CONCOCTED BY Ray 'Mr T' Torrington (the only similarity I have to him is I wear a small gold chain, thank god, Christ he was an ugly bastard!! Some also call me the 'catmeat kid' amongst other things.
I first became aware of Grebe AC on a visit to Ken Wades tackle shop in Peterborough where a notice stuck to his fridge door listed the venues for this years matches held by the club, this is what first drew my attention as all the venues are good, and all along the bottom of the notice were cut off and keep contact details of Jon Wilson (smart cutting edge thinking). I asked Ken about the club and he said they were a small but friendly club with a reasonable standard of angler ( I think its higher but I don't know what circle of anglers Ken fishes with, if we had the likes of Steve Ringer. Bob Nudd etc then we would all be just pools fodder!!). I emailed Jon and he kindly downloaded the club rules and AGM details and dates of the meetings for my perusal, the rules are common sense and not over burdened with red tape ( always remember we fish for enjoyment, red tape kills that, refer to government for good example, ok don't get me started!!). So, all signs are good for joining the club but first I will have to ask the wife, not that she would normally mind but let me explain. I started fishing when I was thirteen and when I started working, I joined the companies angling club (Leicester) and started fishing matches in the fens on Sundays but due to marriage, work, children, divorce, .you know, the normal things that life throws at you, then you don't get the time to commit to match fishing and you just grab the pleasure sessions when you can. Then I joined the MOD at RAF Wittering in 1999 and they actually pay you to go fishing ( I kid you not) I had to keep pinching myself, I thought I'd gone to heaven.Then the powers that be (sqn leaders) made my job into total crap ( they got promotion, we got the shaft) I decided to jump ship and retire with is why I had to ask the wife because I haven't fished on a weekend in years, as my wife works and I don't (excellent partnership) it didn't seem fair to go fishing when she's at home when I can go anytime in the week,but she fine with it bless her, so I came to the AGM and joined.
With some trepidation I set off for the distant lands of Somersham, thinking I was leaving in plenty of time 6.45, then my car wouldn't start due to a flat battery, thought ten minutes on the charger would be enough just to get it started, wrong! back in doors to grab keys to the wifes Nissen Micra and explain why her car will be missing. Hit the road and the accelerator, not much seems to be happening, this one litre engine needs a bit of winding up, soon I'm thrumming nicely across the switchback that is the subsided roads of the fens in the pitch black, all is going well till I hit Raveley then the signposts ran out, I know, a quick look at the map should put me back on the right road, wrong! wife's car, don't do maps, don't drive anywhere she doesn't know. OK so I'm now lost in the pitch black with no map, right follow your nose, its big enough, so I swing a left and head for civilisation, after a few miles I enter a village with an open petrol station, jump out and ask directions, good, not too far of track but its after eight. Good job I put Jonty's mobile number on my phone, quick call lets him know I'm on my way.Eventually coax the Micra in to Somersham only to be overwhelmed by the number of pubs (consider moving here ) I think the Black Bull was possibly the one at the end, cruise in to the car park and enter the empty front bar (where is everyone?) Order a pint and ask if there's an angling club meeting here tonight, yes she say's, just head to the rear and follow the racket, righto I say imbibing deeply and enter a tightly packed room in full flow, I've made it.
Ok, so what were my first impression as I didn't know anyone. Well there's definitely a good cross section of people of all ages and from all walks of life, the loud, the quiet, the comedians, all the ingredient's of a well rounded club. I was also impressed by the number of trophies and prizes that were handed out, especially the ones for things other than outright winners, and when there were surplus prizes at the end then these were entered into a draw for everyone at the meeting, including me, who nobody know from Adam and didn't even know if I would join.But the most important thing that I've noticed from the start of that first meeting is the quality of the committee members, these are the guys that make the club work, for those of us who are lucky enough just to be able to turn up and fish should spare a thought for all the hard work these guys put in to make it happen.We should help them when ever we can, they are like gold dust, without them we have no club
Now, onto what could be a contentious issue, talking tactics. I think I possibly sit between both camps on this one. I agree that we should assist each other in enjoying our sport, but as most things in life, you get out what you put in.We are fishing matches to get points and points make prizes, so its understandable that some may not want to give away their hard earned knowledge in what is a competitive sport. I personally don't mind talking to people about tactics as long as its a two way thing, experiences as shown me that some are good at asking questions but don't answer any. This is not aimed at anyone in this club as I don't know anyone well enough and hopefully you don't crucify me for raising the issue. What I would be really interested in is helping those in the club that would like to increase their catches, I don't mean those who are consistently at the top of the league because I believe you know what your doing, its those that may get a little disheartened at not doing quite as well as they would like. Of course helping people on a match day is difficult so what I would like to offer people is a practise session at a match venue usually in the week before a match, I know not everyone is as lucky as me to have time in the week due to all your commitments but the offer is there for those who wish to take it. I shall be going to Button hole lake probably next Wednesday for those who are interested ( called them Sunday, no matches booked during the week, except Tuesday evening, must be off the lake by 4.00pm on that day). I know someone will suggest that I write a revue on the venue after the practise session, well if I get time maybe ( I'd sooner be fishing than writing, this is taking me hours) and if I do write something I just might leave a key element out, best to join me on the bank if you can. May have just dug a hole for myself there?
Full marks for Jonty's match report and his tactic's, truly awesome win, what energy. If I had fished like he did on the day they would have had to stretcher me off.Let me show you the difference in my tactics on the day. Drawing peg 34 I didn't fancy my chances very much as it was devoid of features, 25 metres to the island, nothing in the margins, what shall I do? Right, I'll set up a feeder rod to cast to the island ( always dangerous, thats another fivers worth of feeders out the window), set up an up in the water rig and a bottom rig for 11 metres and finally a margin rig for those lovely lumps.On the whistle I thought I'd try something different and didn't put any feed in anywhere and dropped a piece of catmeat in the margin to my left, nothing!! so I dropped it to my right and it buried, with a tench in the net I dropped in again and it buried, another tench, then an f1 and so it went on. Nothing from my left, all from the right, it was steady but not great, should I change tactics, maybe waste time getting them up in the water or get a feeder to the island, normally takes time to get them on to the feed. Should I stick in the margin and hope for the lumps, pressures mounting as Trev to my left and Martin to my right continue to bag up up in the water. Never mind I'll stick to the margins, once those lumps move in I'll take the match apart, whats this!! last hour ,margins gone dead, Trev's catching lumps...bugger!! O well wait till next time.
Right, thats enough of my gibberish, hope I haven't offended anyone and its only my view. Finally, jonty asked if anyone has a good camera for photo's for the blog, well I'm not sure how good my camera is but I've been quite impressed with the quality, so I'm quite happy to bring it along to matches if you so wish ( subject to remembering, age related, and the batteries are not flat, camera that is or on second thoughts maybe thats me)
Happy Fishing
No comments:
Post a Comment