The fifth round of the Beastmaster Surrey Match League takes place on Spring lake at Framfield tomorrow (8th May) with current league leader Nick Plum the only angler on maximum points. After notching up 16 points with four consecutive section wins Nick will be feeling the pressure as only 3 points seperates the top 6 anglers with two rounds to go. (see below)

Beastmaster League 2005 After Round Four

Position	Name	Weight	Points
01	Nick Plum	113-14-0	16
02	Mike Jameson	150-2-0	15
03	Paul Kell	149-12-0	15
04	Dave Walker	131-7-0	14
05	Russ Evans	80-5-0	14
06	Ian Wetherell	78-14-0	13

The first leg of the knockout final starts also tomorrow and the four anglers, Mike Jameson, Martin Twine, Nick Plum and Dave Walker will be lookong to get off to a good start.

I am fairly confident that Spring will record the first ton up weight or weight's of this years event and as well all know overall weight could decide the overall champion and minor places if anglers are equal on points at the end of the competition. If past events are anything to go by 18 points will get you in the top 8 so with that in mind I will be looking for another 4pts from 8, but of course I still have a chance of winning the event and a maximum 8 remaining points will be on my agenda.

Lee Perry, Sport One with four section seconds is lying in 7th place on 12 points.

Its all set up for a fantastic finish and come the end of round 5 we should all know who the 4 or 5 anglers will be, that will produce the new champion. Watch this space.

7th May 2006

Well what a finish we are in for on Sunday 22nd May at Hartleylands, yesterdays match at Framfield produced the first ton up bag of this current series with new league leader scaling a fine 117lbs 11oz. Unfortunately for me Paul was in my section and although my 94lbs 5oz gained second on the day I dropped my first section point for 4 matches but with a boosted weight moved up a place over Dave Walker who is also tied with me on 17 points. Nick Plum finally dropped his first point but scrapped through over Barry Cope to claim a section second and although is tied with the leader on 19 points is some 80lbs behind, Mike Ewin won the section with 84lbs 4oz and moves into seventh spot on the leaderboard.

Paul Kell (left) waiting to hear the news from Russ Evans (right) that his efforts are good enough. After two weigh in's and a combined total of 117lbs 11oz, the answer was yes. Fred Kell, Martin Twine and Nick Plum look on.

Mike Jameson also dropped a rare point at the hands of Kevin Pack who moves into sixth place overall where Mike still remains in third spot and certain of a top 8 prize placing. John Gore sneaks into eigth place but will need a good result in the final round as six other anglers are close behind.

Beastmaster League 2005 After Round Five

Position	Name	Weight	Points
01	Paul Kell, Sport One	267-7-0	19
02	Nick Plum	187-2-0	19
03	Mike Jameson, Sport One	215-10-0	18
04	Russ Evans, Sport One	174-10-0	17
05	Dave Walker, Sport One	154-13-0	17
06	Kevin Pack, Cardinals	195-14-0	16
07	Mike Ewin, Sport One	182-12-0	15
08	John Gore, Cardinals	152-1-0	15
09	Steve Wilson, Cardinals	148-13-0	15
10	Harry Krishnan	131-1-0	15
11	Mark Holland, Sport One	111-3-0	15

So will my prediction of Paul Kell winning the title come true? Who will be the new knockout champion? well Nick Plum 73-4-0 takes a nice lead of nearly 8lbs over Mike Jameson 65-10-0 into the second leg but Martin Twine and Dave Walker both have impossible tasks now after recoding 44-5-0 and 23-6-0.

So its all set up nicely for a grandstand finish with plenty still in with a shout.

9th May 2005

With a rest from the Beastmaster league, I was off to Stubpond for the second Inter Challenge Shield teams of 7 at Stubpond fishery, host of a Fish O Mania qualifier on June 4th. I had picked a good Surrey Mirror team made up of mostly Sport One squad members and after finishing second last year to the home team Stubpond we were hoping to go one better. The day  turned out to be a bit of a disaster with myself and Colin Wood catching just three skimmers between us and at times I must admit to almost nodding off, it was that boring. The wind made presentation impossible as my only feature was on the far bank and to cut a long and very boring story short I was not happy at all with my presenation throughout the match. To sum up our day, Lee Perry was putting together a nice bag of big carp, 10 in total, and looking good for a section win and the match outright. However come the weigh in, Lee pulled out his net only to see just one carp of 8lbs lying there, on inspection of the fisheries net a very large slit was evident. so basically Lee was putting fish into his net only for them to swim straight out through the large side entrance. Lee was obviously not happy and the team were basically gutted for him as it cost him dear on the day, not just for the team but individually as well.

Paul Kell had 4 small carp for 14lbs, but at last some good news, as the rest of the team produced three section wins with Dave Walker's 54lbs being good enough for second place overall. Barry Cope and Nick Plum were the other two section winners with weights over 30lbs. In the end our total of 27 points put us in second place again behind the home Stubpond (36 points) who will once again choose their home venue for next years renewal. My old cub South Norwood did well to finish in third just one point behind us.

