Paul Chapman's Memorial Match (Shiplate Farm). Sunday.

 Trouble with the laptop again so a bit late with this one, It was back to Shiplate farm in memory of Paul who was a regular at the venue before suffering with cancer which eventually took its toll as sadly it does but a good turnout in his absents' On the good side over a hundred pounds was raised toward the hospice which are well needed in these events, The match was to be held over the Main lake as well as Hawthorn's, After last weeks good weights I was expecting it to fish much the same but we had a lot of rain in the area overnight so didn't know what to expect, I let venue resident Steve (Peanut) Howell draw for me as he's always got the knack of drawing the right places" I wasn't disappointed when he handed me peg 13 on the main lake, 14 & 15 have been the pegs over the last few weeks but I was in the right area so expected a few especially when travelling partner Lewis Jones drew peg 11 as he's a dab hand at drawing!" I also had former Fisho champ & one method man" Steve weight watchers Jackson on the new peg 13A & he had an Island chuck so I new what he would be doing then..!

First out the bag was the bomb rod & shallow waggler , I had a rig to fish paste at 14mts & 6mts off to my left as after plumbing up I found I only had around 2-3ft of water infront of me but at 6mts left I had the same depth as 14mts with 4ft of water  so set up a paste float on 0.17-0.15 & a size 12 hook, the only other rigs I set up were two shallow rigs for slapping & mugging a few if the case arrived.

on the all-in I fed two pots of 6mm pellet at 14mts , fed a smaller amount at 6mts but didn't feed the margins as I would leave until later in the day when I expected to have a few, I had a quick couple of casts on the conker" before I saw signs of fish on the 14mt line with bubbles coming up, I decided to start on the shallow rig set 18inches deep with a banded 6mm pellet, I hooked two in the next 40mins but both weren't in the mouth & did the normal trick of shedding the hook just as you think you have a chance of netting them" Nothing followed so I switched to the paste rig on the deck, Steve had already netted a couple on the METHOD", he was like a kid in a sweet shop when he realised he had an island chuck Lol. I finally managed a fish after about an hour but signs were already looking grim, I noticed when the sun came out the water was a lot clearer than last week & from what I could see most were struggling to hook carp, After 3 hours & rotating all the lines I had one missed bite on the shallow waggler but managed just two more carp on the long pole & paste, Time to stretch the legs so I went to see what Lew had, He was doing worse than me with just a couple of skimmers & one carp, Steve had five carp, Ash above him on peg 14 had seven carp, & Titch Williams on the end peg 15 had seventeen"! Looks like the writing was already on the wall then" This has to be the most sought after peg in the southwest but u still gotta catch um & he was the only one on are side who was catching short on the paste, I tried allsorts to try & lure some fish but it just didn't happen, I landed two more again on the long pole & paste, & lost a right beast over 18lb just at the net for no reason' but that was it, When the scales arrived Lew finished up with 22lb, I had 29lb, Steve finished with 46lb, I don't quite know how as he seemed to trim the tree with each cast, I did mention at one stage considering he's won fishomania he was crap at casting!", Ash managed 50lb but Titch Had a great day to easily win the lake & the match with 159lb odd, Very fitting for him I know he was one of the last to pay him regular visits at hospice so he must of been looking down on him today" Over on Hawthorns Steve did the business again, winning the lake with 84lb on his favourite worm over ground-bait so fair pay to him, (I knew I should of had the other ticket as he had to draw one flyer") As far as the silvers went Dave White on the opposite bank to me fished the ground-bait feeder & worm to finish with 26lb of skimmers.

Their was a trophy presentation afterward to the winners with plenty of winners paid out, Shame it didn't fish quite as we expected but that's fishing,

  Hawthorns winner Steve Howell, Left, With match Winner Titch Williams.

Off to Summerhayes on Sunday & the final of the top-kit series on Bank holiday Monday on the sedges to look forward too.

Full Results - 

1st Titch Williams (Drennan Thyer's) peg 15 Main, 159lb 1oz.

2nd Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) peg 7 Hawthorns, 84lb 6oz.

3rd Dave Romain (Viaduct) peg 2 Hawthorns, 66lb 2oz.

4th Aide Bishop (Summerhayes) peg 1 Main, 65lb 12oz.

5th Pete Sivell (Bristol City) peg 9A Main,, 64lb.

Silvers - 1st Dave White (Viaduct) peg 4 Main, 26lb 12oz.