It was fantastic to see a lake nearly full of junior anglers today. If I needed it, this was proof that we have really gained some momentum at last, I’m very proud of what we are doing. None of it comes easy and you often question what you are doing. But when you see scenes like we had today, it does make it all worth the effort..
At the end of a particularly stressful week, I like nothing more than wading nostril deep through thick mud, up and down like a demented penguin, trying to make it look like I know what I’m doing.
Even the coaches were slightly impaired at the junior match today. Instead of his own leg, Nigel had brought with him a lump of matured spiced ham. New coach Chris Painter was as sleep deprived as I was having been up for most of the night. He had caught the ‘Jerry Express’ just 2-minutes after getting home and been kidnapped straight to the fishery. Captain Chris’s eyes had gone on strike after being treated like a pin cushion for many years. He is in the process of getting them French polished and will be back later in the year. (In all seriousness, on behalf of us all, I want to wish Nigel and the Captain the very best in their forthcoming treatments).
Uncle Jerry’s wooden ankles were giving him jip, and jip is only one step away from ‘Proper annoying’.
Martin’s lungs were on the blink much like Mrs H. Probably because they are made from old leather gloves, papier mâché, straw, and toenail clippings. He said he was ‘going straight home to Nebland’. I can only assume it is much like Iceland, only made from Neb.
Gentle Jon, Nice Bloke Tim, and Si Wag (Master of Corrections), seemed to be in reasonable nick.
As for me, I was battling the usual stresses and tiredness, along with my ‘isms’ and ADH…ooo, look a squirrel, I wonder what makes grass so thin? Should I wear green or blue? Why aren’t those cup handles lined up perfectly? Does sugar bounce? If I’m very quiet, can I hear my hair growing? Sycamore, Paving slab, monkey, monkey, underpants….
The chill of an Easterly breeze greeted my arrival at Charlottes Lake which sent a shiver down my already aching spine. The first job was the Bog Tent.
Bog tent fans, and I know you’re out there, will have noticed a lack of content recently. This basically because I lately forced the ladies to ‘Go like the bunnies do’. (Wearing white tails and running). But I thought I’d be nice and erect the grey monolith for a change.
It's been a while since I did battle with this worthy adversary. I wondered if it still held a grudge. Rather than attacking me as it usually does, I found myself almost being embraced by it as if it was happy to be outside again. I’d even taped up an old injury from last year and, much like a Dolphin recovering from being rescued from a raft of plastic netting, I think it was grateful.
With the tent up (cheeky!), I tried to work out how many juniors were fishing the match, and how many were just coaching. It would appear that my ability to count to 10 has diminished somewhat over the winter period because I only put out 9 pegs.
Once rectified to the tune of one, the stage was set for some epic moaning later on.
Your Juniors for today were:
Peg 1: Jack (T’other Jack) Cryer
Peg 2: Alec (I’m not putting my hand in that bucket, there might be a snake) Campbell
Peg 3: Harry (The Windchime) Cryer
Peg 4: Josiah (His Lordship) Wels-Parkes
Peg 5: Kenzie (Please won’t someone give me a haircut) Toulson
Peg 6: Josh (I’m on here for the food) Roe
Peg 7: Alfie (Surprisingly Tall) Ellis
Peg 8: Jack (Semi-Pro) Copp
Peg 9: Jake (The Box) Whitlock
Peg 10: Austin (Ratboy) Scott-Kennedy
Juniors for Coaching today were:
Alexander (The return of the Mud Monster) Adey
Sonny (Bono) Marwick
Freddie (Nice threads) Campbell
Harry (Harry, Harry, Harry) Willmer
Two no shows were Freddie Hallet and Theo Bullock.
As you can see, we have a lot of juniors now. So, mercifully, I will try to be brief…
Your ‘Whinnit’ of coaches (The correct collective noun for 8 coaches) today were:
Del-Boy Trotter – Jerry Bracey (Obviously!)
