2010 Annual General Meeting

All members are requested to attend the AGM which is to be held on Monday 22 February 2009 at The Black Bull, Somersham.

We will have a lot to get through so I'd be gratefull if could arrive in good time to commence the meeting at 8pm sharp and let's stick to the agenda as much as possible.

Jonty

Fur & Feather, Old Nene, Ramsey St Marys - 6 December 2009

8 members and one guest fished this years Fur & Feather on the Old Nene at Ramsey St Marys.

The three contenders for the Champtionship, Ray, Trev & myself drew on pegs 2, 3 & 4 respetivley. Guest John Pierrepont was on peg 1, Martin on 5, Weasle 6, Ron 7, El Presidente 8 & AT Tony was on end peg 9, just to the right of the 'Wires'; a noted area for bonus fish.

As we set up in atrocious conditions, Ron decided he wasn't going to take any more and opted to have a days fishing at the relativley sheltered Factory Bank just around the corner. This left Weasel and El Presedente with a spare peg to one side. The wind and rain eased in good time for the start of the match and the conditions were relativley pleasant for the rest of the day.

With the bonus fish proving elusive for many of those who were targeting them, most of the lads opted to concentrate on fishing for the abundance of small fish in the venue. John, Ray & I spend the majority of the day fish to hand at 4m with myslef making a switch in the last hour to my hemp line which brought a dozen or so better stamp roach. Trev opted to fish top 3 to hand as any other line he investigated was full of snags. AT Tony on end peg 9 did pick up a couple of bonus Perch of 1lb 8oz and 1lb 6oz.

AT the weigh in John on peg 1 weighed just under 6lb. Ray on 2 had 9lb 2oz which I was sure to be enough to win. Fortunalely for me my net of fish went just under 10lb. Trev weighed in 7lb 15oz, with AT Tony landing the only other 7lb weight of 7lb 14oz.

As a result I just pipped Ray to the Winter League by one point and secured the Championship for the 3rd time in 5 years. Along with the Summer League title won earlier this year it has been a good year for me. I have been lucky in the draw bag and I hope this luck continues next year as I look to defend all 3 titles!

Fur & Feather, Top 4

1st - Jonty 9lb 15oz
2nd - Ray 9lb 2oz
3rd - Trev 7lb 15oz
4th - Tony 7lb 14oz

See you all at the AGM on 22 February 2009

Jonty

P.S. The food in The Lion this year was really good, there was plenty to go round and it would certainly get my vote for next year.

Scores on the doors

Current league positions after 10 Matches: (Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Jonty 55pts (counting 7)
2 - Ray T 54pts (8)
3 - Trev 53pts (8)
4 - Ron 45.5pts (8)
5 - Weas 44pts (8)
6 - Mike 28pts (8)

Winter League (taking best 3 scores from 4 matches)

1 - Ray T 23pts (counting 3)
2 - Trev 18pts (3)
3 - Weas 16pts (3
1 - Jonty 15pts (2)
5 - Ron 13.5pts (3)
6 - Mike 9pts (3)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 60pts (counting 8)
2 - Dennis 45pts (8)
3 - Stu 43pts (8)
4 - John E 41pts (6)
5 - Steve 40.5pts (6)
6 - Ray T 36pts (8)

Speci cup entries, as before. The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting

2009 Fur & Feather

Grebe AC - fur n Feather match 2009 is to take place on Sunday 6th December 2009.

Fishing takes place at - Ramsey St Mary's, R.Old Nene, draw 0830hrs fish 10-3pm, £20 all in for members, £25 for guests wishing to fish the match and eat afterwards. This includes match pools, dayticket, meal contribution (the club is squaring up the remainder of the tab), £1 winner takes all and the 50p golden peg.

Eating to take place at - the Lion, Ramsey St Mary's (sat nav PE26 2TB) sitting down at around 4.45pmthe menu is a choice from;

STARTERS

Cream of Broccoli soup served with a warm bread roll
Prawn Cocktail with a slice of Wholemeal bread
Smooth Chicken liver pate, served with toast and salad garnish

MAINS

Roast of Sirloin Beef
Roast Breast of Turkey
Sea Bass Fillet
All accompanied with seasoned vegetables, roast puddings & parsnips, homemade stuffing, gravy and Yorkshire pudding.

