Jerry Pocock Christmas Match Newbridge

I sincerely hope that you had a great Christmas. Sadly my step dad passed away on Christmas Eve, he was at home on the farm where he wanted to be. A difficult time for the family but we are sure he suffered no pain.

I was booked on this match and decided to go, the river was going to be clearer with a bit of pace but I thought it would be tough after the cold easterly wind. We met in the Midland Spinner for breakfast and the draw. I think there were 21 people fishing and I danced drawing the first 7 pegs and the last 6, but I managed to pull peg 12 and that was middle of the straight peg 36, not going to be good I reckoned.

I got to my peg and with the vicious easterly wind blowing downstream and the conditions I could not see setting a float up was worth it. A one rod job for me, using a Supera 12 foot feeder rod with a 2oz tip. A 45g open end feeder would just hold 2/3 over with 14 to 0.15. I didn’t set up a block ended feeder as I reckoned I would catch any around on gbait feeder and that would give me the chance of a bream.

After 15 minutes of the match I had a nice bite and was pleased to net a 12oz chublet, not blanking was a major achievement for me today.  Ten minutes later a similar bite and this resulted in a 6oz chublet. An hour later and no more bites and as it was so cold I went for a quick walk and the peg upstream of me Warren Bates was blanking. Downstream Jan Mazyk was also blanking. During the match a number of people were walking the bank and mid match just a few anglers had 1 bream and there was an odd chublet. As the match progressed I never had another bite so it was a bit of a bind, but I gave it my best.

My wanting to be in the first 7 pegs was a bit off, as 1 angler had 2 bream and another one chublet, I expected a few chub to come out. But the other end the match bream did show and the top 3 came from here.

1st Derek Coles 25lb (Norfolk Reeds)

2nd Kev Boltz 15lb 15oz

3rd Nick Coles 12lb 13oz

My section was won by Jerry Pocock with 3 chublets for 2lb 15oz. My two went 1lb 2oz, which was 9th in the match beating two other catchers and 10 blanks. Not a single roach was caught.

Actually I did have some luck in the end, I picked up a bottle of whisky for my prize and three prizes on the raffle 😊 

Must say thank you to Jerry and Dean Harvey for running the match.

Potentially I may be fishing next Sunday but with another cold week forecast it’s probably going to be another draw bag job.

Wishing you a Happy New Year.