Looking forward to next year already. 

Click here for full more information on the match.

15th May 2005

Well tomorrow is the final round of the Beastmaster Surrey Match League at Hartleylands and with Paul Kell of Sport One narrowly on top with 19 points plus the added cushion of an 80lbs weight advantage over Nick Plum (19pts) its basically in Paul's hands but all is not lost for the chasing pack.

Just some of the prizes on offer for the winning anglers in tomorrow's final round. The top 8 all receive Italian silver cups plus the knockout winner and runner up.

All the final news will be on this site tomorrow night from 8pm onwards.

Prizes on offer tomorrow: (Update, the winners were)

1st Prize Beastmaster Silver Cup, Beastmaster 8.5 metre margin pole plus top 3 kit and £320 in cash pools. (Paul Kell)

2nd Prize Beastmaster Silver Runners Up Cup,Beastmaster carp float rod 13' and £210 in cash pools (Russ Evans)

3rd Prize Beastmaster Silver Cup, Beastmaster 13' medium feeder rod and £190 in cash pools. (Nick Plum)

4th Prize Silver cup, Beastmaster 9-11' medium feeder rod and £150 in cash pools. (Mike Jameson)

5th Prize Silver Cup, Double match net (supplied by Biggin Hill Angling Centre) and £130 in cash pools. (Kevin Pack)

6th Prize Silver Cup, Shimano 13' feeder rod and £110 in cash pools. (Dave Walker)

7th Prize Silver Cup, Reel and landing net pan (supplied by Biggin Hill Angling Centre) and £100 in cash pools.(John Gore)

8th Prize Silver Cup, Off box tray system (supplied by Biggin Hill Angling Centre) and £80 in cash pools. (Lee Perry)

Beastmaster Knockout Cup

1st Place Beastmaster Knockout Silver Cup and £60 in cash pools (Nick Plum)

2nd Place Beastmaster Runners Up Silver Cup and £40 in cash pools. (Mike Jameson)

3rd Place Shimano goody bag (Martin Twine)

4th Place Shimano goody bag. (Dave Walker)

Good luck to all in what is going to be a very interesting day.

21st May 2005

updated 28th May 2005

This nice bag of Hartleylands carp weighing 36lbs 4oz won me the final round of the Beastmaster Surrey Match League plus catapulted me into the Runners Up spot behind my team mate Paul Kell.

Drawn on Nicks peg 35 which is not the most consistent and productive part of the lake I had two end pegs to contend with but felt I was in a fairly even pegged section. However after continually feeding my waggler swim the fish finally turned up after an hour or so before I started to bag up on corn on a size 14 hook.

I managed to tempt 10 carp and a nice roach on the pole line early on before switching over to the waggler.

My main aim was to win my section and try and secure the 4th spot that I was lying in before the final round had started. With the section and match won I soon found out that my nearest rivals Mike Jameson and long time league leader Nick Plum had dropped points on Pear Tree, which resulted in me finishing a point ahead of Mike and level on points with Nick but with a superior weight total I pushed Nick into third spot.

Sensas Anglers Mail Match Catch Final 2005

On Wednesday (25th May) I competed in the Sensas Anglers Mail Match Catch Final at Holly Farm in Ashby Magna near Leicester. Confident after a good finish in the Beastmaster three days earlier I set off for Leicester in the hope of a good draw and a better days sport than last years final in which I was a qualifier along with Sport One team mate Mark Holland.

After a nice breakfast and some good chat with the other local competitors it soon came round to draw time and with Sensas's Trev Tomlin doing the honours, I was keeping my fingers crossed of drawing in the high numbers as that was the area to be according to the local anglers. When my name was called I pulled out number 8 which put me on permanent peg 19, exactly where I drew last year . Last year I caught about 12lbs odd on a very hard day and with cold conditions similar I was fearing the worse again. I sat there and waited to see who my pairs partner was for the day as thats how the event is run with combined weight sorting out the winners. As the draw for the other pegs was going on I was trying to see who my partner was and with much joy I was paired up with the "Fin" Andy Findlay who had drawn very well indeed. In fact the peg that Andy drew was the winning peg last year so all was looking good apart from the fact that I had drew crap. Last year I was drawn next to Andy and we both struggled so we both knew that Andy's peg was going to be the key to any success on the day.

Andy Findlay with part of the catch that gave him top weight on the day and runners up place in the Sensas Anglers Mail event.

At the off I started with 4 rudd then all went quiet and I could only pick off the odd small silver in long drawn out spells, I started to think that I was on for another poor days fishing and in the middle part of the match I went biteless for nearly 2 hours. I could see Andy's peg so I knew he was catching well and to be honest that put me under more pressure as he was doing all the work with myself trying to get a bite. Anglers Mail reporters Paul Dennis and Tony Keeling were busy on the bank taking pictures and  keeping everyone informed of who was catching and who was not. The lake was fishing hard again, much harder than last year so with Andy doing well it looked good for us to finish in the frame.