DESSERTS

Traditional Christmas Pudding served with brandy sauce
Apple pie & custard

What I need to know is the following and also by the end of this current month at the very latest!

A) Are you coming to fish only, eat only or both? B) If you are eating what is your choice from the menu above?

Please let me know ASAP as it is important that we have the correct numbers and menu choices for the chef. We have reserved 15 places for the meal and provisionally booked 15 pegs on the St Mary's stretch, all of this can though be expanded upon if more of us turn up!!!

I look forward to hearing from you all in due course. If you wish I can be contacted on 07789 931031 or 01354 677753 (eves) to reserve your place.

Best regards

Steve G(Grebe AC Treasurer)

Dents Farm Shop - 1 November 2009

Match report by Mr T:

Expectations were high for the forthcoming match at Dents with the weather forecast favourable and a continuation of the Indian summer stretching ahead for the week, but days before the match came a weather warning for Sunday, Gale force winds and rain, and so it was, for once the met boys got it spot on. Looking out the window before leaving home there was no rain and just a fresh breeze, 20 seconds later and one foot out the door and it started raining, bugger!! from then on it got steadily worse.

A small group of soddened anglers gathered around big Ron for the draw, with news just in that Jonty had bowed out with a case of Delhi belly and had sportingly forfeited his place in the K.O.Cup, it was all to play for. With Mike unable to make the Fur and Feather which would have been the final, and the possibility of winning by default, it was decided to make this match the final between the last three( Trev, Mr T and Mike).

Ron went for another trek around the lake to try and find the best pegs to catch fish and also some respite from the increasing force of the wind. He made the wise decision to fish pegs 1 to 10 as this offered the best of both worlds.Also, who ever drew peg 1 gets to pick either peg 1 or 9, both flyer's? In goes cool hand Luke (Trev) and bingo, peg1.Now he's got a problem, which one will he take.Guiding his platform barrow with the reinforced axle and the contents of Preston Innovations warehouse, he heads for peg 9, after much deliberation he decides against it and heads back towards peg 1, this time battling against a strengthening head wind.

I drew peg 7 which was one of the bottom pegs which were more affected by the wind but were afforded some protection by the trees either side. I decide to keep things simple, one rig for the pole at 10 metres, no point in going out further as the wind made holding the pole at distance impossible. The rig is a .5grm with olivette to a 18's b911 on .10 line. I will bait two lines, to the right I put in pellet over hemp and to the left I put in choppped worm and caster in a groundbait Jus ( I picked that up from a snobbish resturant). I also make up a carp rod for the margin, no red hydro for me this time, the carp here just trash it.

On the whistle I cup in a small amount of bait to the left and right swims but leave the margin till later and keep topping up with a 'toss pot' every put in. I didn't get a bite for the first half hour and was starting to think either the fish were further out or it was going to be a tough one, but slowly they started to come, first a rudd, then a roach, then a skimmer, things were looking up. After the first hour I think I may have a couple of pounds and the fish were now coming steadily, but only on the chopped worm and caster line, I didn't have a fish on the pellet line all day.By twelve o'clock I thought I had approx 6lb and the crucians were starting to show in numbers although the skimmers seemed to be on the small side from what you would normally expect from here.

It was now time to have a quick look in the margin, not right close in but down the bottom of the shelf just beyond a top two. I cupped in some catmeat, then baited the size 10 Drennen specimen hook tied direct to 12.5lb through a 2.5lb test curve diawa carp rod ( I told you I was getting serious) I flicked out the lightweight waggler float and catmeat just beyond the baited area and held back to allow it to drift back on to the baited area and let the weght of the catmeat set the float.Within seconds the float buried, in disbelife and total surprise I overstruck, missed the fish and put the whole lot into the bramble infested tree to my left, arse!! With it all just out of reach, I had to snag the offending bramble with the landing net and heave it in until I could grab hold, the line snapped, the top of the cristal float broke off and sailed away and the thorns of the bramble had the last laugh at the detriment of my fingers,so I started again.When I recast the new setup back in no bites were forthcoming so I suspect it was rudd taking the meat, I tried every half hour on the meat line but only one carp fell to it,a fish of two pounds took the bait and the poor thing never know what hit it, as I wasn't prepared to give any ground with the snags either side of me, he was in the net before he could blink ( yes, I know they don't have eyelids but you get my drift)

So back to the pole line and with continual steady feeding and the wind turning to behind us, my swim started to bubble but even though I know the fish were there I was struggling to get them to take my bait. I think it was the crucians starting to gill feed and it was only by constently alternating between worm, maggot and bread punch that I kept fish coming to the net.Once again for me just lately, my swim died in the last hour and at the whistle I felt I had done ok but not enough to win.

