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The Soldier Palmers

Match report for AMFC Gr2 Rd 4: Rutland

Got in boat, motored to Manton, put on orange blobs, pulled till arm hurt, caught some fish, motored back at 1800. Came third.

Well that was pretty much it, but enjoyable none the less. It was the same old adage, if only match day was the same as practice day as plenty of fish were found and caught. Practice day started well with Tony calling us all in to Manton late morning and fish were found all around the bay especially towards the bank in the shallower water. Dell had on a sparkler booby on the point which was doing the damage and just to prove it was catching I tied one on (well after I’d nagged him, Dell duly handed one over!). Fantastic, we had 6 fish in one drift, so white sparkler booby it was. Tony was picking them up on a small black booby on the point with nymphs on the droppers and the others were picking up the odd one or two throughout Manton. Knowing the fish were there we left Manton and had a good motor around but to no avail. Earlier on Del and I did have one fish each around p buoy so that might have been an option. So, that was practice day over and we were feeling well armed with all the int we needed, all we needed now was another angler to make up the six.

Armed with the previous days int, with good sized fish caught and fresh flies tied we were all confident that all we had to do was steam up to Manton, fish 2 drifts and be back in the lodge for tea and medals by lunch time. So the match started and off we went, by the time my boat partner and I arrived at Manton Paul’s boat partner was already into a fish, now we’re off! Two hours later not a touch with most team member motoring round making big ‘O’s with their right arm. Finally after about 3 hours I was into my first fish, which due to my excitement promptly smashed me up in the weeds. Just as well really as I was going to have to use the drogue as a landing net as it was a good size (honest).

So, it was going to be a long slow grind of a day which was borne out by boats catching fish every now and then, certainly not the fish fest we were hoping for. The question was do we stay or try somewhere else, but practice day had shown us that there wasn’t much about. As I had lost one, had some pulls, lost another and had plenty of follows we stayed put. However Tony who was on one fish made the move and on the way noticed fish rising between N and O buoy. Once he had worked out that they were taking an orange blob on the dropper to a booby point on a di 3 sweep with a slow retrieve the fish came thick and fast, reaching his 8 before his boat partner. Just as well really because at one point he was 5-1behind, down to his shorts, mask and snorkel on, priest in hand ready to go.

There’s nothing much else to report really because as for the rest of us it was carrying on trying to grind them out at Manton. Del had stopped making waving his arm in a circle and finished up with a good six; Paul, Mick and I all came back with a respectable four.

All in all not a bad days fishing but as ever could have done better, so that said what were the lessons learnt, well for me anyway:

First off, if you stand any chance of winning you need a full team of six anglers as you are on a blank before you start. All we have done is put ourselves under pressure before we start with each angler needing to perform and out fish their boat partner.

I found that as the day was going to be a long grind it was important not to lose concentration as you never knew when the fish were going to come, this was learnt at my cost as I should have finished with more than four.

Also not all the fish need to be bullied into the net. The first fish I lost was a good size and with hindsight the excitement of getting it in and getting my flies back in the water quickly cost me the fish, and ultimately the team weight.

Finally, just because all the boats were in one place, does it mean all the fish are in one place? Maybe I should have had the confidence to move, but the int suggested otherwise. Tony made the move away from Manton, made a good decision and caught his limit.

Anyway that’s it, not all doom and gloom, I had 2 good days fishing in great company and……caught some fish. Cheers

Alex

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