The first round of this years Odd's and Sod's England Qualifier was at Rutland on 16th June. I was drawn with Bart Farmer for this first round.
Practice day the day before with Chris Bobby didn't really help a great deal as the weather was terrible. 20mph plus wind and a big swell on the water meant that the best we could do was pull lures. We did try some nymphs but to no avail. We both had 4 by the end of a hard,wet and blustery day.
We had identified a few areas though and the match day weather was going to be a lot better.
Match day and Bart and and I agree to start on the Normanton Bank between the church and blue pipes. Both on Di5 sweeps with tequila blobs or fab's. I had 4 fish quite quickly, 3 on the blobs and a brownie that took a Diawl Bach on the hang.
12.00 and with 4 to me and Bart nil we moved to Barnsdale Bay. Bart changed tactic to a midge tip and nymphs but I stuck with the Di5 setup that had worked earlier. I had 2 more fish before Bart finally had a fish in the boat. 6-1 up I was confident I would bag up soon. Not so!
Chris Bobby came past at 1.30 having finished as well as his boat partner. I was still on 6 though.
Bart switched back to the Di5 and FAB and started to catch me up. Soon it was 7 each and 3.45 Bart got his 8th fish. Eventually at 4.30 I got that elusive 8th fish and we headed back to the harbour to weigh in.
Not a good bag weight at all. 15lb 9 3/8oz plus 1lb 8oz time bonus my total weight of 17lb 1 3/8oz was only good enough for 18th place. Bart did a little better in 15th place but here was some much bigger fish caught in other areas of the lake.
So, round 1 done and all to do in the 2nd round at Grafham in 2 weeks time. Still a r easy able chance of qualifying for the National Final but I need a really good result at Grafham.
Monday 17 June 2013
Sunday 2 June 2013
AW - Airflo International Midland Heat
Saturday 1st June was the Midland Heat of the Anglian Water-Airflo International held at Grafham Water
12 teams were entered including 2 teams from GWFFA with 6 teams going through to the Midland Final in July. Most of our 2 teams had practiced in the days leading up to the match and the favoured method was floating line or midge tip with either straight line nymphs and buzzers or washing line using a booby on the point.
Match day though the weather was not the same as practice. At least the morning was a lot cooler, cloudier and windier. I decided to stick with the midge tip with traitor line nymphs despite my boat partner, Charlie Abrahams, from Sonik Pirates opting for a Di5 and blobs pulled. As did most of the boats, we headed for valley creek just to the left of the harbour. Although some boats were catching, noticeably Rio Masters, I did not get a pull here in over an hour and half. With no fish to the boat we decided to move to E buoy near the Seat. On the way past the harbour Charlie and I both saw a fish jump near Perry Point and Richard Slater, Elinor, had a fish on so we set up a drift from W buoy to Perry Point. After a few drifts we both had 2 fish but it wasn't enough to keep us there despite seeing Richard take a few fish.
We headed to E buoy where I saw Norman Rushden take a fish in Sailing Club Bay. We had a drift but nothing. A fruitless drift at Seat, E buoy and Sludge Bank saw us move to A buoy near the South End of the Dam.
This was the most productive area for both Charlie and I. A change if set up to a slow glass with 2 buzzers a hairs ear and a cormorant on the point i caught 2 more fish but also hooked and lost a couple here as well. A very frustrating afternoon saw us both return to the harbour 4 each!
At the weigh in things looked tight for the lower places in the top 6 but was clear that Rio Masters had won as all 6 had bagged up.
The results were given and GWFFA 1 had qualified in 5th place. Phew!
Unfortunately GWFFA 2 missed out on 6th place by only 11oz's!
We had made it to the Midland Final on 22nd July. A good result there will see us in the International Final in October.
12 teams were entered including 2 teams from GWFFA with 6 teams going through to the Midland Final in July. Most of our 2 teams had practiced in the days leading up to the match and the favoured method was floating line or midge tip with either straight line nymphs and buzzers or washing line using a booby on the point.
Match day though the weather was not the same as practice. At least the morning was a lot cooler, cloudier and windier. I decided to stick with the midge tip with traitor line nymphs despite my boat partner, Charlie Abrahams, from Sonik Pirates opting for a Di5 and blobs pulled. As did most of the boats, we headed for valley creek just to the left of the harbour. Although some boats were catching, noticeably Rio Masters, I did not get a pull here in over an hour and half. With no fish to the boat we decided to move to E buoy near the Seat. On the way past the harbour Charlie and I both saw a fish jump near Perry Point and Richard Slater, Elinor, had a fish on so we set up a drift from W buoy to Perry Point. After a few drifts we both had 2 fish but it wasn't enough to keep us there despite seeing Richard take a few fish.
We headed to E buoy where I saw Norman Rushden take a fish in Sailing Club Bay. We had a drift but nothing. A fruitless drift at Seat, E buoy and Sludge Bank saw us move to A buoy near the South End of the Dam.
This was the most productive area for both Charlie and I. A change if set up to a slow glass with 2 buzzers a hairs ear and a cormorant on the point i caught 2 more fish but also hooked and lost a couple here as well. A very frustrating afternoon saw us both return to the harbour 4 each!
At the weigh in things looked tight for the lower places in the top 6 but was clear that Rio Masters had won as all 6 had bagged up.
The results were given and GWFFA 1 had qualified in 5th place. Phew!
Unfortunately GWFFA 2 missed out on 6th place by only 11oz's!
We had made it to the Midland Final on 22nd July. A good result there will see us in the International Final in October.
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