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Intersite Challenge Series
1st Round - West, 16th April 2005
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Kennet and Avon Canal @ Devizes (Sells Green)
by Slider (aka Mark Poppleton)
It was with excitement that I arrived at the Three Magpies Pub on Saturday morning. I was greeted with the smell of brekkie and the sight of at least a third of the anglers already tucking in. I was met in the car park by Fred “ Jelly Pellet” Davis who had not only managed to find the venue but had also brought along some of his famous pellets for me, including some right donkey chokers!! Top man Fred.
It was nice to once again say hello to faces from last year and by the looks of it many new faces too. I think the Maggot Drowners had got worried about the location of their captain. In the end all was well as he stumbled through the door murmuring about waking up late, I had wondered if the time line was different in the valleys!
After I had finished my special diet brekkie and found the team captains it was time to conduct the draw and explain a few things about the venue. Parking was tight with only 2 access points to the canal and as it turned out there were at least two anglers in one team who had difficulty walking. Please in future let the organiser know before the match, I have a conscience and felt very bad about that.
It was good to see that every team had a full squad, a sure sign that the intersite series is getting stronger and stronger and even more competitive. What we need now is a bit of solidarity between sites and people to help it along even more. I think you will all agree that we have something very special going with this series.
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Above: Slider demonstartes his prowess with the fish in B Section by posting a section winning 5-11-0... and a rare quiet moment at the bar with friends (and Maggit!).
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The Fishing
With all anglers now at their pegs it was time to think about the fishing. I had a very good idea of how it would fish as I had put in some practice on the venue along with quite a few others including the ever-formidable Hillbilly (you have got to admire this guy’s dedication and enthusiasm).
With overcast skies and low double figure temperatures it was looking good for a skimmer match, only time would tell. Rig wise I think most people did the same thing, bottom of the far shelf with a 4x14 or 4x16 rig baited with maggots and pinkies over ground bait. Some were lucky and had a decent depth tight across but as it turned out the fish didn’t want to be over there anyway. The fish were pretty well spread throughout the match length with only, F, G, H and I sections fishing very hard for all. On the other sections it was quite apparent that the fish were tightly shoaled, as some were weighing over 5 pounds whilst the man next to them was weighing in ounces. From the whispers coming down the line it was apparent that the lumps had been on the move and smashing people up on their silvers gear, Deejay, from Matchangler, was heard to say he had lost the match winning fish but later reports confirmed that he just couldn’t handle a 10oz skimmer! Another one of the Matchangler team pegged next to me had a pike of around 1lb and was most upset when I chuckled that it didn’t count! I’m not sure he trusted me but chucked it back anyway. The rest of the length fished OK but not fantastically. The boatyard section was the area to be in but even that wasn’t consistent, I was lucky, drawing opposite the last boat and an unoccupied one to boot! It was nice to see that so many people had turned out to fish a natural venue when so often these days commercials dominate.
This seems to be a good point to mention the most amusing thing I saw on the day (apart from Maggit), was Total Fishing’s esteemed leader Nick Merry trying to mount double squatt on a Kamasan Animal size 12 tied to 0.17mm Powerline! I thought it only fair to tell him it wasn’t a Snake Lake!! Wink wink…
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The Results
(Team with most points wins)
Teams on the day to count for the Intersite Series (scoring altered to exclude Matchangler.com)
1st Angling Forums 30 points
2nd Talk Angling 27 points
3rd Total Fishing 25 points
4th Maggotdrowners 19 points
Teams on the day (the real result!)
(scoring includes Matchangler.com)
1st Angling Forums 35 points
2nd Matchangler 33 points
3rd Talk Angling 32 points
4th Total Fishing 30 points
5th Maggotdrowners 22 points
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Left: 'Crusty'... Keith (I'm on a shedful) Taylor with his 8-11-0 winning weight from A1 on the Aquarium swim!
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Below: The 'Magnificent Seven' (minus three) Angling Forums are all smiles at the moment... wait till Willow boys!!!
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Above: Keith 'Crusty' Taylor waits for the scales at the boatyard end of the K & A.
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Above left: Dave 'Wingy' Bennett found 6-3-0 of skimmers and roach from A section to deny Deejay of second in section. Above right: Alistair 'It was this big when I got here' Murchie (Ally) kept complaining about the cold morning!
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Top three: Andy Felton (Talk Angling), Crusty (Total Fishing) and Bobby G (Talk Angling).
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TOP TEN (excluding Matchangler's)
1st Kieth Taylor Total Fishing 8lb 11oz
2nd Bobby G Talk Angling 7lb 4oz
3rd Andy Felton Talk Angling 6lb 13oz
4th Dave Bennett Talk Angling 6lb 3oz
5th Mark Poppleton Angling Forums 5lb 11oz
6th B Cooper Angling Forums 5lb
7th Rich Chave Total Fishing 3lb 8oz
8th Dean Adams Angling Forums 3lb 4oz
9th Pete M Maggotdrowners 3lb 2oz
10th Dave Angling Forums 3lb 1oz
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Sections to counting towards Intersite scores
(Excluding Matchangler.com)
A Keith Taylor Total Fishing
B Mark Poppleton Angling Forums
C Andy Felton Talk Angling
D Bobby G Talk Angling
E Jono Angling Forums
F Ted Rowe Talk Angling
G Fred Davis Angling Forums
H Dean Adams Angling Forums
I B Cooper Angling Forums
J Rich Chave Total Fishing
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Real Sections on the day
(Including Matchangler.com)
A Keith Taylor Total Fishing
B Mark Poppleton Angling Forums
C Andy Felton Talk Angling
D Bobby G Talk Angling
E Colin Dance Matchangler
F Ted Rowe Talk Angling
G Stephen Lee Match Angler
H Dean Adams Angling Forums
I B Cooper Angling Forums
J Rich Chave Total Fishing
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and finally, I would like to thank...
Nick Merry for pegging the venue and giving everyone plenty of space.
Ken Rayner and Bobby G for helping with the weigh in
Steve Ince of Wests Tackle for the loan of the scales
Three Magpies for their hospitality
See you all next year !
Mark Poppleton (Slider)
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...and last but not least... It was a hard days work for Deejay, losing all those big fish and then having too take pictures of every one else's! (Maggit is the boardman and NickytheBricky looks on, while Tamb took the pot shot).
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