FOR many clubs last Sunday was the final match of the year – and what an enjoyable one it has been.
Although the fishing may not have been as good as previous years – mainly down to the appalling weather in the summer – I have really enjoyed the matches with Carr Lane Club and also the one I was invited to by Novartis.
The banter between the anglers is great and I get a fair bit of leg-pulling wherever I go!
Last weekend, Carr Lane finished the year off at Barnoldby le Beck, fishing a private pond.
I had fished it previously and knew that there were some very big fish in this lake and also an excellent head of silvers. But on Sunday a frost may have put them off feeding.
Jamie Whitley was top man with a good bag of skimmers and a few bream to weigh in at 12lb 10oz.
Next was the ever-present this season, Matty Benwell, pictured, who had 8.2lb, all on the tip. Third was me with 6.8lb. I fished badly and dropped several fish off at the start, making schoolboy errors and not using my landing net.
The club's presentation night is at Carr Lane Club on Friday, November 24.
Carr Lane are also going to take the lead on getting the Grimsby area club championships back on again.
It was muted last year by the Old Clee Club but it did not get very far. This time a meeting will be arranged for all local club secretaries to attend and hopefully get something sorted. It will take place at Carr Lane Social Club on December 7 (7.30pm).
If any of the club secretaries are interested please let me know.
Many thanks to the NAT angling club and Terry at Wold for getting me several of the local clubs' contact details.
Last weekend at Wold and it was current UK champion Marc Rodger, who showed his skill and expertise on the silver pond on the Saturday Open Fishing. Off peg 5, he managed 40lb – a good weight at this time of year.
Karl Cropper was second – he was on peg 24 and ended up with 39lb. Lee Popham was third off peg 28 (28lb).
On the Sunday, it was the maestro Chris Mack who caught mainly on the pole from the margins and, also the pole at full extent, from peg 31 to land 85lb.
Next in was one of Grimsby's top anglers, Tony Wood, who was on peg 26, using the long pole to find 54lb. Third in was Norman Hewiss. Again he was using the pole and had 48lb of peg 28.
There was also good back-up weights on the day. I think that the opens are Saturday Silver and Sunday Gold.
Over at Saltfleetby – on the Thursday match, Louth angler Alec Lovesey was in great form. Fishing off peg 4, he weighed in 49lb.
Next in was Matthew Hassle with 46.4lb off peg 3, and Paul Underwood came in third with 39lb.
On Sunday, after his success the day before at Wold, Grimsby angler Popham went even better with an impressive win off one of the favoured pegs, number 1. He did well and found 41.10lb to give him victory on the day.
Not far away was Lloyd Lakin, who was on peg 9 and finished up with 39lb, and third it was Underwood, who was on peg 16 and had 29.4lb.
Cleethorpes Country Park provided some excellent sport for the specimen hunting Austin brothers.
Kelvin had a 17.8lb fish taken on smelt dead bait, and then brother Paul had a bigger one – 18.6lb on a smelt and bluey dead bait.
They also had several other smaller fish. It is great that we have a fishery on the doorstep that can provide specimen fish like these.
The local pike expert at Country Park, Mat Rowntree, caught a 22lb specimen again using dead baits to attract the huge fish.
The carp anglers are also still enjoying success, even though the water is now fairly cold – they have been having carp into double figures
The anglers fishing for roach and bream have also had good results.
Teteny Lock is still in fine form, but this week it is very high tides and it will run very hard I expect, so it may make fishing difficult.
NAT club member Scott MacAteer won his first ever open match at Wold on the Silver Lake last Wednesday.
He had been struggling a bit, but decided to take up angling, and this has given him a new lease of life.
To win an open at Wold is a very good achievement. He weighed in 32.4lb, while next in was Andy Saunby with 21.12lb and third, the fishery manager with 19.8lb.
