Match Report

Match:  W Sampson Cup
Venue:  Watersfield
Winner:  R. Hansen
9 - 2 - 0
Runner Up:  R. Huskisson
6 - 13 - 0
Third:  D Sargeant (Portsmouth)
6 - 4 - 0

 

We paid our first visit of the season to Watersfield for the W Sampson Cup. The first thing is to say thanks to all those that have been working towards getting a new car park sorted for this water. Although possibly a little small for matches – you can probably get absolute maximum of 11 cars in and some would be blocked in. Under normal circumstances there is probably sensibly room for 7 – 8 cars.

Anyway down to the match – we were entertaining our friends from Portsmouth. After a bit of a false start with the draw involving not having the right numbers and then throwing what we had on the ground we were finally up and running – well I say running – trudging more like as obviously no cattle have been in the field so the grass is very high. Because of the numbers we actually had pegs below the top section, I think that this is the first time for a couple of years that we have done this.
We even put ‘The Point’ in and Ray Huskisson immediately declared that it was unfishable when he drew it ( more about Ray later).

It was a bit of a shame that a couple of anglers had possibly armed themselves with the wrong tackle for the swim they had drawn and this did perhaps affect a couple of weights. Bream made up the bulk of the top weights but there were a couple of reasonable ‘bit’ weights with both anglers trotting the long rod.

A newcomer to the club and on his first match with us was Rick Hansen who drew the fancied peg 1 on the top fence boundary. Being new to the water Rick did well to find a couple of bream – one at around 51⁄2 lb which is a good size (see photo) which together with a few bits gave him a total of 9 – 2 – 0.
So Ray Huskisson having moaned about drawing The Point ended up second – I have to confess that it is a peg where boots or waders are really useful if you want to make the most of it and Ray had neither. However from his lofty perch on the main bank (with boots you can get onto a gravel bar in the river) Ray found a couple of smallish bream and a few bits for 6 – 13 – 0.
In third place and on his first trip to Watersfield was Portsmouth man Dean Sergeant who is actually warden for their stretch of the Hamble. Dean only managed one fish but it was the biggest fish of the day and a personal best for Dean who had a 6 – 4 – 0 bream. Dean commented that he had a really enjoyable day and he thought that Watersfield was a lovely stretch of river (see photo).

Overall taking the top 5 anglers from each club Petworth and Bognor beat Portsmouth by
27 – 7 – 8 to 15 – 1 – 0.

Copyright Petworth and Bognor Angling Club West Sussex

PDAS member Dean Sergeant with the biggest fish of the day and a new PB 6lb 4oz Bream

Copyright Petworth and Bognor Angling Club West Sussex

Rick Hansen with a Bream that helped him to victory in his first Petworth and Bognor match

Copyright Petworth and Bognor Angling Club West Sussex

John Williams with a bag of silvers from the sluice swim.