Bishops Waltham Parish Fishing Club
Points Only and Pairs Match Finalised the 2019-20 Competition Season
The final match of the 2019-20 season was fished just before the regulations came in about staying at home.
Despite the weather preventing matches being fished and the looming menace of Corona virus, four guys drew swims and then partners to fish the final match of the season. Sadly, this match could be the last for a long while as movement and meeting restrictions were imposed soon after. Police advised no further fishing at the South Pond for the foreseeable future.
Station road swims were selected as they were the most fishable. All selected to fish using the whip method to catch silver fish close in and at speed. Basically a whip is a 'stick', albeit telescopic, with a length of line attached a little shorter than the whip's extended length. The line has a light float attached in line and a hook at its free end and small weights placed on the line below the float, either strung out shirt button style or bulk bunched or a combination thereof. Whips range from 1.5m up to 8m. Most used either 3 or 4m whips. A caught fish is simply played and lifted to hand or into a landing net before being placed into the keep-net to be counted at the end of the match.
A regular flick out of a pinch of maggots or pinkies with maybe small, very occasional ground bait offerings to the same spot close in, encourages the fish to take a maggot or pinky hookbait dropping through the water. Once a feeding, casting, catching, unhooking rhythm is established, then high numbers of silvers can be caught. As each fish of any species is one point, even if you land a feisty 4 lbs carp, the highest points total secures the trophy after 3 hours.
Rain came in early (despite Andy Weavil stating 1 pm was its ETA! ). It was light rain, almost misty drizzle, and not enough to warrant an umbrella. Gentle but gusting winds too, quite mild overall. Some caught fish immediately, some needed to build their swim but all caught fish eventually. Perversely, very few perch were caught considering the amount of maggots being used and the small fish attracted to them.
Steve Edge secured first spot with 112 points and didn't see a perch. Chris Shepherd came second with 87 fish and the odd perch. Third was Rod Langthorne with 55 points that included a perch and fourth was Andy Weavil with 32 points. He had 2 perch included in his total. All the perch were tiny. No more than 2 ounces each.
In the Pairs Match, Steve was paired with Rod and they jointly amassed 167 points to win. Andy was paired with Chris and they totalled 119 points between them.
So that concludes the 2019-20 season.
No fishing allowed under current lockdown rules
Police advice is not to go fishing as it is an unnecessary journey driving there, despite being isolated when fishing. It is not strictly exercise either. Walking there may be classed as exercise but then remaining sat for several hours is not. Anyway, with the current high water level in the pond, most swims are wet or unusable or inaccessible. It is effectively like having the closed season back again.
AGM cancelled
The AGM and trophy presentation planned for Friday April 24th was cancelled. This is a social occasion to complete the Club's 2019-20 business and catch up on the latest about the fishing on the South Pond. This and the renewals evening will be rescheduled once current lockdown regulations are removed.
May and June activities
May and June activities have been put on hold under the current crisis. Once rules are relaxed we will need to reschedule the work parties, AGM, renewals evening and potentially the early season matches as well.
Joining the Club
Membership is now closed for the 2019-20 season. Current membership continues until June 15th which will be reviewed nearer the time and possibly extended. Membership renewals and applications for the 2020-21 season will be opened once lockdown rules are relaxed. No membership requests are being processed at the moment as this would involve handling cash or cheques and visits to the bank.
Membership is open to anyone who lives in Bishops Waltham, plus a number of Associate membership places (for those living outside the Parish). Priority is given to Parish membership (especially juniors), but anyone living outside of the Parish wishing to join should contact Cathy for an Associate Membership place.
Club web site
For more information about the club and its activities, the club's web site can be found at: www.bwpfc.org.uk
Steve Edge and Barry Jerome