I managed to catch 3 small carp in the final 30 minutes in the margins to finish with 5 carp and a dozen silvers for a disappointing weight of 5lbs 6oz. The other pegs around me had also fished poorly too, probably caused by a cold right to left wind that made presentation poor on the long pole line at 10 metres. As I packed up I kept an eye on the scales as they moved from peg to peg, finally they arrived at Andy's swim and with two weigh ins being required a final total of 47lbs was registered, but was it enough to scoop the £2000 first prize. Two anglers had told me that we had won but was not sure for definate when I asked them, I told myself not to get too carried away until I knew the final result as my gut feeling was we were second. On arriving back to the car park, my gut feeling was proved to be correct and we had finished second, some 5lbs short off the winning pair. It was close between all the top 3 and my lowly weight was enough to hold on to second spot by a mere 3lbs odd, so at least I felt that I had contributed to my partners match winning weight.

It wasn't much but this small bag of fish helped to clinch second spot and a share of the spoils.

After a nice buffet the presentation took place and we both collected a £250 cheque, Silver tankard and a Sensas keepnet for our troubles. It was a nice ending for myself after a hard days fishing and a long 3 hour journey home, well done to Andy (class angler) amd many thanks to Trev Tomlin of Sensas for running the event and to Paul Dennis and Tony Keeling of the Anglers Mail for a splendid and enjoyable day.

A full match report and photos will be in next weeks Anglers Mail

28th May 2005

“Big fish show up in latest Fish O qualifier”

Last weekend I competed in the latest Fish O Mania qualifier at Stubpond near East Grinstead and although Stubpond is fairly local to me I am not a regular at the fishery and after a poor match in the Inter Club Challenge Shield three weeks ago with the Surrey Mirror Team, I was hoping for a good draw. With the draw time at 9am and some 100 plus anglers lining up with fingers crossed for the noted swims, I eventually arrived at the draw bag some twenty minutes later pulling out peg 109 which put me in permanent peg number 53, a good draw and in the area that I wanted to be.

            The only problem that I felt would hinder my peg was the wind direction, which was blowing from right to left and being as I like to fish this venue with a waggler fished shallow with luncheon meat over tight to the island it was too windy and my waggler rod stayed in my holdall. With a 10.30am start of which I was not ready due to time spent waiting to draw for my peg number I eventually started on a small bomb with meat over to the island and after ten minutes had a small carp of 10oz in the net. Basically that was it until 1pm when after a dip in the wind I decided to set up my waggler rod, as I had nothing to lose and I could see the odd fish topping on the far bank.

            With my third cast the float buried and a decent carp was on and after a tense battle a nice mirror carp of about 5lbs was in the net. The wind picked up again which was disappointing but I decided to persevere with rod and line attack, as my pole margin lines were not producing either. The match, which was, spread over four lakes, Mill, Forge, Chart and Plantation was fishing fairly hard and plenty of anglers were on walkabouts quite early in the match. News was local rod and Stubpond regular Les Parker was bagging on peg 61 (peg 1) that was the same peg that produced the winner in the recent teams of seven event. The specimen lake was throwing up a few big Sturgeon and a carp of 20lbs was also reported which must have been excellent news for the filming Sky crew.

            With under an hour to go I struck into my second decent fish of the day, which turned out to be another mirror of 5lbs. Twenty minutes later I was into another bigger fish and after five minutes I slipped the net under a fish of around 7lbs, things were looking up albeit much too late. I managed another carp of 8lbs to boost my final tally to 26lbs 4oz but as the news was reported earlier during the match, Les Parker won comfortably with 94lbs of carp to take his place in the final on the 6^th August at Heyfield lakes in Doncaster.

            I have one more attempt left to make into the final now and that will be at Monk Lakes near Maidstone on the 2^nd July where I am sure every angler will catch at least 30lbs plus. Whilst I was fishing the match a couple of anglers came walking by criticising the NFA’s decision to have these type of venues in the Fish O 2005 calendar. I can understand what they are saying as when you have matches on split lakes, the draw bag most definitely narrows down the field and many on this current qualifier were only fishing for their section money. However draws on any lake, river or canal will favour some anglers over others, it’s the nature of the sport followed by the skill of the angler to turn the flyer peg as they are called into winning peg’s.

I do have one moan about all the qualifiers and that is the time between the draw and start of the match. For some reason the time was cut from previous years to 2 hours (which is the norm) to 1 ½ hours, its simply not enough time to draw which can take twenty minutes plus and then get the gear out of the car, arrive at your peg and set up before the whistle. Some anglers travel 150 miles to the qualifiers and then spend the most important time of a match, preparing, rushing around to be ready for the all in. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the 2 hours setting up time will back on the agenda for next season.

Next time I’ll have news on how the Reservoir’s fished this weekend, my open match on the Reservoir Lake at Hartleylands and the Reservoir at Bough Beech in Holland AC first club match of the season.

