Nick catches more fish in final of Match Series than total of other competitors, Junior Prize evening & AGM on 27th April
Final match in Series is won with over 45lb of carp
The final match of the series was fished on the 19th February and saw six anglers turn up for the 08:30am draw. With three associates and three club members the total was just right to also fish the Pairs Match. This year rather than just draw pairs from a hat the anglers decided to pair up as club member and associate member, and then pick a side to fish. After the draw the associate members made their way to the North side of the pond in the sunshine and this left the club members on the station road side and in the shade.
A week before this match the pond had been frozen solid with a least three inches of ice so most anglers expected all the carp to be in the deeper water and only the silver fish to show. If you have a pond, look at the fish during the colder months, you will find most of them laying at the bottom in deeper water conserving energy.
The main set up for all anglers was the pole but everyone started on the feeder just in case the carp were about. Roland Palmer on peg 15 started with a groundbait feeder cast towards the straw bales in the centre of the pond and almost immediately caught a small carp. Nick Richardson on peg 2 cast his feeder towards the trees and also caught a carp from the off. With all anglers now fishing the feeder it was Nick on peg 3 who continued to catch carp from the shallows close to the trees. Every time you looked up Nick seemed to putting another carp in his net whilst other anglers were struggling to catch a silver fish.
The club anglers on the Station Road side struggled and after Rolands first carp it was only silver fish that were added to the keep net. The associate members on the other side of the pond faired far better. Chris Shepherd on peg 2 started slowly but eventually found some carp to weigh in at 15lb 0oz. Rod Langthorne on peg 4 fished close to the tree on the pole and managed to catch 4lb 3 oz of silvers. Nick Richardson on peg 3 was the runaway winner with 45lb 10oz of carp and finished with more weight that all the other anglers combined.
The final results were:
Associate Members Club Members: Pairs Match results:
With the Match series finished the best six results for each competitor are being selected from the series of eight matches. This allows for our regular match fishers to miss a couple of matches, for example if they are away on holiday, without losing the opportunity to still win the series. At the time of writing (early March) there is still one match to go the Points Match. In this match each fish counts as one point. However, by the time you read this all matches will be completed and the winners will be identified for awards at the AGM.
Pairs Match winners - Roland & Nick
Pos Name
Weight lbs-ozs 1 Nick Richardson 45lb - 10oz 2 Chris Shepherd 15lb - 0oz 3 Rod Langthorne 4lb - 3oz
Pos Name
Weight lbs-ozs 1 Paul Collins 7lb - 3oz 2 Steve Edge 5lb - 0oz 3 Roland Palmer 3lb - 6oz
Pos Name
Weight lbs-ozs 1 Nick Richardson & Roland Palmer 49lb - 0oz 2 Paul Collins & Chris Shepherd 22lb - 3oz 3 Steve Edge & Rod Langthorne 9lb - 3oz 
Junior Prize evening and AGM will be on 27th April
The Juniors who fished the Summer competition are invited to attend at 6:45pm for 7 pm to receive their awards and prizes. This will be followed by refreshments, the AGM and the senior trophy presentations. This is always a fun evening.
It is proposed to hold membership fees for 2012/13 at the same rate for another year, bearing in mind the financial pressures that members are facing at the moment.
New membership year
Although the season has finished for matches, individual fishing will continue until membership renewal in June and the opening of the new season. The new membership year begins on 16th June 2012. Parish members should renew by 31st May. A special renewals day will be held at the pond for Parish members to renew their subs on Saturday 21st April from 9:00am-12:00 noon. Existing Associate members can renew from 1st June, those who have not renewed by 31st July will be assumed to have ceased membership and their place will be offered to the next person on the waiting list.
April & May activities
The main activities in April and May will be pond maintenance. Paul Collins has continued his maintenance activities during the season as bailiff, aided and abetted by two or three others. A big thank you to Paul from the Club for his hard work and also those other club members who contributed to the Ponds maintenance. Barley bales aim to be renewed by the end of April if scaffold poles can be obtained. The intention is to create an island feature, fishable from 90% of the swims. (ie. 1-7, 11-19). It may become necessary to close some swims at short notice so that maintenance can be carried out. This will be advertised on the notice boards.
Joining the Club
If you are interested in joining the club please contact our membership secretary Cathy Naylor on 01489-890086, or contact our chairman Roland Palmer (after 6pm) on 01489-894063 for an application form. More information is available, and a form can be downloaded, from our web site. The current membership year ends in mid-June.
Membership is open to anyone who lives in Bishops Waltham, plus a small number of Associate membership places (for those living outside the Parish). Priority is always given to Parish membership, especially juniors. Associate membership places were full for the 2011/12 season and a waiting list has been started for next season. Anyone living outside of the Parish wishing to join should contact Cathy to put their name on the waiting list.
Club web site
For more information about the club and its activities, the club's web site can be found at: