2008 Carp Competitions.

Carp Comp Round 3- Monsoon Season Comes to Treoes!

 Round 3 of the 2008 Carp Competition was held on Treoes on 23rd-24th August.  Being an enthusiastic kind of person, I arrived nice and early to find myself apparently alone....had the weather forecast sent everyone scampering for cover?  Was everyone else enjoying a nice sunny holiday in a country that was actually experiencing a summer?

 Not to worry though, as Julian and Alan soon paddled around in the boat and joined me on terra firma for a hot beverage.  Soon enough, the other competitors started arriving for the 10:30am draw, with several scarred veterans of the previous comps being joined by a few fresh faces (which goes to show how popular these comps are becoming). 

The draw saw the usual buzz of activity, with everyone running to secure their favorite swims.  All too soon the ceremonial honking of the car horn signaled the off.  The opening hour saw a few fish landed, always an encouraging sign (and even I managed one 55 minutes in- wonders will never cease!!). Rumors began to circulate, as they always do at the carp comps, that one lucky soul had started bagging up from the word go. Otherwise, it was steady going and most people were lucky enough to get in to a carp or two in the first few hours. 

 The weather didn't look to bad either- ok, a few showers, but nothing too horrendous. Word was encouraging...carp were coming out to most people, and whilst the majority of folks weren't experiencing spectacular sport, most people had dodged the dreaded spam award.  Even better news was that two or three of the competitors were on the way to building a spectacularly large bag.

As the day drew on though...it started to rain a bit more.  Then a bit more after that...and by the time it had gone dark, the weather can only be described as flipping awful.  It rained and it rained, and in case I've not quite explained just how rubbish the weather had turned, it was pretty well hammering down.  This didn't lower anyone's spirit though and whilst many retired to their bivvy of choice for the evening, a few hardy souls stuck it out in the monsoon.  I have to admit here that I was something of a wuss about the whole thing...sheltering in the hut and then getting an early night in my bivvy.  I think it pretty much rained all night, but again...everyone woke up and got on with enjoying the rest of the comp.  The weather did see the fishing slacken off and it was much harder going for the last few hours. 

 A few more light showers, and a few cooked breakfasts, were enjoyed around the lake and before long, the second ceremonial toot of the car horn was sounded.  Another comp drew to a close and everyone gathered around the hut whilst the entry sheets were counted.  This became particularly tense as organizer and carp counter in chief Nigel recounted two of the score sheets due to a 2lb different between 2nd and 3rd place.

What's that? You've had enough of my prattling and want to see the results now? Well....alright then, here goes:-

Singles results;
1stJonathan Wood 253.3/4lb
2nd Joshua Bowley 148.3/4lb
3rd Kevin Feeley 147lb
4th Daniel Forward 74.3/4lb
5th Ian Griffiths 68lb
6th Steve Burnett 56.1/4lb
7th Wayne George 51.3/4lb
8th Adam Preddy 51lb
9th Janice Ravenhill 46.1/4lb
10th Keith Forward 44.1/2lb
11th Roy Tomlinson 29lb
12th Alan Trowbridge 25lb
13th Jenny Colins 23.1/4lb
14th Ben Philips 22lb
15th Dennis Grabham 20.1/4lb
16th Maureen Smith 19lb
17th Nigel Sproston 15.3/4lb
18th Julian Addecott 14.1/4lb
19th Chris Williams 11.3/4lb
20th Amanda Joseph 10.1/2lb

Pairs Results

1st Adam Preddy and Jonathan Wood 304lb
2nd Ian Griffiths and Kevin Feeley 215lb
3rd Joshua Bowley and Dennis Grabham 169lb
4th Daniel Forward and Kieth Forward 119.1/4lb
5th Wayne George and Steve Burnett 108lb
6th Janice Ravenhill and Jenny Collins 69.1/2lb
7th Roy Tomlinson and Ben Philips 51lb
8th Nigel Sproston and Alan Trowbridge 40lb
9th Maureen Smith and Amanda Joseph 29.1/2lb
10th Julian Addecott and Chris williams 26lb

Biggest fish

1st Kevin Feeley 16.1/2lb mirror
2nd Kevin Feeley 15lb common
3rd Joshua Bowley 13.1/2lb common and Jonathan Wood 13.1/2lb mirror
4th Joshua Bowley 13lb Common
5th Joshua Bowley 12.1/2lb common
6th Maureen Smith 12lb common, Steve Burnett 12lb common. Kevin Feeley 12lb mirror.

In total 185 carp were caught, for a massive overall total of 887lb(!!).  No spam award this time as every competitor caught a carp or two.  Its also interesting that there not a great deal was caught on the non-carp side of things this time out.