“Tight Lines”

Russ Evans

5th June 2005

This season will no doubt be a very interesting one and hopefully a successful one too with the KAL starting on 26th June on the River Wantsum in Kent. With a squad of 15 to choose from I am confident that the chosen six man team for each of the nine rounds will be good enough to earn promotion in our first year. By the time the fifth round is due our main will have started, the Angling Times Kent Winter league which kicks off on Nickolls Leisure Pit on October 9th one week after a practice open. It's a long way off yet but with a busy season planned it will come round quickly.

This weekend (June 11th) I will be organising an open match on the Reservoir at Hartleylands, one of my favourites venues and lake. With the warm weather looking settled this pole only match should see some good weights recorded and I predict a ton up bag of carp and roach will be required to win it. Watch this space.

See report below, I was just about right with my prediction

11th June 2005

Mark Holland right with his winning 100lbs 15oz catch from peg 1 on the Reservoir Lake at Hartleylands.

“Ton up Mark weigh in front”

Last Saturday in the Sport One pole only match on the Reservoir Lake at Hartleylands Farm, Sport One rod Mark Holland drew a peg that not many, including him, wanted to draw. However with the wind blowing favourably into Holland’s peg 1 bank, Holland had an enjoyable day that put him well in front of his nearest rivals. Fishing at 8 metres with pellet up in the water, carp after carp was landed to record an excellent 100lbs 15oz, almost double of second placed team mate Martin Charnock who was on nearby peg 5 with 55lbs 15oz of carp and silvers. Garbolino Apollo rod and junior Tony Curd put in an impressive display to take third spot with most of his fish coming in the last two hours fishing shallow. With 55lbs 14oz Curd narrowly missed out on second place but picked up a share of the winnings with third ahead of Colin Hart (Holmesdale) who scaled 54lbs 6oz. The two section winners who also made up the frame were Neil Adcock (Total Fishing) 53lbs 3oz and myself with 41lbs 1oz.

Result:

1^st Mark Holland (Sport One/Carp Shop) 100-15-0;

2^nd Martin Charnock (Sport One) 55-15-0;

3^rd Tony Curd Garbolino Apollo 55-14-0;

4^th Colin Hart (Holmesdale ACS) 54-6-0;

5th Neil Adcock (Total Fishing) 53-3-0;

6^th Russ Evans (Sport One) 41-1-0.

It was an enjoyable day, which I hope to be the first of many good matches I am running on The Reservoir Lake over the next few months including the Surrey Mirror Pairs Event in September.

On a few of my latest matches I have noticed that no matter what size of bait you put on the hook, whether it be meat, double corn, double big pellet or huge bits of paste, small silvers try and take the bait, sometimes successfully to. On a recent match at Framfield, one of the smallest perch I have caught came on a ¾ inch square piece of meat, unbelievable. So it’s not always true that big baits catch big fish, quite the opposite actually.

Although fishing is available widespread on canals and commercials plus some odd club controlled lakes, rivers are at present out of bounds. But by the time this column hits the shelves (June 16^th) the river season will have started and I will be making a trip up to Norfolk for a days fishing on the Broads with my Dad. Hopefully the roach, tench and bream will have spawned and be ready for a good days action.

The next few weeks are going to be hectic that’s for sure with an open match on Monks (June 19^th and 26^th) where tickets can be obtained from organiser Kevin Fuller on 07917 010271. Plus I will be involved in Sport One’s first team match on the 26^th June in the First round of the Kent Angling League on the River Wantsum, where as team captain I will be hoping to lead the team of six of to a good start with promotion our aim come March next year. With a Total Fishing Get Together match sandwiched in between and the a little later my final chance of getting into the Fish O Mania final with a qualifier at Monks on 2^nd July, I am going to need all the rest and preparation I can get.

Next time I’ll have news on how Holland’s first club match of the season at Bough Beech panned out and with the new season due to start, may I wish you all a very merry fish full season.

 Neil Adcock (Total Fishing) came 5th with 53lbs 3oz

Tony Curd (Garbolino Apollo) came 3rd with 55lbs 14oz

11th June 2005

“Bream provide bites on a hard day at Bough Beech”

My first domestic Holland AS club match took place on a hard Bough Beech Reservoir and the rumours were leading up to the match, was that is was going to be very hard with the possibility of some blanks. The match was held on the North Bank and with the weather warming up I was hoping that the rumours were going to be wrong and that the vast shoals of Bream and Roach would turn up in time for our contest. I drew the last peg in the bag and pulled out peg 1 which put me further round the point and into the wind which I was happy about and with a pleasure angler having already caught a bit further up from my peg I knew the Bream were in the area and feeding.

I tackled up with a 13ft Carbonactive rod using the 1/2oz tips; 4lbs Preston mono main line and a size 16 hook to a 2lbs hook length with a small drennan open-ended feeder attached. I mixed up my favourite groundbait for Bough Beech, which is neat Sensas Gros Gardons (a good roach mix) and cast the feeder about 60 yards into 7ft deep water. I had to wait about 45 minutes before I had my first indication on the tip, which was a slight pull round. On retrieving the hook bait, one of the maggots had been sucked so all was looking up the fish had moved in. On my next cast the tip was banging round before I settled the slack line and a small roach was the culprit. To my left some 5 pegs away Les Cross was catching a few small skimmers and decent roach and took an early lead with his brother Peter at the next peg doing like wise.

