Match Report

This first leg match of the popular Pole Only series against Portsmouth and District Angling Society was always going to be difficult after more than a week of heavy frosts left both ponds looking very clear and lifeless.

The above disappointing results were from Cart Pond where you could actually see the bottom right underneath the anglers feet, but this did not seem to put all the fish off as most of the anglers caught something fairly quickly.

Vince Herringshaw was drawn on peg 24 and caught mainly roach, with one skimmer and one of the brown goldfish all on red maggot close to the island.

Lorraine Talbot (PDAS) was drawn on peg 27 and again caught small roach and a skimmer from open water at about 10 metres.

Rab Butler was third from peg 19 and caught small roach from open water.

The results on Stemps Pond were even worse , the joint winning weight being a mere one ounce, third place went to the only other angler to catch, who foul hooked a roach fry.

Five anglers were drawn on Stemps and first was Steve Simmonds who drew peg 11. Steve fished for most of the day without a bite, but then had a fish fall off on the way to the net which could have been costly, Luckily Steve managed to snare two small roach as the light faded just before the end of the match.

Steve Jeffery, was on noted winter peg 13, but even his so-called luck in the draw bag couldn’t help him catch many fish today. When the sun eventually rose high enough to come from behind the trees, Steve saw hundreds of fry come out from underneath his platform. After a quick change of hook to a size 26 and half a squatt, Steve managed to catch five of these small fish, which at the time was winning the lake. After watching Steve Simmonds catch his two small roach from underneath a tree, Steve tried the tree in his peg and caught two small roach. Both Steve’s decided that their fish would hardly register on the scales so called it a dead heat.

Rod Legge (PDAS) managed to foul hook one of the small fry in the lake which was enough for third place.

The second leg of the Pole Only Competition is to be fished on the 6th January. Anglers that fished Cart Pond this time will fish Stemps next time and the anglers from Stemps will fish Cart.