Over 50's series match 2

Daiwa / Orchill Over 50s Series 2018 Matchday 2/6 Match Report 13/5/18.
Matchday 2 again saw 25 of the 26 anglers turn out to fish once more. Bill Bright making his 2018 Debut and Colin Burgess was singing at The Glasgow Opera House.

The Match once more was pegged as 5 sections of 5 anglers and with everyone entering the pools that meant that the Section Pay outs would be 1st £30 and 2nd £20. The match Sections are constantly being monitored in an attempt to get 5 Competitive Section of 5 anglers and this week once more there was something to fish for for everyone. That also included the Heaviest Fish on the day paying £25, The sections were as follows

A - 53,00,02,04 and 06.
B - 8,10,12,14 and 18 (Altered to 8,11,13,15 and 18 Due to a broken Peg)
C - 20,22,24,26 and 28.
D - 31,33,36,38,40
E - 43,45,47,49 and 51 (Altered to 43,45,47,49 and 52 as an angler felt unsafe on peg 51)
Learning points learned on the day was that always check your pegs prior to the match.

John and Tony have done a great job in working out the pegs which have been pretty fair and they also keep track of fish movements from week to week for to see if any tweeking is needed.

The draw once more followed the Orchill format and Ronnie Ogilvie counted the pegs into the Hat and Andrew drew for both organisers John Perella and Tony Ball. They could have drawn themself but they know that Andrew is good at drawing good pegs.

John sat watching as Andrews hand entered the Bag and Drew out Peg Number 12. A real disappointment to John and John was sad. It wasn't long for him to be even more distraught as when Andrew drew for Tony it started off Big Chief Tony's Indian War Dance. He was dancing in circles and holding the peg up in his right hand. There was a 5 minute delay in the draw until order was restored and Tony took his lips off Andrews cheeks. Yup Tony was kissing his arse.

The draw continued and anglers knew where they would do battle on the day. Rain was forecasted but the skies were blue without clouds which was a bonus and the winds were only slight gusts every now and then.

When John got to his Peg the pegging dramas started Peggate 1. The anglers in the section got together and decided that if 12,14 and 15 moved one place to their left it would give Nigel a greater advantage on peg 8 but nothing else could be done. John Perella then decided to run the changes past Tony as he is the joint match organiser. John shouted over to Tony to come round as there was a decision to be made.

Tony takes to it like a Duck to water when he has a job that makes him feel very important. He didn't want to leave his hallowed Peg 53 as it was the first time he had got to fish it in 7 years and leave it he did. All the Section B anglers were gathered as Tony smartly walked up to us. As I watched Tony marching I said to the others to keep quiet and I will deal with it. Tony asked what the problem was. I said Tony Peg Number 10 is non existent and that there would have to be a redraw and the start of the match put back.

Talk about lighting the fuse of a fiework and stand back to see what happens. On this occasion there was a large explosion in Tony's head and the Yell he let rip was twice as loud as the one when he got drawn Peg 53. His Indian dance on this occasion became a War Dance and some of the words used are quite unsuitable for this forum as Bill Hamilton reads it. Tony was running in circles shouting reason why it wouldn't be a redraw, I was running around at his back pretending to be casting a rod and the Big Kipper was hooked and going crazy. Once he saw me casting the rod at the front of him he was relaxed and joined in the fun as he knew he would be fishing Peg 53.

Now that said it did effect his mind for on his return Peggate number 2 started when Brian refused to fish on peg 51. Tony intead of asking for a coin to be tossed to decide which way Brian moved decided he was happy to have Brian move onto Peg 52. Think it was that he was over the moon that is wasn't a redraw.

With Peggate 1 and 2 on the go it was great that the All in went ahead as planned fishing from 11am till 4pm. I was in the section that we didn't expect to catch unless there had been a movement in the fish over the last week. I potted in some 2mm pellets and the float started going from side to side. It wasn't very long before Myself John Perella and Ian Sloss were all catching fish. That's when a lack of preparation struck me. I had only Black and Grey Hydro and the fish in my section were lumps which had migrated round to my peg from peg 19 where Grant Clark had been catching them last Sunday.

Section B

During the match my hook lengths were smashed 4 times. John informed me that lighter elastic was the answer and just let the roam for a while. I also had 10 fish like Grant had last week when you got down to a top three they decided to head for the other end of the pond. It was the same all along B section other than Bill and we were all losing fish. I only landed 3 carp and John Perella managed a few more. Ian Sloss only had 3 carp but he had opted to go for the silvers and that brought him up into second place by the weigh-in. John walked the section. Nigel had a fish on at the all out which doubled his finishing weight. You fish right up to the end another learning point for many. Everyone expected for Nigel to dominate our Section. His failing was that he has not got a computer and cannot read how to fish Peg 8. I asked Perella during the match ' Did you not tell Nigel how to fish that peg. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Section A

It was a fight out between pegs 53, 2 and 4. Tony dropped out the fight in the last hour and Sandy McKay and Paul Bryson matched each other fish for fish over the 5 hours and needed the scalesman to make the decision. Sandy took first place and second overall in the match with 66Lbs-2ozs and Paul was only a fish behind with 64Lbs-1oz plus overall third in match.. Great fishing on the day.

Section C

This was the section which was dire once more with most anglers getting 1,2 or 3 carp. What was good about it was that it saw William McMillan take 1st place in his section with 9Lbs-8ozs. Ronnie Ogilvie was a fish behind him at 7Lbs-8ozs. Poor fishing but everyone was in it right up to the end.

Section D
This saw Bill Bright an Orchill Novice draw Peg 36. He was in for a shock as his first put in saw a large carp head for freedom and suceed on the far bank. Bill enjoyed his day and managed to put the brakes on a few Carp to weigh 22Lbs-8ozs to take the win and for the 3rd Section one fish separated anglers 1st and second. Again good fishing though slighly poor.

Section E
This section was tight if you referred to Davy Minard. I was having trouble with the photography and when I arrived home I discovered what the problem was, I was wearing sunglasses and had forgot I had put them on and nobody said to me. Yes I asked Davy who I would need to photograph and got the reply that both Mark Gleave and Jim Jones had fish. No lies spoken as also Martin and Brian had fish and Dave himself had caught. So Photographs along the section until Dave brought out his nets and he had 73Lbs-8ozs. for both Section and Overall win I looked at him, then again he wouldn't be aware as I was wearing sunglasses. Stare at these word now David, did you forget that you caught.

With section E out the way that only left Tony on his beloved Peg 53 to weigh in and he was asking anyone who wanted to have a look at his Big Thing. Don't get excited girls we are talking Carp here. A Tony estimated 17 Lbs or 7 kilos of worms. When he brought his first net out there was no sign of the fish until Tony pointed it out. 10Lbs if your lucky and he was as it weighed 10Lbs-3ozs which beat Sandy McKays fish weighing 8Lbs-14ozs in the same section. 3rd in section for Tony but a handy £25 lift for heaviest fish.

There you have it folks Matchday 2s fishing at a read. Well done to all and the angler who didn't fish informed us that he wasn't fishing. Who will be first to ask him for a song Matchday Number 3.

Tommy Lauriston

Great report Tommy