Twenty minutes after my small roach, the tip, which was set with, a slight curve in it dropped back and as I lifted into the bite I was met with a nice curve in the rod and a thump thump of a bream. A few seconds later a nice bream of 2lbs was sitting in my landing net and very quickly I re-baited and cast out on the same spot again. Almost immediately the tip pulled round and another bream was on again in the same bracket as before. In a 90-minute period I landed ten bream with the biggest around 3lbs and the smallest just over the pound mark, very nice indeed. The last two hours of the match I remained bite less but it did not matter as the damage was already done and I won the match comfortably with a total weight of 18lbs 10oz with Les Cross coming second with just 3lbs 12oz ahead of Peter who had 3lbs ½ oz. As predicted a few blanked which was disappointing and not the best way to kick off a new club season, however for myself it was an enjoyable day and good start to the 2005/06 season, long may it continue.

My next match will be my last chance to get in some practice for my final Fish O Mania qualifier at Monk Lakes, which is on 2^nd July. I have been on the look out for a new hook bait which will hopefully give me the edge over my rivals and after shopping around I will be giving it a go in the open match, watch this space.

Next week I will be leading the Sport One team into our first team match on the River Wantsum in Kent which I believe is located not far from Reculver. It’s a fair way to go for a team event especially as I have heard the Drain, which we will be fishing is normally always covered in duckweed. However with team points at stake I am confident that we can achieve a good start to boost the eight other rounds we will be competing in spread out over the next few months. With a squad of fifteen to choose a team of six for each round everybody will get their chance to do their bit for the squad with promotion into division one our aim.

Next time I’ll have news on how my secret bait fared at Monks and whether it will be back to the drawing board.

24th June 2005

“Total Fishing for Sport One”

Last weekend’s angling action was a classic case of chalk and cheese, first off was the Total Fishing Club members pole only get together match on the Reservoir at Hartleylands Farm. With conditions ideal it turned out to be a very good match with plenty of nice carp being landed all round the lake. Martin Carbin drew peg 16 and caught throughout the match to put 105lbs 6oz on the scales for a narrow win. Dean Regler recorded his first match ton from peg 26 with 103lbs of carp but had to settle for second spot but that could not wipe the smile off his face after a superb days fishing. Mark Holland fresh from his recent ton up catch and win at the venue two weeks earlier had another good days sport for third place with 96lbs 12oz. Colin Wightman struggled for the first two hours but after switching to worm fished in the margins caught late and fast to scale 70lbs 11oz just ahead of Colin Rennison’s 70lbs 5oz. Mick Presig made the long journey from Cambridge worthwhile to register 62lbs 9oz for the final frame spot. It was an enjoyable day and all being well I will organise another get together for next year.

Martin Carbin (Total Fishing Club) with part of his catch that won the get together match on the Reservoir Lake at Hartleylands Farm in Kent. Martin in the pole only match scaled a nice 105lbs 6oz from peg 16.

A full match report will follow shortly on this site with additional pictures of the days action.

Kent Angling League Round One News

            The following day I led the Sport One team into our first team event, which was the first round of the Kent Angling league on the River Wantsum near Reculver. Without doubt this was going to be a hard contest, as the Wantsum does not like too many anglers lined up along its banks and with an easterly wind greeting us it turned out to be just as hard as we thought. With very little knowledge of the river the only point I could stress to the team was too catch at least one fish as many blanks would be on the cards and with points up for grabs one fish could be worth quite a lot. As the match progressed I phoned the team on my mobile for updates on how they were doing and I must admit it was looking a bit grim at the halfway point. Barry Cope had one small roach, Colin Wood was blanking, Chris Jones had two small skimmers but had lost four good fish in the weed, Jim McDowell was catching small skimmers along with Nick Plum who was catching small rudd on squats and I had just one roach. Now despite the fact that very little fish had been caught amongst us, news was that most of the other eight teams were suffering to which gave us some comfort. With half an hour left very little had changed with Colin Wood still blanking, but then my mobile buzzed with Colin saying that he had just caught a small rudd, relief. At the final weigh in our weights were very low with Chris leading the way with 2lbs 3oz to win his section. Jim McDowell with 1lbs 9oz had come second in his section with Nick Plum, 1lbs 9oz coming fourth in his section. Barry’s one fish and only bite weighed 2 ½ ozs, Colin’s two fish weighed 5oz and my four fish weighed 5 ½ ozs. Collectively we scored a creditable 35 points, which put us in third place behind Unity Tackle’s 36pts and day winners Team 1066 who put in an impressive score of 46pts.

            I was very pleased with our efforts and with eight more rounds to go, one each month, I am confident that we can close the gap as the series progresses. Last week I fished a very very hot Monk Lakes on lake 2 as preparation for my final Fish O qualifier, which is this Saturday, the lake record was smashed on the day but all round it fished below par due to the extremely hot conditions. I weighed in 31lbs 6oz for a top 10 finish with Sport One’s Barry Cope finishing third with 49lbs on his first visit to the complex. As for my new bait, well I was not really able to put it into practice as the conditions did not allow but I am sure I will get my chance soon to give it a go.

