Barclays v Bank of Scotland

15 a side with a practice day including a few drinks and then a competition fishing with one of the opposition and a sit down meal/presentation and a few more drinks. What an excellent event this is!

I have just had two days fishing on Draycote and managed to catch 25 fish, C&R of course. Despite an algae bloom, bright sun and cold wind Draycote still fished magnificently.

We managed to lift the TW Trophy again this year - which is a rare event in England- we caught 114 fish for 275lbs with the Scots catching 87 fish for 190lbs. remarkably for us we also managed to catch most of the larger fish too and the best fish of the day went to Steve Blundell who caught a magnificent rainbow weighing 12lbs 15ozs below

As you would expect Steve cleaned up on the prizes with the heaviest bag and best boat along with James Turner and their 16 fish weighed 44-8. Agnes Thomas took the best Scots bag with 8 fish for 20-3.

The other notable bags for Barclays were Ross Jordan with 8 for 22-14, Ralf painter with 8 for 19-12 and Martin Williams with 8 for 19-8. Neil O'shea also had a 4-12 rainbow. No less than 12 of the team bagged up with 8 fish and we were only 6 fish short of a maximum. Very impressive!

From the BOS side Mike Connet had 8 for 19-3, Kenny Wilson 8 for 18-10 and John Tullett 8 for 17-12. Dick Ness had a rainbow of 3-14 and Agnes one of 3-11.

Practice for me was with Mike Philpott and we managed to find a good number of fish in Toft, from G to H buoy and off Dunns bay. The algae was awful, I have taken a photo looking into water below and it was a case of on the downward shore of rainbow corner and the dam were unfishable and after being warned off never ventured over. Fortunately there were a good number of fish elsewhere.

We managed to take our early fish on either a Di3 and daiwl backs or a Di5 and sparklers in the morning and then I went mad in the afternoon on a fast glass with a sparkler booby and claret and black hoppers. Modesty forbids me to remember the numbers in the boat! Team talk was held without us, thanks! But as most people had caught fish the tactics and locations were not in question. Others had caught on a mix of lovely coloured lures but black and green and an orange blob maybe were the best. Pretty much all the stockies were in Toft but bigger fish out in the middle. Tactics were great and because people caught on different things we shared info but retained everyones confidence to choose what they thought was their best approach. Martin Williams was catching on the same as me as the action below shows. Well more like I was catching on the same as him after he passed the info over.

I was drawn with Kenny Wilson for the competition day and knew I would have a good day as he had similar fish to me on practice day and I had seen him ticking along a slow sink.

We started out from Biggin bay but after half an hour it was devoid of fish let alone any of the bigger ones that were there the day before. The usual jitters started to kick in! However a new drift starting from Lin Croft point out in the middle found us drifting on the edge of farnbourough shoal. I changed my line from the fast glass to a Di7 and the action started immediately and I put 4 fish in the boat in about the next 10 casts. Kenny was hot on my heels with a Di5 and managed a fish before the drift ended. We located the edge of the shoal perfectly and finished the morning session with 13 fish between us. Not quite as good as Agnes and Shane Tibbetts but I was more than happy. Kenny was set up with an orange blob on the top dropper and a black and green nomad on the point and at lunch it was clearly the team tactic.

Kenny caught a great fish on the blob as both of us saw it chase and come back around for a look a number of times. We both had time to comment on how best to catch it and with a last movement the fish turned and took -YES! Good angling!

I had a lively fish in the morning and tried to convince Kenny I should count it twice. I netted it quick and before I could take the fly out of it's mouth it had jumped out of the net and play it again before landing and releasing - surely that's 2?

After lunch the tactic was go back to the previous spot for Kenny to catch his 6th and then off to G and H buoy for some bigger fish. Well before I could get my line out he had one hooked and netted, very impressive.

With both on 6 in the boat we were allowed to C&R and the banter started from Kenny, its gone tough now, you'll never have time for two more, you better keep that small one, it'll be embarrassing going in with just 7, etc. etc. As 4pm approached Kenny kept his 7th a decent fish, I kept and I was mightily relieved my next one too, although Kenny was convinced it should have gone back! Spot on 4 Kenny had a another decent fish and started to pack up, it was as though he had planned it all along. I then decided that i would also would take my next fish as I couldn't seem to catch any decent fish and true to form it was about the same size as all my other small ones. All in a all a very pleasant and enjoyable day and a sun tan to boot!

Can't wait for the return trip to Scotland next year, Lake of Menteith, Carron Valley, Butterstone, any will do!!

Paul Eliot passes away

In Neil o'shea's words
"It is with great regret that I have to let you know that Paul passed away last Friday after losing his battle against cancer.Paul was a great fisherman who, for many years, represented the South West region. He also fished for Barclays against the Bank of Scotland, even to the extent of missing a golf tournament in the Mediterranean for which he'd qualified so he didn't lose his place in the Barclays team. He was a wonderful character who will be well remembered by all those who knew him. After retiring from the bank Paul set up fishing lodges on his property at Wainsford House on the Rivers Fowey and Warleggan. He then worked tirelessly for his remaining years to improve the fishing on these rivers. I will certainly miss him and thought you, his friends, would like to know. Would you please circulate this to anyone who knew Paul but is not on this circulation list. Thank you. "

Paul was a fantastic character, a great fisherman and a good friend. John wilson dedicated his Barclays national win to Paul this year and with the Barclays v BOS fishing match this week he will be in all our thoughts.