Rodney Trotter – Graham Howard
Uncle Albert Trotter – Jon Bass
Boycie – Tim Broughton
Trigger – Chris Painter
Marlene – Si Wagner
Denzil - Martin Roe
Coaching:
The coaching session went well with a short tutorial about tying loop knots. Of course, I didn't make it easy for myself as I'd left my purposely purchased boot laces at home. I resorted to using my own shoelace instead, which made for an interesting journey home... Alexander tried some casting with Chris (sounds like a new and regular slot for coaching sessions!), but seemed to be happier by sliding around in the mud on his bottom. A bit like a dog with worms... If I didn't have to do the laundry, I may have joined him because it looked fun! Sonny had a good session from his chair. The seat box we had brought along for him was deemed unsafe by Wags, and rightly so. Nothing that cannot be sorted by the deft hands of our chief technician. Freddie was an eye opener and I have made a note of it for a decision I need to make for next years trophy awards. The Most Improved Newcomer award is going to be hotly contested with so many newbies fishing with us already. Freddie arrived a little worried about holding bait and fish. By the end of the session he was baiting own hook, handling and unhooking most of the 86 Roach that he caught. Very well done Freddie! I confess to not seeing much of late arrival Harry. I was detained at the far end. But CP said he was doing ok. Hopefully I will get to see them again soon...
Peg One:
Jack Cryer:
10lbs 12ozs:
Jack got some extra coaching today from dad, Paul. He demonstrated brilliantly how to literally use the far bank as a marker to set the clip. Jack had a steady day, and I think a good start to his 2025 season. He also won bragging rights in the car for the journey home! Jack caught the Carp, but the size of the fish wasn’t there to lift him higher in the results list. I’ve set him some homework to show me that he can tie a functional loop knot in the next two weeks…Good job.
Peg Two:
Alec Campbell:
11lbs:
Soon to be crowned silverfish champion was on good form and got off to a good start in the chase for the silverfish championship. Apart from an ‘annoying F1’ that spoilt his otherwise spotless silverfish catch, Alec tipped a good net of fish including some of my favourites, the good old snotty Bream. The match angler’s friend. They normally come to the net like an embarrassed flannel. But the one I saw him land had been hanging out with Carp too much and put up a fight!
Good match!
Peg Three:
Harry Cryer:
8lbs 2ozs:
It was good to see the unusual angling style of Harry back on the bank again. I know Harry suffers from a bit of discomfort when he is fishing, but it does it look like he’s using interpretive dance in time lapse. Every time you look at him, he is sat in a different position! The results showed a disinterest in fishing for smaller fish, and that’s fair enough. But on a day when the Carp are not showing well, it leaves you very few options. Like his brother, I’ve asked Harry to look at some loop knots to show me he can start level 2 of the coaching program.
Peg Four:
Josiah Wells-Parkes:
31lbs 4ozs:
If there is a hot peg on Charlottes Lake, then Jo was sat on it. It’s the peg that the fish are fed from by owner, Jim Roper. In the winter the fish will ‘Ball up’ and where better place to do that than in the area where all the food is? I wouldn’t say it was a busy day for Jo and he showed lots of patience to get the win under his belt. Something that a few of the other juniors could learn from. A solid start then from Jo and a continuation from the end of last year. I just hope he can attend more events this year, because it could be his name on the big trophy. Congratulations!
Peg Five:
Kenzie Toulson:
4lbs 11ozs:
Kenzie is contender number one for the ‘Who is getting strong Velcro fixed to their seat box and to their butt!’. Wandering during a match is a disease and one that spreads if not contained. I stood with Kenzie for a while and proved to him that there were fish there to catch. But it wasn’t enough to prevent him from giving up 20-minutes before the end…I do sympathise with him though. Sitting next to someone who is clearly going to win the match whilst you struggle to get a bite tends to mess with your head. Believe me, I know! At the next coaching session, I will be looking at pole rigs and how to make and use them. I know Kenzie should benefit from that…
Peg Six:
Josh Roe:
2lbs 14ozs:
From the start I think it’s fair to say that it was not going to be Josh’s Day. He was almost D.O.A. when he got to the venue. Even loud hammering on the van window only got an inch of open window and the monosyllabic response of ‘WOT? Josh got infected with ‘Wanderistis’ quite early on and, couple that with concern for his dad who was staggering around sounding like a broken set of organ bellows, it was never going to be a high concentration day for Josh. He said he finished last. I say he got 10 championship points… Another one lined up for rig chat…
Peg Seven:
Alfie Ellis:
5lbs 13ozs:
One of our new juniors, Alfie, was fishing his first match with us today and probably got a bit of an education from his left. I didn’t get much of a chance to watch him for long, but what I did see was impressive. Being a little older than most, Alfie has the ability to handle longer poles which was good to see. The only handicap was that he was borrowing the pole and was under constant and immediate threat of instant death if he damaged it! Despite this, Alfie had a steady day on a moody lake, and I hope he enjoyed his day. I look forward to seeing what he can do going forward. Well done.
