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The Soldier Palmers
ALL SERVICES 2011
PRACTICE DAY
The first practice day turned into a pleasure day at Ravensthorpe after the lodge made the decision not to let boats out due the high winds, it turned out to be a great day with plenty of good fish getting caught on the dries. Ravensthorpe is a great little fishery and well worth a day out. Back to Grafham on Monday morning we were eager to get out on the water to confirm the areas and methods which fished well in the AWAI midlands heat. Most of the north shore had been fishing well but with a change in wind direction forecast other areas would need checking. I was partnered with Dave Joyce and we headed over to Hedge End and starting working down the north shore it wasn't long before I had a fish on the Bung, I normally find when fishing the bung - if it's going to work, it will work within the first 30 mins of changing if I have no joy after 30 mins I make a change. Carrying on down towards the dam on the north shore we both had fish around G Buoy pulling blobs. After a short drift at Q Buoy we headed to the lodge for a spot of lunch and a de-brief.
After lunch we headed off to the nature reserve/savages and sanctuary bay, by now the wind had dropped right off and we struggled to cover any ground. Moving around as best we could without any action, we reached Hedge End, back on the bung I had another fish straight away, then Dave lost two and other boats around us were catching. This was an area which had been fishing well consistently over the last week. After a good practice day it was important to get our heads together and distribute all our findings, the main areas again were the Hedge End, Deepwater Point, G Buoy down to the stone jetty and sailing club bay. With a change of wind direction forecast, open water drifts could prove worthwhile, Grafham is renowned for the fish moving into open water and feeding on Daphnia. The methods that were working seem to be DI5 Pulling one blob and booby, DI5 rolly polly a single booby, DI5 slow figure eight two boobies also the bung was working well with 3 buzzers at 4ft,7ft and 9ft however with a stronger wind forecast it may be hard to present the flies correctly.
MATCH DAY
A brief from the organisers confirmed that it was 3 fish kill then de-barb hooks then catch and release, this year buoyant flies were allowed as long as they were de-barbed and rolly polly was not allowed so that ruled out one of our methods. The day started with bright sun and the wind had changed as forecast and now blowing from the south. I was partnered with Malcolm from the Fire services he was happy to go where ever as he hadn't practiced. I planned to go to Deepwater point but when the boats split I noticed that not many boats were heading towards G Buoy so a change of plan - I would have a couple of drifts through G Buoy and if I didn't have any action I would revert back to plan A. Only a few boats were in at G Buoy, Lindsay, Gaz and myself, after the second drift through none of our boats had caught so I decided to head up to Deepwater point. I could see a lot of boats along the north shore moving around, a sure sign that most people were struggling. I was on a DI5 with two Boobies. Communication was good, as Paul Lee came past to ask how I was doing I left my flies hanging whilst talking to him when I lifted up I was into my first fish, I started hanging my flies for longer after that. After a few more drifts around Deepwater point my boat partner got a fish and I was getting plenty nips and pulls but no lock ups. Toby came through and picked up one fish. After a few more drifts for nothing we moved down to the stone jetty where we met Gaz and Jamie they had both had fish to boat in that area. I started my drifts quite far out and picked up another two fish, they seemed to be tightly podded . I could see Gaz getting action doing the same thing. Although I was not ripping the place up I had confidence in my method and I could see a lot of boats were struggling on 1s and 2s so I stuck to it and tried to grind out some more fish. Back at the harbour it was clear that most had struggled and some good anglers from other teams had blanked, in the end I finished on 5 fish and between the team we had 22 fish. We headed off to the Wheatsheaf for a BBQ and results. The team finished fourth, not a great result but we can take a few positives from the day and learn from them, communication was the best I've seen with boats seeking out team members to pass on information, if you are struggling you must go and find someone. On hard days, everyone is finding it hard and a quick bag is not going to happen, that's when we should have an advantage by staying alert, fishing hard, watching other boats and hanging flies correctly until the end of the competition, avoid just going through the motions. The All Services Competition is getting bigger each year with more teams taking it more and more seriously. It would be nice to go there next year and put in a strong team performance in preparation for the Inter Services.
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news
Four of our members are involved in International events this year. Congratulations to Andy Croucher, Paul Kitchen (England) and Jock Kettles (Scotland) on their Loch Style Caps. Also for the first time in the club's history we have a member of the English National Rivers team in our ranks, well done Graham Lumsden.
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