Over 60's match 28th October 2020

On the 28th October the Over 60s moved onto Avington for the first canal match of the 2020/21 series. 13 anglers turned out on a bright sunny day, and with the canal carrying some colour, expectations were high of a good day. There was some concern as tree work was being carried out on the opposite bank. With 15 minutes to go for the start whistle, a chain saw could be heard opposite of Richard Wiggins on peg 13 (you couldn’t make it up!), followed by a loud crack and a large tree falling. Although it fell along the line of the bank, many sizable branches hit the water. Richard was offered a move, but elected to stay put, a good decision as he was overall 4th in the match.

Well, the match started reasonably Ok, with most catching a few small roach and gudgeon until a string of boats came through. After the boats (especially the Broad Beam) the match became a tale of two ends, with the six guys in the middle really struggling for bites (average weight for the six of them was 1lb 1oz).

The highlight of the day, had to be the half hour when the sky suddenly blackened and a roll of thunder, followed by high wind and heavy rain ripped along the canal, which had everybody scrambling for waterproofs and brollies, with the Match Sec doing a fair impression of Mary Poppins!

Who said fishing was boring!! The top weights were:

Dave Smith on end peg 15 found some skimmers and put 7lb 5oz in the net for the win.

 2nd on peg 3, Wilf Squires with 3lb 13oz of mainly Perch.

 3rd on peg 2, Chris Evans with a mixed bag small fish for 3lb 8oz.

 

 

Over 70's match 21st October 2020

The final match of the Over 70s five match series was held on 21st Oct on Dobsons. The match was really a duel between Henry Sadler and Steve Myers, as they were the only two to turn up. The poor turnout, (due of course to the rain) was disappointing, but expected, as Newbury AA seniors are definitely fair weather fishermen!

 Henry had to hand over his £5 pools as the Northern Git pipped him by 10oz. The weights were:

 Steve Myers     4lb             All Perch except for one small roach.

 Henry Sadler    3lb 6oz     All Perch.

The win means that Steve wins the series with 48 points, with Henry taking a well-deserved 2nd place with 42 points.

NAA vs Reading Fishing Club match 29th September 2020

The NAA hosted our annual match against RFC on the Avington stretch of our canal on Tuesday 29th Sept. Seventeen anglers turned out, seven from RFC, ten from NAA. Although NAA were the clear winners on points, the weights were very close, with the average weight being 3½lbs. Weights were made up of mainly small roach with the odd skimmer bream and perch. The big perch didn’t show!

Top Individual weights.

 B (Pools) Pallett                           NAA    6lb 4oz

 W (Corner Peg) Squires                NAA    6lb 4oz

 G Callaghan                                 RFC     5lb 14

 S (Northern Git) Myers                 NAA    5lb

The return leg of the NAA vs RFC match will be held on the Child Beale stretch of the Thames on Tues 13th Oct. Any NAA member interested in fishing it must book-in with the NAA Match Sec (phone no. is in the NAA Permit) by Sunday 11th Oct.

 Note; Many thanks to John Cox and Richard Wiggins for cutting out the swims and car park. Without their help the match could not have gone ahead.

Over 60's match 7th October 2020

The 6th Over 60s Match of 2020/2021 was held on Dobsons on the 7th of October.

16 anglers turned out on a bright breezy day, and expectations of a good day were high as fish were seen topping all along the lake. Hopes were soon dashed though, as it quickly became apparent that its residents were not going to surrender easily!

Wilf (Corner peg) Squires snaffled an early Carp, Steve (Northern Git) Myers had a 4lb Tench on the two hour mark and the rest struggled for the odd bite.

And then? well not much really, except Alf McGarry lost two carp, Wilf snared another carp and Northern Git never had another bite after the Tench.

All caught fish, but three didn’t bother to weigh in. The top three were:

1st    Wilf (Corner Peg) Squires              15lb 10oz  (Two Carp)

2nd    Steve (Northern Git) Myers          4lb 11oz (One Tench plus roach and perch.   

3rd    Dave (Wing Commander) Smith    2lb 8oz. (Perch and Roach.

NAA Memorial match 27th Sept 2020

The annual NAA Memorial match was held on Willows, Sunday 27th Sept.

 A cold and blustery morning greeted the 12 anglers who turned out for the match, which is held to honour members who are no longer with us, has two trophies on offer, the Keith Scrivener (For the match winner) and the Norman Unwin (For the biggest fish). This year they were both taken by one angler, Wilf (Corner Peg) Squires. Wilf had three Carp for 24lb 8oz, the largest 8lb 2oz. The top three weightw were:

Ist        Wilf Squires             24lb 8oz (including the largest fish)

2nd       Alan Symes              14lb 9oz    One carp, plus roach, skimmers and perch.     

3rd       Steve Myers             11lb 12oz     Roach and perch.  

More Articles ...

  1. Over 60's match 23rd September 2020
  2. Over 70's match 16th September 2020
  3. Over 60's match 2nd September 2020
  4. Over 70's match 19th August 2020