Review of 2010

Frustratingly nature decided to put an early "lid" on the fishing for 2010 with fisheries closing down due to ice which was up to 5 inches thick. I had planned to fish the Hillview Christmas match on the 19/12/10. However, it was impossible due to snow falls and the ice. I was amazed that even though the match has been postponed a few lunatics still fished a match – have a look at the result – not bad considering the conditions!

http://www.talkangling.co.uk/upload/match_results/35614-hillview_lakes_sunday_open_19th_dec_2010_a.html

Looking at the long distance weather forecast it doesn’t look too promising until late January 2011. I worry about the fish stocks during these bad spells of weather, particularly the fully stocked shallow commercial fisheries, where there must be a sever reduction of oxygen. Then again Mother Nature does tend to be the balancing scales. Let’s hope the last three years have been exceptional weather rather than the norm, but can’t help worrying that it’s the effects of Global warming.

I have prepared this year’s match summary and compared it with 2009. Overall it’s been a similar year to that of 2009 in many respects - consistency. It may appear that match attendances have fallen, but I have put this down to not fishing the Viaduct winter this year which attracts a hundred anglers over five matches. It was good to see the attendance of the Coffin Dodgers matches increase with the likes of Mike Jones, Chris Rolfe, John Smith and Mike Chapman returning to match fishing. This year saw Colin Golding retire from running the matches with Mike Jones taking over. Thanks Colin for all you’ve done, one thing for sure “You did it your way”.

It is good news that the average weight per match has increased by 20%. There are a few reasons for this, but hope most of it is due to the improvement of fisheries and me gaining experience.

No DNW’s this year but similarly to 2009 one blank. It’s amazing that both these blanks came from the same peg (Campbell 110) under similar conditions, both Silvers only matches.

It was pleasing to have increased my strike rate by 1%.

	2010	2009
Total Number of Matches Fished	109	99
Total Number of Anglers fished the Matches	2,551	2,701
Average Number of Anglers per Match	23	27
Number of Different Fisheries Fished	22	19
Total Carp Weight	3,246lb 2oz	2,470lb 15oz
Total Silvers Weight	1,506lb 7oz	1,1601lb 3oz
Overall Weight	4,752lb 9oz	3,632lb 2oz
Highest Overall Weight	201lb 10oz	210lb 14oz
Highest Silvers Weight	44lb 10oz	44lb 7oz
Heaviest Carp	18lb 10oz	18lb 14oz
Average Weight per Match	43lb 9oz	36lb 11oz
Number of Times in top 6 Overall	54	43
Number of Times in top 3 Silvers	40	45
Number of Times won Both	6	6
Number of Pick-ups	67	59
Strike Rate	61%	60%
DNW	0	2
Blanks	1	1

There were many memorable days fishing, in fact they all were. However, my most memorable match was catching 44lb of prime Ronnie’s at Plantation fishery (catch pictured right) which I was told was a lake Silvers record. On the same day Martin Rayett broke the Lake overall record.

My favourite photograph of 2010 is the one lower right.

My favourite video is at the bottom right where Colin Golding is explaining the pools payout (worth another look me thinks). This man is a true legend since the day he first went fishing with his Dad George to the present day he has never once wavered in his enthusiasm for angling. I think I am safe in saying that Colin over the years has fished more matches than anyone one else in the world.  

2011 is going to be financially difficult for many (except for the Bankers who were the cause this recession through their greed), what Anglers must ensure is that they support their local tackle shops. In addition to providing the usual tackle and bait they provide very important services to us – information, advice, etc…and in some cases match organisation – all priceless. I was amazed to hear recently that Bennett’s of Sheffield had ceased trading;

Bennett’s had the back page of the Angling Times for as long as I can remember. My advice to tackle dealers is don’t put too much emphasis on the internet. It cannot provide the complete service so focus on those aspects the internet can’t provide, of which there are many.