DAIWA GORDON LEAGUE OPEN.

DATE. 5TH JUNE.
VENUE. TIRLEY COURT. (Pete's Lake).
DRAW. 9.00AM.
FISH. 10-00AM - 4.00PM.

PEGS, 20.
ANGLERS TURNED UP. 20.

MATCH FORMAT. 2 SECTIONS OF 10.
PAYOUT. TOP 4 OVERALL, PLUS 2 SECTION WINS.

PRE-DRAW.

A good start to the day, as everyone turned up on time.(Well done lads). By the side of the
lake, a few of us were throwing floaters in just to see what would happen. Well the Carp in here
did'nt disappoint, and put on a show. The floaters were not thrown in further than about 5 foot,
and yet they were happily taking them in confidence. We just stood there, and watched them for
a bit, and our presence did not bother them at all. I have always said the fish in here are nuts.

Weather wise it was a nice pleasant day, hot with very little breeze. Another suntan day, yippee!.
To be honest with this field i was up against today, i would have had more chance shaking the pope's
hand, than winning the match. All class Anglers thats for sure. But i don't mind wasting twenty
quid to be in this company, as they say experience is everything. Problem is the only experience i
have been having lately is how to get stuffed, he he. Jeez! there was even an ex Van Den Eynde essex
star fishing today, see what i mean about a good field. There were Team Mossella Anglers, Daiwa
Gordon League Anglers just to name a few. OH! the embarrassment of being stuffed, he he.

THE DRAW.

There were no photos of the draw today, because i did'nt want to be at the back of the queue, again!.
So i sneaked in the middle of the queue, and waited my turn. When it was my turn i pulled out an
envelope, opened it, and out popped peg 19. One away from the end peg. But i did'nt mind as i have
had a second off this peg with 140lb, so i was quite happy, even though there was no wind blowing
towards this end of the lake, like the last open we had on here. But that was obvious because i
drew this end, he he. But to be honest the wind did'nt favour anyone, as there was'nt much around.
Everyone finally drew there pegs, and sauntered off to there chosen spots.

SECTION 1. (pegs 1-10).

PEG 1. JOHN KNIGHT.
PEG 2. STEVE HARRIS.
PEG 3. CHRIS CHAMERON.
PEG 4. DAN TRAGSIGNE.
PEG 5. CARL MULFORD.
PEG 6. MARTIN GUEST.
PEG 7. ADRIAN DAVIS.
PEG 8. MICK POLLARD.
PEG 9. TONY TRAGSIGNE.
PEG 10. TONY WILLIAMS.

SECTION 2. (pegs 11-20).

PEG 11. CHRIS TELLING.
PEG 12. COLIN BRICKNELL.
PEG 13. STEVE FORD. must have had a curry last night. (think about it).
PEG 14. GAZ SMITH.
PEG 15. DAVE BOWYER.
PEG 16. MARTIN HOWARD.
PEG 17. DEAN SHELLDON.
PEG 18. TONY GILES.
PEG 19. STEVE HAWKINS.
PEG 20. STEVE CHESTER.

PRE-MATCH.

Arrived at my peg, and unloaded my kit. Set my box up near the waters edge. Then i placed my three
keepnets out, which is mandatory on here. Then did the usual boring things, like pump my expanders,
soak my 4mm pellets to soften them up. Today i was just going to fish two long tops, about 2 metres
out. One straight out in front of me, and the other for the margin to my left. My keepnets taking up
the rest of the space i had. (suprising how much room three keepnets take up?). Everything was set up
with about 15 minutes to spare before the whistle. Steve Chester on peg 20 to my left forgot his
bait, leaving it at home. (teach you for drinking the night before, he he). He had his feed pellets
with him, so i said to him i had plenty of expanders with me. So i gave him a good handful, and said
if he needed anymore i have plenty. Which was a good thing i said, as half way through the match he
ran out. So he needed a second batch to carry on. Which i happily obliged.

THE MATCH.