Despite the somewhat damp weather (and trust me when I say that is a massive understatement), everyone who took part had a great time.  The fourth and final round will be upon in just a couple of weeks, so start making your pva bags and preparing the smelliest groundbait you can concoct. 

Many thanks to all the competitors for making round 3 a success and to Nigel for organising the whole series, and I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks for one last bash.

Until next time,

Chris Williams

GAC part-time roving reporter.

A few more fish made themselves known as night began to draw in, and a few more fish were taken by those hardy souls who made it through the night with minimal sleep (and in one case, no sleep at all and no bivvy- just a normal umbrella- now that's dedication to the cause).

The morning period was again slow going, although word again spread around the lake that the same two gents who had got off to a flying start on Saturday had both passed the 100lb mark, and that a 17lber had taken pole position in the specimen race.

Above: Singles winner Paul Addecott being presented his trophy by Julian Addecott.


Above: Singles runner up Kevin Feeley.


Above: Pairs winners Paul Addecott and Steve Marsh.


Above: Pairs runners up Kevin Feeley and Ian Griffiths


Above: Joint Specimen Fish trophy winners John Monkley and Ian Griffiths.


Above: Head Bailiff, Brian Dickman with the much tresured Spam Award for not catching a single carp. (He manage a small skimmer bream!!).

Special mention for Adam Preddy who finished 14th but was our only Junior to fish, with extra special thanks to his dad for coming along and allowing Adam to fish the event.

Congratulations to the all the winners, and a big thank you to everyone who took part.  The second competition was every bit as enjoyable and every bit as successful as the first round, which leads me to say a big thank you to Nigel Sproston for all of his hard work in organizing this series of competitions.

Round 2- done.  I hope to see you at Treoes in August for number 3.

Until next time,

Chris Williams.
GAC part-time roving reporter

24 hr carp comp – May 10^th - May 11^th 2008 - Treoes

Ok folks, let’s start with all the facts and figures and some photos. Here we go..

There were 25 competitors in total, consisting of 21 singles and 9 pairs entries. We had trophies for Singles winner-biggest bag, Singles runners up-biggest bag, Biggest specimen, Pairs combined weight winners and Pairs combined weight runners up.

The Gallery

Above: The trophies, all new and shiny, including the booby prize for the lowest scorer.

 
Above: Singles winner Julian Addecott (Mal) being presented his trophy by the match organizer Nigel ‘Sproggy’ Sproston.

Above: Singles runner up Ian Griffiths.

Above: Pairs winners Ian Griffiths and Kevin Feeley.

Above: Pairs runners up Jarck Van Vuuren and Julian Addecott.

 
Above: Nigel ‘Sproggy’ Sproston holding his much deserved Specimen Fish trophy, awarded to himself by himself for a cracking 17lb 10oz grass carp.

 
Above: I don’t know whether that’s a smile or Steve Marsh is about to burst into tears! But all the same a fitting trophy for our best loser. Colin looks a little bewildered at this point as I’d just given that spam to him for an afternoons session and Steve goes and wins it! Go figure..?

Well, that’s the tale of the tape and a cracking weekend was had by all. The weather was absolutely beautiful, though it did seem to turn the fish off feeding until after dark and in some swims not at all. A lot of comment was made to the superb works that have been carried out on Treoes and I know I speak for us all in thanking Brian Dickman and his team for making Treoes a venue to be proud of and one that caters for every member young and old, able and disabled.

Fishing during Saturday daytime proved a hard task for everyone with only a handful of carp being caught. Dusk produced carp with more regularity and the night produced the winning bags. This includes Nigel Sprostons scuba diving method that landed him his specimen grassy. Jarck Van Vuuren commented to me (Mal) that Sproggy must be into a big fish as he heard an almighty SPLASH across the lake. In fact this WAS sproggy going headfirst into his swim for an after-dark dip with the fishies, well done Nigel. Dawn broke on Sunday morning  with the lake covered in mist and a stunning orange/red sky, worth the effort to get up so early, the sun rose to a clear sky and again we enjoyed hot sunshine throughout the competition. Fish were spawning along the island fringes once again and proved to be a tough quarry during Sundays stint.

Thanks

It goes without saying that Nigel deserves a huge thank you for his efforts in organizing the 24hr carp comp series. Organizing these events is no easy task and he does a fine job in getting it right, well done Sproggy.

Another big thank you to Brian Dickman for very kindly donating the trophies for this match and allowing the series to become self funding as a result.

Thank you to Colin Farnham and his team for looking after Treoes throughout the year and maintaining a very high standard of venue for the members to enjoy.

And finally, a thank you to the participants for your superb company, crazy antics, scuba diving and of course taking part. See you all on the next one.

GAC’s unofficial roving match reporter,

Mal.