Tydd Gote is Taylor-made for top rod John
Another busy week of action on the North Level Drain system saw the Tydd Gote anglers enjoy some excellent sport, writes Ken Wade.
Top rod on the Wednesday match was John Taylor – he put a fine mixed bag of skimmers, roach and perch to the scales, weighing in 15lb 13oz.
A close runner-up with 15lb 3oz was Sammy McSpadden, followed by Don Green on 6lb. Sammy McSpadden topped the Thursday match with 8lb 15oz, his catch included a brace of tench taken on worm. Then it was Pete Emery on 4lb 7oz with Colin Gibbons next on 4lb 6oz. The Sunday club match saw Colin Burton out in front. He weighed in 11lb 9oz of skimmers and roach. Runner-up with 10lb 2oz was Paul Bawden, followed by Don Green with 8lb 11oz.
Fenland rods fished the Jay Lake at Rookery Waters on Sunday which saw John Garner taking a convincing victory from peg 26. He started on a feeder then switched to the pole late on to finish with 86lb 6oz. Second place went to Tony Nesbitt with 72lb 5oz taken on sweetcorn, then came John Smith weighing 57lb 13oz.
Spratt’s AC anglers continue to find the fish at many of our waters around the area. In their latest match on the Elm Pool at Decoy Lakes some very impressive weights were recorded. Leading the way with a fine 195lb 10oz net was Peter Spriggs.
He drew peg 7 and concentrated all his efforts on a pellet and paste approach. It paid off handsomely on both his short pole line and later in the margins, netting fish to 8lb. In the runner-up spot was Trevor Cousins on peg 5. He was another angler catching close in, using meat in the margins Trevor finished with 158lb 1oz.
Third place went to Mick Raby, he was on peg 16 and caught carp and barbel for 139lb 14oz.
High winds were also a problem for those qualifying anglers fishing the £1,000 two day final at Rookery Waters. Two good draws and some fine fishing ensured Tom Edwards took the honours. Day one saw Tom drawn on Jay Lake peg 13, he caught well on the feeder with luncheon meat for 100lb 6oz and a vital section win. Day two saw him switch onto the Magpie Pool peg 31 and yet another section win to give him a perfect two point score. As others had the same number of points his weight of 280lb 14oz sealed the victory. Josh Pace came close, again with a two point score, but had to settle for the runner-up spot with a weight of 267lb 2oz. In third place with 2 points and a weight of 217lb 12oz was March rod Barry Mason.
Ivan Marks was without doubt one of the most well-known in the history of angling and regularly fished huge matches right across the Fens. He was a wonderful angler and a great character and even though he passed away several years ago now his memorial matches always attract a big field of anglers from across this area and indeed the country.
I know some anglers would love to see his memorial match fished on Fenland waters but this year it was arranged for the country park at Ferry Meadows.
It was, as you would expect, an out-and-out bream match with Karl Hammond out in front with 87lb 3oz. Let’s hope in the future a club from this area will step forward and arrange a match for Ivan, a true legend.
I heard the sad news last week that Richard Button had passed away. Richard was well known in his later years as the owner of Buttonhole Fishery. He was very well respected in his early years in Fenland with the Ace Angling Club and also did very well in the regular big open matches across East Anglia.
Most of us though will always remember his warm and welcoming greeting whenever anglers visited his fine fishery, be it for matches or just a pleasure fishing. A genuinely nice man who I know will be missed on the Fenland angling scene.
