Parish Games Match

Whilst I enjoy the camaraderie that fishing a team match gives I don't want it to be any more than an annual event. Being told when and where to fish goes against my nature but this year I enjoyed more than ever before. That was mainly down to the fishing. Whilst the majority struggled I found myself in a half decent peg which gave me hope and when I missed a bite first chuck my confidence still grew.

Peg Twenty was my station for the five hours down in the middle of town and I started fishing maggot feeder about two thirds of the way across. Four Perch in the first hour was a start but I was gutted when I lost the biggest at the net, well over a pound it could have made a big difference.
Whilst feeder fishing I fed a line about a rod length out regularly with maggots and for a change I decided to give it a trot. First run through resulted in a Perch and after that followed a procession of Gudgeon.

They continued for the remainder of the match and I finished the day with quite a respectable net full of fish weighing in at 3lb 4oz. The fishing had been tough for most so much so that I had enough to frame in third place so ended up £25 richer. And the team finished a respectable fourth.

Wychavon Parish Games Angling Match 2015

The Wychavon Parish games were started in 1978 and as far as I know are unique. 35 Parishes enter competing in over 15 different types of event from bell-boating to petanque(boules), darts to cross-country. Each year there are over 1000 participants with trophies awarded for first and second place in each discipline and an overall trophy for the winning parish.
This weekend was the angling(the only match fishing I do). Teams of three from each village fishing in three different sections on the Avon in Evesham. Points are awarded in each section, first place one point, second two etc. and the team with the lowest points is the ultimate winner. Last year (with the same team, myself, Ady and Don) we finished second, this time we wanted to go one better!

I drew peg nineteen a bland featureless section of uniform depth and with nothing in the margins, this was going to be tough I thought to myself. And so it proved. It took me an hour to catch my first fish a Dace of minute proportions, I followed this up with a minnow. Thankfully those fishing either side of me were struggling too.
And then the sun came out. Halfway through and I had about half an ounce in the net. There were fish in front of me topping every now and then so I decided to shallow up and cast to the ripples resulting in an instant bite. The instigators of the rings were Bleak. I managed to get several more bites landing about ten of them, bumping off several and losing a few to finish the match with a meagre paltry three and half ounces. However this was enough to beat the anglers either side of me and quite a few in my section.

Ady and Don had fared better in their respective sections and we finished the match in joint first place. In the event of a tie the total team weight is taken into account and sadly we were pushed down into second place. Ady had lost a two pound Chub which could have made all the difference, If I had landed two more Bleak to get to four ounces then that would have made the difference too.

Match fishing can be a highly frustrating sport!!

Next year, next year!!!

Wychavon Parish Games-Match Fishing

Match fishing is not my scene, I just don't like being told when and where I can fish but once a year I give it a go. The Parish Games is an inter village tournament of over thirty different disciplines including pool, cross country, 5-a-side football, darts, crib etc. and fishing is one of the events. You must reside in the village you represent and a team of three is required for the angling. The venue is always the Warwickshire Avon in Evesham, the same stretch that holds the angling festival on Bank Holiday August. The river is split into three sections, each team has an angler in each section and where you finish in your section is the number of points you get. Total the three lots of points and the team with the lowest amount wins, simple.
The draw takes place in the local cafe at 8.30am and fishing is from 10.00am until 3pm with a presentation of money and prizes straight after. My team mates are both serious match fishermen who know every peg on this stretch backwards so while they fought it out over pegs 5 and 22 I took the remaining peg, 41.

My tactics were simple, I had two main baits chopped worm and maggots plus pellets as a last resort. Right from the off there were fish topping close in front of me so I set off with 'mag and wag' just below the surface. First cast I had a Dace. It was tiny all eyes and not a lot else. Within half an hour I had a few more but they were so small that the maggot(and the hook) didn't get fully in their mouths and when they came up in the water they just fell off! I thought this will take me ages to get a decent weight and its not my style of fishing in any way so when the boredom and frustration had reached boiling point I changed to a feeder. I continued to feed close in but the feeder was sent further out in search of more substantial specimens. That was my first mistake. A fruitless time followed until I brought the feeder close in and nailed a half decent Perch. That however was a false dawn and was not backed up by any of it's brethren. I went back to tiddler bashing, nailed a few more and changed to worm, another mistake.
This also proved futile as did the last hour of trying for a biggie with pellet, mistake number three.

I ended the match with a meagre nine ounces. Luckily I wasn't the only one who struggled and I finished tenth in my section but I can't help thinking that if I had stayed with the tiddlers that placing could have been so much higher!
Thankfully my team mates had fared much better in their fancied pegs with Don coming a respectable third in his section and Ady winning his and the match to give us a creditable second place overall. The first time our village had been placed for nearly thirty years! Next time...next time!