The all in was shouted at 10am. So out went a small handful of 4mm pellets fed by hand on both lines.
6mm expander on the hook, shipped out, and had my first fish in about a minute, only a small carp, but
a start non the less. In the first 10 minutes, i had 5 smallish carp in the net. Myself, and Steve on
the next peg (20) were going fish for fish for about twenty minutes, then my swim started to slow down.
Steve carried on catching at the same rate as before. Oh! well at least i stayed with a top notch Angler
for twenty minutes, he he. To my left in the corner of the lake, you could hear the big Carp splashing
around all day, where they were still spawning (randy little sods). My match was quite weird were i
would have a qiuck two or three fish, then it would go quite for a while. I was alternating between both
swims throughout, the match. I ended up with 33 Carp, all relatively small, with the odd decent one, or
two. I also lost about 15 carp throughout the match, which was a pain in the butt. But as they say, thats
fishing for you. Talking to Steve Ford after the match, and he told me he lost about twenty fish. Well
glad i ain't the only one then, he he. Problem with Steve's lost fish, they cost him some coin.
He finished 6th overall, those lost fish would have probably put him about second overall. My lost fish
might of put me up a couple of places, but still not good enough for the coin. All in all it was a good
day out, got beat both sides of me (again). Would you believe i got stuffed by my own pellets off peg 20.
Charming ain't it. Maybe the next time an Angler forgets his bait, and he's pegged next to me, i might
all of a sudden go deaf, when he's telling everybody, he he. Fair play my pellets are that good they
caught Steve Chester over a ton of fish. Nothing to do with his skills then, he he. The last open here,
i drew peg 10, and did not weigh. The Angler who drew it this time also did'nt weigh, but i hope he had
better luck getting his keepnets out of the water than i did from that peg, because when i was retrieving
the last one, it caught on a rock under water, and tore a big hole in it. But thankfully this week, no
mishaps. Still can't find my number 8 section to my tourney pro pole though. Strange that!. So if there
are any charitable people out there, who has a number 8 doing nothing, any chance of a bit of charity, he he.

RESULTS.

1ST. PEG 3. CHRIS CHAMERON.           132-8-0.      OVERALL WINNER.
2ND. PEG 20. STEVE CHESTER.            106-6-0.      OVERALL 2ND.
3RD. PEG 16. MARTIN HOWARD.          101-5-0.      OVERALL 3RD.
4TH. PEG 4. DAN TRAGSIGNE.               99-12-0.     OVERALL 4TH.
5TH. PEG 14. GAZ SMITH.                     88-4-0.       SECTION WIN BY DEFAULT.
6TH. PEG 13. STEVE FORD.                   85-4-0.
7TH. PEG 15. DAVE BOWYER.                76-4-0.
8TH. PEG 11. CHRIS TELLING.               73-10-0.
9TH. PEG 17. DEAN SHELLDON.             65-0-0.
10TH. PEG 7. ADRIAN DAVIS.                 62-0-0.       SECTION WIN BY DEFAULT.
11TH. PEG 1. JOHN KNIGHT.                 59-10-0.
12TH PEG 18. TONY GILES.                   58-2-0.
13TH. PEG 19. STEVE HAWKINS.           49-0-0.
14TH. PEG 12. COLIN BRICKNELL.         46-12-0.
15TH. PEG 9. TONY TRAGSIGNE.           24-0-0.

20TH. PEG 2. STEVE HARRIS.                 DID NOT WEIGH.
20TH. PEG 5. CARL MULFORD.               DID NOT WEIGH.
20TH. PEG 6. MARTIN GUEST.                DID NOT WEIGH.
20TH. PEG 8. MICK POLLARD.                DID NOT WEIGH.
20TH. PEG 10. TONY WILLIAMS.            DID NOT WEIGH.

Most of the pics i took today were rubbish, they were mostly blurry so i binned them.
So only got a few that were okay, here they are.

A few floaters thrown in.

Shadow of a fish underwater.

Some interest,

This is 2 foot from the bank.

Free food!, not an hook insight.

My three keepnets.

Angler to my right on peg 18.

Flatish calm.

Steve Ford in the background walking back to his peg.

Shorts, and boots, very smart, he he.

Well thats it for this week folks. As i said in the last post, i did'nt get to fish Sunday.

So next weekend i have an open at Drummonds Dubb on Saturday, and Sunday i'am fishing an
aggregate match for Watersmeet. So i will let you know how i get on.

Cheers for now, and all the best  STEVE.