Match Report

This match was fished on a pleasant warm autumn day but unfortunately for the fishing there was minimal wind and what there was, was blowing off the road bank, giving flat calm conditions. Eleven anglers booked in and nine were pegged along the road bank, one on the sluice before the island and one behind the island. Catches were low with only four bream caught along with 2 tench. However there were some good sized roach caught. John Williams drew the golden peg and almost stayed to the end of the match.

In first place was John Ritter who caught 2 bream and one skimmer weighing 7 – 1 – 8. He caught one bream on the feeder and one on the long pole. He was on the third peg along the road bank.

Fishing to the right of the concrete slab was Kevin Leighfield who used the feeder throughout the match to catch 2 bream and one small roach weighing 6 – 11 – 8. Kevin had 5 bites over the whole of the match which indicated that the fish in his area were not feeding.

John and Kevin had two bream each in what turned out to be a hard match

Mick Greenway was fishing by the sluice and fished maggot on the long pole to catch some good sized roach. These were supplemented by a tench caught in the margins, under the tree to the right of the peg, to weigh in 6 – 6 – 12 and take third place.

Overall the two leg Parfrement cup series was won by Kevin Leighfield with 19 points from Mick Greenway with 17 points.

The catches in the matches at Petworth Park have decreased over the last few years and there has been much discussion amongst the matchmen who have fished there about the causes for this and possible ways to try and improve it.

Nine anglers pegged along the road bank may be too much fishing pressure and reducing that may aid the fishing. However this would mean more pegs along the shallow area of the lake or limiting the number of anglers fishing. It has also been suggested that we peg the early competitions in the shallow area beyond the island to explore the fishing potential of this area. So watch this space.