Peg Eight:
Jack Copp:
22lbs 6ozs:
It’s the mark of a champion that Jack was less than happy with third place and a £5 voucher. It is not even chicken feed when you’ve won over £500 in the winter! But, if nothing else, Jack showed that you can produce a good weight if you work the swim hard and don’t give up if things don’t go your way. From the results, I’m guessing that Jack set out for silvers, switched to Carp when he saw some being caught further down, and switched back to fishing for silvers in an area of the lake that no one else could reach later on. Jack has taken the lead in the silverfish championship, but only two ounces. Impressive as ever, well done…
Peg Nine:
Jake Whitlock:
5lbs 13ozs:
It was a baptism of fire for Jake who, like Alfie, was fishing his first match. It’s not usual to let novice juniors straight into matches, but Jake was insistent that he wanted to jump in the deep end. Getting pegged next a junior of Jack Copp’s calibre, I think he found out just how deep it was! Not everyone agreed, but I say fair play for giving it a go. I think it was brought home just how far he must go to be fully competitive. He won extra brownie points for turning up in some of the new junior clothing though, Kudos to him for that!
Coaching will bring him on, and the more he fishes, the more he will improve…
Peg Ten:
Austin Scott-Kennedy:
24lbs 15ozs:
If you’re wondering where the new ‘Ratboy’ nickname comes from, because of the staggering amount of bait he leaves behind after every session, Austin was voted ‘Feeder of the year’ by the W.D.C.U.R.R. (West Dorset Community of Unified Rural Rodents).
I will be handing Austin a very heavy trophy in a few weeks’ time as he is crowned the 2024 junior points champion, and he was on form today too. Although I wish he would do more than just feeder fishing for a lot of his sessions, I will say he is getting rather good at it. It was the right method to be on today. Some of the coaches, including myself, thought that some of the juniors had moved away from silverfish way too early. But I’m happy to be proved wrong….sometimes…
For a junior who takes vouchers home on most of the events, 20-points is a great start for Austin. Good job!
So, there we have the first match under our belts, and we are off for another year of competitive junior fishing. It feels like a long year right now, but we will soon be handing out prizes at the Christmas match, so make the most of every day.
Thanks to Jim Roper for letting us play with his fish today. I know Jim loves having the juniors at Harbourbridge. Thanks also for rescuing the tripod that got left behind by some complete idiot…
Big thanks to our partly broken, injured, and exhausted coaches:
Jerry Bracey, Chris Painter, Tim Broughton, Si Wagner, Nigel Kemp, Jon Bass, and the occasional Martin Roe. My fatigue needed your support more than ever today, thank you.
I need all outstanding trophies returned as soon as possible please.
I also need to insist that the trophies are looked after as if you are looking after the crown jewels. Some of them are looking a little worse for wear and, if they are not being properly looked after, they will not be allowed home after the presentation evening, and I do not want that to happen…
Thank you…
The next event is in two weeks’ time at Luckfield Lake in Broadmayne. There are only ten pegs there so, unless we get some spare pegs available, this event will NOT be open to juniors for coaching. By all means book in, even if the event says ‘Full, but priority will be given to competitive juniors first. With only 10 pegs and over 20 juniors, you will need to get in early. Invite goes out at 09:00 on Wednesday 12th March.
See you all soon…
The Mud-Slinger…
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