19/07/25 - Junior Points Match - Main Lake, Revels.

This edition of the Mud-Slinger is dedicated to the memory of Susan Haine…

There is something quite satisfying about waking ten-minutes before the alarm. It gives me an enormous sense of dominance over time itself. The very fact that I was a step ahead of the ‘wokeness’ of modern life means that I am still screaming into the void and have not yet succumbed to complete reliance on technology. The natural body clock still ticks…

My car is the worse offender of them all. Things like change gear now, don’t overtake yet, you’ve left your phone in the car, your keys are in your pocket, and just because you have cruise control and lane guidance it doesn’t mean you can drive no handed and read the paper…

Showered, fed and watered, I loaded the car and said my farewells to Mrs H. Both she and the cat were looking like they were not going to be awake for long after my departure.

Driving through the fields of golden crops at this time of year makes me wonder just how much a Combine Harvester drive can earn over the next few weeks? Offset only by the sleep they will lose working long into and probably through the night. I was feeling quite peachy with the world until the cold realisation that I had left the coaching rucksack at home and an inner monologue started.

You won’t need it…

But it has the money, the weighing sheets, the folder, everything in it…

You can make do. Someone will have a pen and paper. Just make it all up, you’ve done it before…

But the whistle is in there. Do they know what a shout of ‘ALL IN!’ even means? Will they be sat there for hours in complete stasis, not knowing what to do? Think of the children, won’t someone think of the children!

By now I was at the top of Revels Hill and a matter of yards from the fishery. I turned around, flicked the car to sport mode, and headed home again… Good start to the day.

When I finally arrived at Revels, a Wookie was standing looking at his watch, wondering if he was at the right fishery! (I’ll bet you didn’t realise Wookies had watches, did you?)

When I told him what had occurred, he told me I was a ‘silly man’, and that he’d wondered if I had forgotten something. I remarked about the fortunate permanence of certain parts of my anatomy, and we made our way to the car park.

With time reduced to a bare minimum for set up, things were a little frantic to say the least. The car vomited its load over the fence, and we were nearly ready. Ready for all greetings and the blizzard of questions that get thrown at me, and all before 9am in the morning!

The result of the draw looked like this. (Permanent peg in brackets).

Peg 1 (7): Kenzie (Scissor Allergy) Toulson.

Peg 2 (8): Rowley Carter (Coaching).

Peg 3 (9): Arlo Harrison (Coaching).

Peg 4 (10) Austin (Feeder Fly) Scott-Kennedy.

Peg 5 (11) Mia (Soon to be a knuckle dragger) Evans.

Peg 6 (12) Freddie (On a roll) Campbell.

Peg 7 (14) Harry Willmer (Coaching).

Peg 8 (16) Thomas Millard.

Peg 9 (20) Josiah (What Silverfish peg?) Wells-Parkes.

Peg 10 (21) Alec Campbell (DNF).

Along with a poorly Alec, another DNF was Alexander, the Atomic Angler. His mum, Charlie, had decided that normal skin colour was not in vogue. So, she changed it to delicate shades of purple, black, red and yellow. I didn’t ask how she did it, but I am guessing she had a training session with the German women’s football team. They are brutal!

Your mist of coaches (The correct collective noun for a group of four angling coaches) today were:

John – Graham Howard.

Paul – Jerry Bracey.

George – Jon Bass.

Ringo – John Evans.

The fifth Beatle today was Neil Haine who came to visit us. It was great to see him, and I hope we helped to divert his mind from his troubles, even if just for a while…

Peg One:

Kenzie Toulson:

12lbs 2ozs:

Ok, look…

There were a lot of playful comments about Kenzie’s long flowing golden locks that, when the breeze caught it, made him look like he was in a L’Oreal advert… But most of those making the comments were mostly jealous, folically challenged men who find themselves on the wrong side of middle age. Advice from a jealous, folically challenged man who has found himself the wrong side of middle age to Kenzie is to ignore them and let the hair flow free!

Kenz fished a tidy match. Making the most of time by chasing the smaller fish when the bigger ones seemed elusive. I did suggest that a pole would have been faster than a waggler rod. But he seemed happy (stubborn), and so I left him to it.

By the end, he’d snared a couple of lumpy ones along with a collection of mostly Perch for a nice day’s fishing.

Well done, Fabio…

Peg Two, Three & Seven:

Rowley Carter, Arlo Harrison & Harry Willmer (Respectively):

Our three coaching juniors had a good day, I think. I did not really get the chance to see much of Harry before he and his mum evaporated into the ether. I did not see them leave. But I did get a chance to talk to him about efficiently fishing with a pole, lash length, and such. He spent most of his day with Ringo (John) (Evans, not Lennon…).

Rowley had a massive collection of new tackle to play with from our Re-Gen store and managed to put some of it to the test on with a nice mud pig and some silvers.