Talking to Jon Bowland on peg 6 after the match he was of the same opinion, he thought he had got double figures but not fifteen plus, ditto myself. Unsurprisingly, word was filtering down that Trev had been catching but I didn't know if Mike had been able to get into any big fish down on peg 10.As the scrum of people around the weigh-in slowly edge towards me I could see reasonable bags of fish being weighed, this looks close? At peg 6 I look over Jon's shoulder at the score sheet and see Trev has 18lb, oh dear!! I haven't got anywhere near that. Then Jon Bowland weighs in 25lb only for him to receive a firm lashing from my tongue for vastly underestimating his catch.Err, time for egg on face!! When I put my fish to the scales they read 27lb, I can't belive it! I would have bet serious money on not having more than fifteen pounds, in my defence I didn't click my fish this time, also the weather was a big distraction as my umbrella constantly tried to unwind itself into tilt mode and at one point came down with me inside it.
Mike on peg 10 didn't get into any of the big fish and because I think it is shallower at that end he did well to put together 12lb of fish.

Trev I think made the right decision to fish peg 1 as he lost a number of big there but I feel he would have lost more on peg 9 and probably wouldn't have had the smaller fish in numbers to make the difference, but who knows.

At the end of the day no one was more surprised than me, very pleased mind you, but also slightly embarrassed.

And finally I'll finish with an apology to Jon B for being a little harsh in my comments from someone who can't add up himself.

Dents Farm Shop, 1 November 2009

With the weather forecast to remain exceptionally mild for the time of year a good match is expected with the possibility of plenty of fish being caught.

The good thing about the Farm Shop lake is the variation of fish and the different methods that can be used to catch them; be it pellet for the crucians, worm for the skimmers (which now average 1.5-2.5lb), maggots and caster for a net of small fish or gambling for a big fish or two down the side.

The fishery does not have many rules, but it's worth noting the following;

Barbless hooks only
1 Kg of Groundbait Maximum
1/2 Kg boilies maximum
Max 2nr 400g tins of meat
Carp/coarse pellets only (no trout/high oil pellets)
Damp nets should be dipped.

There are no net weight restrictions listed on the rules on the web, however we will need to check the fishery rule board on the day.

I hope to see you all there on Sunday.

Jonty

Scores on the doors

Current league positions after 9 Matches: (Top 6)

Championship (taking best 8 scores from the 11 matches)

1 - Jonty 55pts (counting 7)
2 - Trev 53pts (8)
3 - Ron 45.5pts (8)
4 - Ray T 45pts (7)
5 - Weas 38pts (7)
6 - Mike 28pts (8)

Winter League (taking best 3 scores from 4 matches)

1 - Jonty 15pts (counting 2)
2 - Ray T 14pts (2)
3 - Trev 13pts (2)
=4 - Weas & Ron both 10pts (2)
6 - Mike 7pts (2)

Handicap Cup (taking best 8 scores out of the 11 matches)

1 - Mike 56pts (counting 8)
2 - Dennis 45pts (8)
3 - Stu 43pts (8)
4 - John E 41pts (6)
5 - Jonty 35pts (7)
6 - Steve 34.5pts (5)

Speci cup entries, as before.

The full points and positions will be read out at the next meeting on 2nd November 2009

Knock-out Cup, 2009

Anglers through to the Semi final are:

Trev, who beat Weasle at Cuckoo
Mr T, who beat Pete at Cuckoo
Mike, who beat Karl at Fieldsend
Jonty, who beat Ron at Cuckoo

The semi-final draw will be held before the draw at Dents on 1 November. The plan is, should all semi-finalists fish the dents match, the final will be held during the fur and feather at Ramsey St Marys on 6 December 2009.