Next time I will report on how my final attempt of a place in the Fish O final pans out, fingers crossed.

27th June 2005

“Finicky fish spoil my day after a fine effort”

Last Saturday I competed in the 15^th 120-pegger Fish O Mania qualifier at the prolific Monk Lakes, Marden in Kent. With three attempts being lined up this year to make it to the final on August 6^th, I was really looking forward to this final match as my record at Monks is pretty decent and after being drawn on peg 16 on lake one I was on the best lake and in the right area. Looking around my section of the lake I could see some stiff opposition with the last two Fish O Mania winners lining up a couple of pegs away plus other finalists from previous years so I had to be spot on.

            The match started at 10.30am and it took me twenty minutes before I had my first proper bite, which came off, as I was about to the land the small carp, not the best of starts. From then on the bites started to come and I was catching steadily for the next hour when I hooked and landed two bonus ghost carp of 2lbs and 3lbs, I calculated at the time that I was in front of all that I could see and was beginning to think that maybe it was going to be my day this time. I had set up two pole lines, one at 4 metres and another at 9 metres with the latter line producing the most bites and fish. During the middle part of the match things started to go wrong for me as the bites started to get finicky and I went through a 30-minute spell of missed bites catching the odd small barbell which was probably the culprits of the dodgy bites.

            For the time being the better stamp carp had moved off being replaced with small carp and tench plus the odd barbel. I moved my rigs around in an attempt to locate the better fish and tried different patterns of feeding to small and often to feeding heavily. With an hour to go and others catching well I decided to switch my feeding pellets to the hooker sized pellets in a last ditch attempt. Within a couple of minutes the better carp and returned and I was flying again, albeit to late to snatch glory, but at least I was bagging up again. The final hour was good and I landed some nice mirrors in the pound upwards bracket plus another bonus carp of 2lbs plus.

 I could see that the winner was going to come from pegs 2 and 3 as the sky cameras were fixed on an exciting finish between last years overall winner Rob Hitchens and local rod and Monks regular Kevin Baptiste. Although I knew a win had past me by I was determined to finish on a high and try and reach the frame positions or win my section at least. Lakes 2 and 3 had fished quite poorly with many anglers packing up early and watching the action on lake 1. At the final whistle rumours were that Kevin Baptiste had won but it was very close as the final weights were coming in. I ended up with 65lbs 4oz, which was the top weight from my section, and with six lost fish at the landing net during the match it cost me a place in the top five.

The rumours were correct with Kevin winning the day to qualify for the £25,000 showpiece with a final weight of 83lbs from Rob Hitchens 80lbs and Wayne Candy on 79lbs, very close indeed. I had mixed feelings about the match and felt that the middle part of the match cost me any chance of the win as I was certainly in with a shout up until that point. However it was very enjoyable all the same and nice to take some scalps on the way to a frame spot and section win. Good luck to Kevin in the final, I wish you well and as for my Fish O dreams, well there is next year for another try and despite that I have to be fairly pleased with my three qualifying efforts this year, 18^th at Wylands, 23^rd at Stubpond and 7^th at Monks.

Full Fish O Mania Result

Next week it’s back to The Reservoir Lake at Hartleylands for an any method open match, which is sure to produce some big weights.

“Tight Lines”

Russ Evans

3rd July 2005

“A great week for Sport as Angling wins Gold”

It’s been a fantastic week for British sport with Britain winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympics in the East End of London, just a stones throw away from where I was born in Plaistow. Having spent a good majority of my working life in Stratford it will present a great boost to the community with development of an Olympic village and sports facilities on land which has been derelict for as many years as I can remember. It can only inspire our youngsters and budding future Olympians from all over to put in some extra graft with the aim to wear the GB vest with pride in front of their own supporters.

            I have touched on the subject before about angling being allowed in the Olympics and I hope that the powers that be, especially the NFA and Sport England, can put angling’s case forward which will no doubt promote the sport. With the River Lea running through Stratford or the proposed new rowing course being built as part of the facilities, the arena will be in place to host the many angling countries throughout the world.

            Angling is a sport in which we are extremely good at with consistent performances year after year in the World Championships. Last weekend Team England struck Gold in Finland after lying in the Silver medal position after day one behind Belguim. On day two the team showed their class to reverse positions with Belguim to win by 10 penalty points with Hungary a further point behind in third. Local anglers Steve Gardener and Will Raison represented Team England with Will clinching a bronze medal in the individual event. I can see it now, winners of the Olympic Gold Medal are……….. Team GB.

