Weston Pools Teams Of 5 Event

Weston Pools
Club Teams Of 5 Event

26 August 2016

I was chosen to captain a team in the event which would be fished over 5 different pools on the Complex. The weeks leading up to the event gave us the chance to familiarize ourselves with the venue and have a few practice sessions.

The event would be fished on a section points basis rather than weight, with one angler placed on each lake by the team captain.

I had an MFS match on Weir in July so decided that would be the lake I would fish. I managed to fish a couple of Open rovers on there to get a feel for it. 

Chris Roe was placed on Clay Pit because although he'd never fished the pool it was all close range shallow fishing and I decided he was the best suited to the style of fishing.

Norman had managed to get a few practice sessions in too and spent them getting a feel for Canal pool, so that was the obvious choice for him.

Dave would be on Stretton as he'd fished an Open on there a few weeks earlier and although the weights were down on the day, he still managed to be fairly close to the winning weight.

That meant Dennis would be on Belvidere, I'd managed to get up there with him a few weeks before the match for a little practice session and although it was a bit more difficult than I anticipated, he at least got a feel for the lake and settled the nerves a bit.

Match day and we all arrived having very little sleep and we're all feeling the nerves a bit. After a bite to eat , and winning £20 on the 'Spot the ball', the draw was done and we all got reasonably good pegs. It was done as fairly as possible, so if you didn't have a flier you at least had plenty of room. First to draw was Chris and he got peg 15 on Clay Pit, Norman got peg 25 on Canal, Dave got 12 on Stretton, Dennis 22 on Belvedere and I got 6 on Weir.

Clay Pit didn't fish as well as it had done in the run up to the match with just 69lb winning the lake, Chris managed a very good 3rd place catching F1's shallow on pellet he managed to weigh 53lb.

I had a tough start to the match but it was obvious that nobody on Weir was running away with it so kept plugging away trying different lines. With 2 hours to go it switched on and I managed to catch over 100lb of Carp, Barbel and F1's from the margins last 2 hours. My total weight was 127lb 14oz. I knew the guy opposite had a really strong last 2 hours as well and would have to wait to see what he had weighed. Eventually the scales reached him and he had 108lb. I had won the lake.

Chris and I walked round to Canal to see Norman and he was about to weigh. It was really close on Canal and Norm managed 68lb for 7th on the lake with quite a few weighing low 70's. 

Dennis suffered one of those matches with too many lost fish, those Barbel can be a nightmare to land, and weighed 31lb 3oz. A good effort and some big match experience that he thoroughly enjoyed.

Dave had to wait an age to weigh in, so we showed some team camaraderie and went for a pint and left him to it. He eventually weighed 81lb for 4th on the lake, after catching shallow in the edge.

The results took an age to be sorted and the rumours were that I might have won with the highest individual weight. 

Two hours later the results were confirmed, I had won and Dave picked 4th in the individual super pool. 

The team had a total of 27 section points for 4th place overall and were just 2 point off second. We had actually finished 2nd on total combined weight. We picked up a total of £200. A great effort and one we were all really proud of. A great experience and we will definitely return stronger next year.

I'd just like to thank the members for all their support.