25/07/26. Points match/Coaching Session, Orchard Lakes, New Milton.

As I write this blog on Sunday morning, it has just started to rain. It is the light misty rain that feels like your face is being washed by the tears of an angel, or a dribble from a faulty sprinkler system on low pressure.

For those too young to remember rain, it is a wet substance that falls naturally from the sky and did not just come from taps or bottles. Can you believe that we used to complain about the stuff??? Honestly, we used to say there was too much of it!

I collected some of it in a small container so I could get all nostalgic and look at it later…

Rain was far from our minds as we counted off yet another warm day in this new world that we exist in, and today we were suffering together in the New Forest at Orchard Lakes.

As I drove through the forest scrub land I remember thinking, how old does a forest need to be before it is no longer considered new?

Food for thought…

I’m not going to lie we have hosted better attended events in the past. But, even if just two kids want to face off against each other using maggots as weapons, then who are we to stand in their way?

Today we amassed three juniors willing or able to be competitive and I felt spoilt because of that. The numbers of coaching juniors were not that much better either with only four juniors turning up and two of those were Taster Sessions.

I confess that it’s hard not to panic after the slog of the winter to get everything ready for this new club. There are lots of circumstances in play at the moment, none more so than the recent high temps. If things don’t change by the end of the year, then we are going to have to reassess our processes and dream it all up again somehow. But that won’t be until 2027.

The drive to the ‘New’ Forest was sublime once you get off the boring roads and into the moor land. The old roads have more character and fun things like cattle grids to shake up your day. They have horses that do not care whether their ‘big ol’ butt’ is sticking out into the road causing delays to anglers trying to get to lakes and rivers.

I think my proposition to be able to display a purple flashing fish on the roof of your car holds water. This will enable anglers to get where they need to be like the emergency services. Imagine people moving aside for you just so you could get to a match on time…

It would have avoided situations like the wake-up call I experienced on the way to Orchard when a blue Ford Focus stopped to turn right in a place where I’d never seen someone turn right before. You would be amazed how much fishing tackle can fit into the front seats of your car simply by stamping on your brakes! A method I will be using more often in the future.

Jon and Jezza arrived, and we set about sorting out all the gear for the day.

Orchard Lakes is such a pretty place to be. Yes, it’s yet another commercial fishery, but this one well matured and full of a variety of fish species to catch. You can top this off with a well-stocked tackle shop, toilets and a Café. What more could you need?

This isn’t going to take long with only three fishing the match, so here goes…

Peg 1: Seth Hopkins

Peg 2: Jayce Hardware

Peg 3: Austin (Stretch) Scott-Kennedy

Your trio (yes, Trio! The actually correct collective noun for three angling coaches) today were:

Graham Howard (Shake)

Jeremy Bracey (Rattle)

Jonathan Bass (Roll)

Ben and Grayson were present for a bit of coaching today with each of them doing some decent mileage to be there! None more so than Grayson’s family who endured a three-day Camel ride from the darkest areas of Beaminster to get there. They left at 3pm yesterday and, at the time of writing, it is only 09:15 on Sunday. They should be home on Monday evening at the earliest, so I will let you know when they arrive home.

Both Ben and Grayson received ‘new’ seat boxes from the Re-Gen store and seemed happy with their presents. The two lads did well with their coaching today and I apologise for not being more organised with tutorials, but the Taster Sessions took up my focus I’m afraid.

The Tasters went well with both Harry and Rex catching some nice fish. Bream, Carp, F1’s, Crucians, and some cute Barbels delighted the potentially new anglers.

Hopefully they will have seen enough to want to return…

One point of note was the amount of House Sparrows around Orchard. Apparently now scarce, twenty of them utilised the shadow of my car to sit and pleasantly twitter away in relative innocence. I say relative because as soon as I walked away from my seat box, the sweet feathered friends decended on to my bait tray to attempt to clean me out of pellets! They were like a swarm of locusts and there is no way that a little Sparrow can swallow a dry 8mm pellet, but one was giving it a good go!

Peg One:

Seth Hopkins:

16lbs 13ozs, 3rd place, 17-points.

Seth got off to a reasonably good start by catching some F1’s and small Carps to begin with. But there was a storm brewing. A storm that was only going to affect the Hopkins family. Granddad was present to assist with proceedings because Ollie was, well, let’s just say the Ollie was ‘compromised in movements’ today. Standing or sitting was problematic for Ollie and it was nothing to do with anything rearward. Nor was it upfront. Let’s just say it was somewhere in between that was causing great discomfort that was not tempered by any ice block. To be fair, Mrs Hopkins had told him to stay at home, but Ollie had ‘not wanted to let us down’. Mrs H was right though, but this is what true commitment looks like. Brave soldier…

On arriving home, I quickly found out just how little sympathy exists amongst the female community for such a procedure, which I find harsh.

Seth and entourage were forced to concede defeat with 90-minutes remaining, but it was a good effort from all quarters. Despite what some cruel women say…

Peg Two:

Jayce Hardware:

20lbs 8ozs, 2nd place, 20-points.

An umbrella’d Jayce was in the shade for the duration and was sat in the same spot that the match was won from earlier in the year. But conditions were different then. It was a time when rain was still fashionable, before the sun took over.

Being tied up with coaching, I didn’t get to see much of the match. In fact, I couldn’t see Austin at all!

I saw that Jayce had slipped the net under a few fish, but not as many as the swim produced last time. I think Jay’s main focus was to beat the kid that had been forced to leave early!

In the end he did of course, which was not surprising. Over the next few matches and events, I want to spend some time watching juniors like Jayce to see how we can improve their skills and get them competing for big points and even wins.

Peg Three:

Austin Scott-Kennedy:

63lbs 14ozs, 1st place, 25-points.

Austin had grown fast in the few weeks since I had last seen him. So much so that his shin bone was almost as long as my entire leg! Not difficult for a stumpy, slightly over-weight coach who might be a shade taller if he dropped a few pounds.

Austin’s demeanour has changed lately. Probably due to the matches he has been fishing at Revels, barking with the big dogs. It is evident that his skills and thought processes have matured to allow him to problem solve his way through a tricky match.

Austin demonstrated what he has learned by doubling the weights combined of the other two, proving that he fast becoming a class act.

It was also good to see Brian back from the dead (quite literally actually!).

Yeah, well, it doesn’t take long to write a paragraph or two about three anglers, even for me. Not having many there did mean that we all got home a bit earlier, but I’d rather have more and be late.

Big thanks to Jerry and Jon for coaching on a hot day today.

Thank you to Shaine and Nathan and all the staff at Orchard Lakes. If you get the chance, go there. You won’t regret it.

Don’t forget to book in for the match at Revels this coming Saturday (1st Aug). Coaching is available too…

Parish Notices:

During the summer break, there may be some opportunities to come fishing with the coaches during the midweek. Dates and venues will be posted in the WhatsApp group.

The Junior Pairs match is on the 29th of August at Harbourbridge Lake.

Juniors will be allowed to pick their own partners.

On the 26th of September we have Sutton Bingham on the calendar. We will be changing that to a Feeder Only match on Silverlake instead. You will be surprised…

We are hoping to host a river match on the Stour on 10th October. To be confirmed.