bank soon... It's the future Jerry - with a hood and draw string...
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