We gathered in Devizes for the draw and the breaky, and before we new it we were ready to go. Weird feeling doing the organising and then when its off your not involved.
Some good looking matches, with Brian meeting us on the bank. We set off. I called the all in and set the countdown on my phone before starting my bank running duties.
Initially the lads were a little nervy, the plan which had worked well in practice , feed far side then fish inside line for 45 minutes, get a pound or two in the net before going for the skimmers. 30 minutes in we were getting twitchy but then the fish started to come.
It was turning out to be a proper match flowing two and fro them up in most of the pairings then we came back. Then it settled into a rhythm.
Adam Carter was flying in his match with Kev and Looking good (below)
Rumour was that Si Burden was catching well on end peg 16. Couldn't get much out of him myself he was cagey and concentrating hard. So he was up in his match against 15. Other end peg Paul Passmore was up against Si Irwin in our side. Si was struggling the strong wind had snapped his pole and he had to telescopic it and try and carry on. Chris was up in his Match. Ian down in his. Danny Jones was wining his.
The legend who is James Carty (below)was mechanically bagging and doing his normal I've got bugger all routine
Leo our man in this battle was sticking rigidly to the plan and picking up a few it was a tight one this. As I sat behind Leo he switched to choppy the float dipped and he hit into a nice fish. Below.
Give him his due, his back was giving him grief but he was putting in a good show. James looked crestfallen when Leo unhooked and dropped into the net
But James like the machine he is kept fish going into the net and I had to say to Leo it was tight but he was down in his match and needed another a couple more skimmers to catch and pass James. More bad news Chris who was in front had just watched his opponent catch two good skimmers which now had put him behind. Ian was now in front, and Kev had caught and overtook Adam. The boats were driving us all mad and I wasn't even fishing, bloody holiday makers.
As the boats cris crossed in front of Leo his swim was finished. The clock seemed to be counting down quickly so I final run down the bank saw Ian back in it with a Perch. This was going to be tight. As I stood next to Devizes Captain Adam and called the all out for the end; we differed in our views. He thought we had won and I thought it was a tie.
The weigh in began and the Devizes lads were joking nervously. In truth we all knew it was close. As we came down the bank it flowed too and fro , but in the end it was as I had called it 4 wins each and so down to overall team weight. Which ever way you look at it, it was close but the Division One Team had pipped us on weight, by a good 4 pound or 8oz an Angler. What a gutter................close but no Cigar and bragging rights to the worthy winners.
A few nervous laughs from Devizes lads when they realised how close we had pushed em; and I was sulking analysing were I had gone wrong, could I have given better or more info on the bank? Could we have done better as a team I don't think so we had not disgraced ourselves at all. Well done to Devizes and we wish them best of luck for going all the way to the final.
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