Orchill series match 3

RMatch Report on Daiwa / Orchill Series 2018 Matchday 3/6 on Snake Lake.

Nineteen of the 20 competitors turned out for Matchday number 3 of the Series 2018 on what was a warm dry day with just the occasional small gust of wind which made for excellent presentation. The reeds on the far banks were moving about with fish opting to be in the shallows.

With Nineteen anglers the match was pegged as follows
Sect A - 37,39,41,43,45,47,49(7 Pegs) Paying 1st £40 2nd £20 and 3rd £10 (Max Pen Pts 6)
Sect B - 51,53,0,2,4,6 (6 Pegs) Paying 1st £40 2nd £20
Sect C - 8,11,15,18,20,22 (6 Pegs) Paying 1st £40 2nd £20

The draw was made at 9am and by order of arrival and paying. Mags was first to draw and discover that she was on holiday this week from Millionaires Row and over at the foot of the Orchill Hills. Culture shock. As per normal Andrew got to his feet and was making his way to the draw bag when John Perella snapped sit back down Andrew 'I'm drawing my peg myself from now on, tired of your poor drawing hand' . Well the look on Andrew's face was as if Mags hadn't brought him any sandwiches for his breakfast. The love affair is over Perella has acted. When John drew he had a big smile on his face Peg 18 the runner-up peg (high 80s) from the pairs last week. On that subject Mark Gleave drew Peg 8 the winning peg (Low 90s) from the pairs last week and in the same section so it would be the battle of 1808 at Orchill or would it be.

All trotted of to their pegs and as always the draw throws up it's own challenges. Grant Clark Peg 15 the one peg he does not want to draw. Tommy Lauriston and Ronnie Ogilvie drawn next to each other with Ronnie on the end peg for the 4th match in a row in 14 days.

Section A (The poor end of Millionaires Row )
37,39,41,43,45,47 and 49. (7)

As it was a 7 man section Scott McGhee (Peg 47) and Dave Minard (Peg 49) were lodging in the High Living Section of Millionaires row and were the money is. I remember thinking at the draw that peg 47 will give Scott a stiffer test competing against all the other anglers from a peg that does win overall matches very often. Scott who has been on fire all season gave it his all as always and weighed in 46Lbs-8ozs for an easy Section win from Dave Minard on Peg 49 weighing 31Lbs-12ozs which secured him 2nd place in the section by 10ozs from Ronnie Ogilvie on End Peg 37 with 31Lb-2ozs. Ronnie squared the personal series between him and Tommy.

On that note Tommy. Peg 39 is where the monsters have been living all year and in that area pegs 38, 39 an 40 there is a second row of reeds in deeper water which makes the fishing nigh on impossible. If you go with light elastic the fish twig prior to passing the second row. If you go with heavy elastic the fish are right into the reeds. This is just not my experience Jimmy Hillhouse and others have had the same situation. I tried hard and managed to get one untangled from the reeds before seeing sense and quitting as it is a pole breaker fishing these pegs. I had a black hydro snapped the previous week from Peg 38 and another on Sunday. Only a matter of time before a big pole section goes so from now on I will set up down the track and try to minimise the damage on these pegs. If there was only one Layer of reeds it would be harder for the fish to tie you up in them. The second rows of reeds does nothing to support the bank. I'm not bitter I'm just frugal when it comes to replacing pole sections.

Scott's weight gave him first place overall in the match and in my eye a great performance as the peg is not a recognised flier. That said if you are on the fliers you need to be good to land the fish and have them in your net come the weigh in. 'Battle of Orchill 1808' in Section C read on.

Section B
51, 53 (Millionaires Row) + 0,2,4 and 6 (Low Numbers Lane) (6)

A hard one to call as both parts have been fishing well. It ended up a very fair competition with all in with a shout at the end and needing the scales to separate them. It was Ross Duncan fishing Peg 0 who took first place weighing 27Lbs-14ozs. 2Lbs and just one fish behind Ross was Bruce Lawrie on Peg with 25Lbs 14ozs taking second in the section and Don McLean Peg 6 another fish back weighing 23Lbs-14ozs. Darrin Ferguson was a roach back from Don with 23Lbs-4ozs from Peg 51. A great section with the top 4 being separated by just 4Lbs-10ozs Match fishing at it's best though not large weights the competition aspect was good.

Section C ( The Battle of Orchill 1808)
8, (Low Numbers Lane) 11,15,18,20 and 22 ( Bottom of the Orchill Hills) (6)

The gladiators set up Mark Gleave on Peg 8 and JP on Peg 18 Both End Pegs in my mind. Fish Fight at 11am and what the hell went wrong by 4pm. You can analyse it all you want. They forgot to Tell the League Leader Matt Waugh also on an end peg that he wasn't coming to their shoot out. It turned out more like the Last Cast , the best they could manage was JP 3rd with 27Lbs-5ozs and Mark Gleave 4th with 21Lbs-14ozs. AS JP tipped his fish into the weigh net Andrew was stood back with a grin on his face as wide as the Clyde.

With the Battle just a minor skirmish I will proceed to the Gladiators of Section C and never a truer image Russell portrays as the Tattooed warrier. Russell weighed in 36Lbs-12ozs from unfancied Peg 11 to lead the section which he held until the Leader of the League Matt Waugh still on a perfect score blew Russell away with 45Lbs-14ozs from end Peg 22 which also gave him second place overall in the match and section win. Russell got 2nd in section and 3rd Place in overall match.

That just leaves me to mention on the Peg that Grant does not rate Number 15. As ever in the world there is always worse places to be and next door Peg 16 was that place for Grant. After Grant weighed in and we were all walking off there was a splash followed by an awkward silence. I turned round to see Grant standing in the water in front of peg 16. He had taken a decision to hop onto peg 16 to return his fish and he felt it start to go so took the option of a controlled jump into the edge. Having roasted his head in the sun the previous week Grant was happed up foot to head and looked so sad stood there that I hadn't the Heart to take a Pic. What a difference 7 days can make Grant from Elation to Canny be arsed. Chin up Mate there's next week and another challenge. I know for certain one peg that will not be in your Dad's Memorial Match.

Well done to all on the day and the League is beginning to take shape. I have highlighted peoples poorest points in Lime Green and added a column to the right with the points removed. All to fish for and two anglers on perfect scores after bad match removed. All to fish for.

Now if you see any errors in this post please post and they will be checked and altered. Believe it or not I'm not perfect, just a cheeky sod.

Tommy Lauriston.