            While England was winning medals in Finland I was organising a Sport One any method match on The Reservoir Lake at Hartleylands Farm. Mike Jameson, Sport One led the way with 96lbs 10oz from peg 23 and after a slow start, Mike switched to his margin line and presented his favourite combination of paste and omega pellets to catch some n ice carp up to 10lbs. John Barker (LTAA) is a regular at the fishery and from peg 5 notched up 85lbs 6oz of carp for second place with Maidstone Victory’s Nick Gilbert not far behind in third from peg 7 with 80lbs 10oz. Richard Bonnell (Sport One) had an enjoyable day on the paste from peg 1 with 76lbs 8oz for fourth place with Nick Plum 72lbs 7oz and Chris Jones 71lbs 8oz (both Sport One) making the frame. In two weeks time it will be back to the Reservoir for a pole only No Carp match which will be very interesting to see how we can cope with avoiding the carp to concentrate on catching silvers only.

Nick Gilbert with part of his 80lbs 10oz catch from peg 7

Mike Jameson (Sport One) won this latest match with 96lbs 10oz from peg 23

 I had no trouble in avoiding the carp from peg 18 as they were few and far between but halfway through the match I decided to have a bit of practice for the silvers with the 23^rd July on my mind. Fishing up in the water I had some nice roach with the odd skimmer and with about 13lbs of silvers for about 90 minutes of fishing for them, I am confident that some good weights will be needed to win the up and coming match.

This week it will be back to domestic club action with Holland Angling Society’s first club only match on the club ponds in Hurst Green, Oxted. The ponds have been a bit out of sorts of late with a good draw needed to figure in the matches so far. So its fingers crossed for a good draw and plenty of fish with all the news soon on how it all panned out.

10th July 2005

“Sponsorship plans for next year look good”

After a telephone conversation with Shimano’s new marketing executive Rob Willis earlier this week, all is looking good for Shimano to continue its sponsorship of the Beastmaster Surrey Match League 2006 and I hope to have confirmation in the next couple of weeks. Next years event will be over seven rounds starting in March and finishing in May 2006 with again thirty-six anglers taking part. Looking further ahead to 2007 I am putting plans together to host a three-day angling festival in the South East and may run a two-day festival next year as curtain raiser. The Surrey/Kent/Sussex borders have no such events for the many match anglers that compete on a regular basis each weekend. In time I will reveal the dates, fishery, rules and how many places will be available for this exciting new event.

            The Environment Agency has revealed that a massive 855 anglers were fishing illegally in a ten-day blitz last month. Over 17,000 licenses were checked on nearly 1900 waters across England and Wales with most license dodgers found on still waters. With more intense license checks on the agenda over the coming months and with maximum fines of up to £2500 for not producing the appropriate documents, please be warned and make sure you have the correct license before going fishing.

            If you love your river fishing and are prepared to travel long distances in search of that dream fish only to be disappointed on arrival due to low water levels and weed problems. Then worry no more, the Environment Agency have extended their Rivercall service, which gives levels (rising or falling) and water temperatures, which is invaluable information. The number to call is 0906 6197777 with the following rivers available for information, Severn and Warwickshire Avon, Witham, Nene, Wensum, Stour, Great Ouse and Ivel.

            Last weekend I competed on the local ponds of Holland AS and in this latest club match the Private pond was the place to draw as the carp were in a feeding mood for most of the anglers. Dave Fowler came out narrowly on top from Stuart Cross with just 4 ounces to spare as both anglers recorded 50lbs plus weights. I was drawn on Dunks pond, which is very much out of form but Geoff Smith with 25lbs took top honours from peg 13 on the waggler.

            This coming weekend I will be in action at Hartleylands over the two days with a silver fish match open on the Saturday followed by a three-way club match on the Sunday where I will be representing my old club South Norwood for the day against Bromley and Reigate. Keith Arthur of Sky Sports and Talksport radio fame will be heading down after his Fisherman’s Blues show to compete in my open match on the Saturday in the search for a nice bag of silver fish in which I predict the winner will need a close 50lbs odd to top a strong competing field where I also expect some very good bag up weights as well.

            With second round of the Kent Angling League looming at Nickolls Pit in Hythe, all thoughts will be to record another good team point’s score to try and reduce the 11 point deficit over league leaders Team 1066. Although the venue is new to most of the Sport One squad I am confident the large shoals of resident bream, skimmers and roach will be caught in plenty to boost and consolidate our top three position.

            One of the most commonly asked questions I see on discussion forum’s or angling weeklies and magazines are “What is the best paste mix” My answer is, even though there are numerous ready made pastes on the shelves available in all tackle shops, is to have a go at making up your own paste mix and by using a selection of luncheon meat, corn, bread and ground down pellet dust you will not go far wrong with the help of course of a good blender/mixer.

“Tight Lines”

Russ Evans

18th July 2005

“Eventful day as golden carp gate crash a silver party”

Last weekend I was in action on both days at Hartleylands Farm in Kent with the first match being a pole only silver fish match on the brilliant Reservoir Lake. As I was organising the match I decided to fill as many of the 31 pegs as possible and ended the entries at 26 anglers which gave me a chance to leave a few corner pegs out to create a bit of space in these tighter areas. With a strong field competing, which included Sky Sports presenter Keith Arthur, it was always going to be an eventful match with only silver fish counting but carp certain to play its part.