The Pool, Fieldsend Fishery - 18 October 2009

I was a bit dubious about fishing this match. Having never seen the venue before, hearing how the pellet waggler often dominates and the recent cold weather made me almost stay at home to watch the Football and Grand Prix! In the end I bit the bullet and decided to make the effort with this year’s match attendances frequently being below par.

I drew peg 6. I wasn’t too happy with the draw after recent matches being won off pegs 1-4. The way the match was pegged meant peg 6 was an end peg in the section which made it more appealing. Trev drew peg 2 which was the golden peg. As one of the contenders for the club championship, I really needed to beat him in the section to stand a chance of competing in the league myself. The other main championship contenders, Mr T & Ronnie, were pegged in the other section.

I did manage to glean some info from a few sources which narrowed my plan of attack to 2 areas; the pole with pellet and the method feeder. I felt the pole would offer the best presentation if the conditions allowed and the method feeder would be my plan B if the wind was a problem.
Before the off I plumbed up two pole lines, one at 13m and the other at 8m. With the 8m line being my main line of attack and the 13m line fed in case the fish wanted to be in the deeper water as the water cools. I set up one rig on the 13m line in about 10 feet of water; the float was a 1.5g maver pattern with 0.14 line to a 14 B911 hook, bulked with an oli with 4 nr 9 droppers. This was set at dead depth so the bristle was still showing on a slack plumbed line. I didn’t fish this line during the match.

I set up 2 rigs for the 8m line in 6 feet of water. One was a standard pellet rig with a .75g Tipo and 0.14 line to a 14 B911, this was shotted with a spread bulk of nr 9s with the lowest around 12 inches from the hook. The other was a 4x18 chimp set up with a 360 rotating hook length and a double bulk with the bottom bulk above the pivot about 3 inches off the bottom. I have had a few fish on this type of rig recently but this didn’t produce a fish today, with all fish falling to the strung out rig fished at dead depth.

At the start I cupped in a mixture of 6 & 4mm softened hard pellets on both pole lines and went out immediately onto the 8m line with a 6mm expander. Working the bait by lifting and dropping I kept fish coming throughout the day, feeding a toss pot of bait after each fish, bite or 200 count. This ensured I kept the bait going in, even during slow spells. Although the seasons are turning I still felt the fish would want some feed before the frosts set in. The fishing wasn’t manic but it was steady with around 5 fish per hour. The fish generally came in spurts with no obvious rhyme or reason why and when the appeared.

I had a look on the method after half an hour as Karl had 3 fish on it to my 2 on the pole. I hooked a fish first cast but lost it at the net so decided to focus on the pole.

At the weigh-in I had 17 fish in net 1 for 54lb 4oz and 6 fish in net 2 for 27lb 4oz, including one of around 8lb. I was frustrated that I lost 12 fish in total but I expect many people lost fish so I wasn’t too disheartened, I do however feel that black hydro was too heavy and grey would have been more appropriate.

I think the lost fish may have been down to the fact the bottom of the lake is clay which often means the fish in these venues often have quite soft mouths compared to those in other venues. Speaking to Ray Sladden after the match he said that losing fish is quite common on the venue.

Ray was 2nd in the section with 58lb of pellet waggler caught carp followed by new man Shaun who fish similar tactics to Ray for 33lb. Mr T won the other section with Ronnie 2nd.

There was some commotion at the weigh-in regarding the counting weights as a few anglers had over 50lb in a net. I think we need to make it clear at the next meeting how we are going to move forward regarding to venue net rules and our previous turning a blind eye.

These sort of disputes are not good for the image of the club or for the rapport between members, especially when membership and attendances are below par.

The Pool, Fieldsend, Doddington - 18 October 2009

Not having fished the water as a club before I have found out a little bit of info for us all:

The pool has a maximim depth of around 14ft in the middle.
It contains Carp, Chub, Orf , Barbel & Tench
The rules on the internet say No Method feeders, however Method feeders are allowed but must be free-running. NO STOPS TO BE POSITIONED BEHIND THE FEEDER.
It is relativley deep on the pole line so rigs should be tied to top 4s.
There is a bait shop on site. It's best to pre-order lives baits if required.

More information about the venue and the venue rules can be found at

http://www.fieldsendfishing.co.uk/