Arlo had an intensive session on the waggler at the start, but spent the day switching between Whip, feeder and float. They left before I got a chance to ask them what they had caught, but the smiles said they had experienced a nice day.

Peg Four: Austin Scott-Kennedy: 31lbs 15ozs, 1st place: Every now and then a new method jumps to the fore front of angling. Things like the Method Feeder, Shallow Slapping (Cheeky!), and more recently Over Shotting.

Today, I believe I witnessed the birth of a new technique which I have christened the ‘Fly Feeder’.

The method is as follows:

1. Line up a hefty cast that will travel at least 50-metres.

2. Limit this cast to 20-metres with a line clip.

3. Allow this cast to crash into the water (or the reeds, it makes no difference).

4. After exactly 0.256 of a second, frantically reel it in and repeat.

I’m not sure of the mechanics of the method, but it seemed to work and you will catch only the fastest of Carp to deposit in your net.

Amy brought along the new Junior Mascot in the shape of ‘Bity Fern’, who is a…cross between…some dogs. Oh, look, I can’t remember which dogs did what to whom. But she was sooooo cute with the needle-sharp death spears she stored in her mouth…

The lad fished well today and thoroughly deserved the win. Congrats!

Peg Five:

Mia Evans:

13lbs 7ozs:

An ageing Mia was sat in peg five. A now withered soul as she staggers towards her teenage years and the decline in attitude that goes with in. She is such a lovely kid, and the coaches held a minute’s silence for the forthcoming loss of the junior that actually listened once.

I’m joking, of course. She is and (nearly) always will be, delightful.

Mia was sat in the snag pit that is permanent peg 11 and used all that pre-teenage angst to drag a Carp out of the reeds as a demonstration to little Molly who visiting us for a chat. It was impressive to watch, and the fish didn’t stand a chance!

Mia was given permission from Mrs H to ‘Hit him because he forgot to tell me it was your birthday’ on the phone. I haven’t seen eyes light up quite as quickly as that before, so beat a hasty retreat to a safer distance.

I think she was pleased with her day but, maybe not quite so pleased with the fact that we all sang happy birthday in the car park at the end!!

Happy birthday to our junior Princess, have a wonderful day…

Peg Six:

Freddie Campbell:

25lbs 12ozs, 3rd place:

Mr Campbell! If I see you do that again, there shall be consequences!

This was the warning bellowed across the lake to a now sheepish dad who thought that he could sneak in a little light feeding for his son without the coaches noticing.

They did, and it was me! No biggie for a first offence, but the warning has been issued…

Shouty coaches aside, Freddie had a decent day. He continued his run of form that saw him (potentially) put one hand on the Specimen award for this year. I’m sure that Fred will be slashing the keepnets of anyone that catches any big Roach, Rudd or Perch…

I am pleased with his progress this year and he’s a delightful kid to boot.

Good job mate!

Peg Eight:

Thomas Millard:

19lbs 3ozs:

One or two issues that have been satisfactorily resolved concerning a couple of rule breeches. A regulatory warning was issued, and I feel happy that they will not be repeated.

Thomas likes to use a blend of match fishing and Carp fishing by using a feeder rod with unhooking mats and I admire him for that. Although it may not be efficient in the strictest of match fishing terms, it shows high respect for the fish’s welfare. Something that many anglers could take note of.

A Day that finishes just shy of 20lbs is a good one. Well done…

Peg Nine:

Josiah Wells-Parkes:

30lbs 13ozs, 2nd place:

A good silverfish peg this one, said the lead coach. I wouldn’t waste too much time on the Carp to be honest.

Now, in my defence, I was probably talking more from an adult match point of view where the profile of each swim dictates the results to a larger degree. But in a junior match, patience and skill come more to the fore.

As was the case today.

Josiah managed 13 Carp and 3 silvers from his ‘Silverfish peg’ today, and I am off to repair my now battered reputation…

In all seriousness, I felt proud of him that he stuck to his guns and sat out for the Carp today. One more fish could have given him a larger voucher by the end.

Dare I say, a few more silverfish could have tipped the balance in his favour?

Who knows. A now fully sorted Josiah is back (mostly), and I’m glad to see it...

Well done fella, good job…

Well done to our winners, and to everyone that came today. Overall, a delightful day.

A massive thank you to our volunteer coaches, Jerry, Jon, John, and a returning Neil…

Thank you to Jason Fricker and Dean Hodder at Revels for the usual friendly welcome and support…

Our next event is on the 8th of August for the Last scheduled round of the knockout series.

I may replace the last cancelled round or just revert to a highest place runner up to make the five-angler final. It depends on how busy the calendar is (very) and availability of water. Updates on WhatsApp…

Junior coaching at Sharnhill on the 16th of August.

Then two matches on the trot at Todber Manor. The first is the Two Methods Match and the second is the Senior/Junior Pairs match. One or two places to be grabbed (empty and/or unconfirmed) if you want to fish. Let’s get it filled…

Take care,

Juniors Sec…