            True to form plenty of bites were had from the off and with most using fine hooks to prevent long battles with the big carp some nice bags were being put together with Trevor Froud and Kevin Dyer of Blean Angling on pegs 12 and 10 setting the early pace with better stamp roach and skimmers on tares feeding hemp and caster. Mike Jameson, Sport             One was doing well from peg 1 landing some nice bonus skimmers plus some good roach on pellets or corn. Mark Hathway from Leatherhead DAS was at the next peg to me and was having a very eventful day with some good spells of catching roach and skimmers only for the carp to gate crash his swim and take his bait resulting in yards of elastic stretching out at a fast rate of knots. I was doing okay from peg 22 and putting together a decent bag of roach, with of course the odd interruption, but felt the roach in general were too small to put me in the frame and shake up. Dave Walker, Sport One on peg 20 had a bonus golden orfe of nearly 2lbs plus a tench, which proved vital in the end with a final total of 23lbs 8oz to clinch his section and 7^th overall. Keith Arthur was on peg 7 and catching roach on large 8mm pellets close in with Guy Usmar, Maidstone Victory on the next peg also catching well.

            At the end of the 5 hour match no one really knew who was the winner and following the scales around revealed that many had high double figure bags apart from only two anglers, so some serious action was had along with countless battles of carp. Trevor Froud with a superb 33lbs ran out the winner picking up £140 for his efforts with teammate Kevin Dyer in second with 30lbs 6oz. Mike Jameson was just behind in third place with 29lbs 11oz leaving Mark Hathway in fourth with 24lbs 2oz just 1 ounce in front of Keith Arthur who had to settle for fifth spot. Nick Gilbert claimed the final frame spot and section win with 23lbs 13oz. It was a great match with nine anglers catching over 20lbs including my final weight of 20lbs 13oz with a further five anglers on 19lbs plus bags.

            I will certainly repeat the silver fish match later in the year when the carp will be a little less active, but then again, this is Hartleylands Farm where the carp are always active, watch this space.

            The following day I was on the Reservoir again for a three-way domestic club match between Bromley DAS, South Norwood (for whom I was guesting) and Reigate DAS. The forecasted rain had turned up and for the first half of the match I felt as if I was fishing on a cold wet, windy autumn day compared to the day before. The action was a little slower than I had imagined but as the weather slightly improved a few carp were starting to show with John Robinson (63lbs 3oz) and Jim McDowell (62lbs 11oz) catching a few nice carp on a variety of methods and baits. Les Griggs (57lbs 8oz), Graham Carter (47lbs 8oz), Peter Derben (47lbs 4oz) and Antony Stevens (45lbs 13oz) were the other framing anglers on the day. It was an enjoyable and soggy day for myself with far too many big carp lost for my liking, which would have put me in the frame as I recorded a disappointing 31lbs 8oz of which over 9lbs, consisted of some decent silvers.

            This week it’s back to team fishing with the second round of the Kent Angling League at Nickolls Pit in Hythe where I will be hoping that the Sport One team of six will get in amongst the large shoals of bream, skimmers and roach.

Next time I will reveal if we have made up ground on the leading two teams.

“Tight Lines”

Russ Evans

25th July 2005

The Kent Angling League resumes tomorrow with the second round on Nickolls Pit in Hythe, Kent. As a team we know very little on the lake but last week at Hartleylands I managed to gain some useful information from a reliable source so we can go into the match with a bit more confidence. After the first round on a hard River Wanstsum we put in a good effort to finsih in the third sport behind Untity Tackle and the early league paces setters 1066. Promotion to division 1 is our aim and along the way we are sure to gain added experience on the venues which will put us in good order for when the Kent Winter league starts up in October. A good majority of the Sport One team have been successfully winning and framing in their individual matches which helps to promote our name in the angling weeklies to let other know we have arrived.

So tomorrow's match will suit our style of fishing as catching bream, skimmers and roach is a style and method common to the team which consists of Mike Ewin, Mark Holland, Dave Walker, Barry Cope, Nick Plum and myself. Basically if we finish in the top 3 of every round then we will have achieved our goal from this league but I feel that there is much more on offer to the squad and I we should set our aims a little higher by trying to win the division 2. All we need to do is keep in touch come the final three rounds when the league switches to Monks, Hartleylands and Lavender Farm, venues which are known very well to us even though they will be fished in the height of the winter months.

The squad as from friday 29th July 2005 gained another member in the shape of Nick Stone who comes from the same Carshalton outfit as Dave Walker, Lee Perry and Barry Cope. Nick is known to most of the squad via the Exage Surrey Match League events and we welcome Nick, who will add strength to the side. A profile of Nick will be added to the Meet The Team Page shortly. That means the squad has reached a final total of 16 anglers and for the time being that will give us enough cover over the next season or so.

I have not given up hopes of attracting a sponsor for the team and hopefully all will be much clearer in the next couple of months. An update of the second round match will appear on the Kent Angling Leage link and my thoughts of the match itself will appear on this thread plus my column in the Surrey Mirror.

30th July 2005