31/10/26, Points Match, Main Lake, Revels.

The post dawn light made the road look greyer than usual is it rose into the mist over the hills of Dorset. The sad yellow leaves on the road danced excitedly as my car swept them along behind it. The trees stood silently semi-silhouetted against the white swirling shroud. Sleeping giants some of whom had been relieved of their once lush foliage. Others held fast on to a feeble few of their golden leaves in a vain hope of staying off the winter for a day longer. As the road rose to the heavens, so the mist became thicker and I remember thinking, God I’m glad I’ve got heated seats, because my tooshie is toastie!

My arrival at Revels was greeted by an early-morning Jason and, for the first time, I yielded the coveted club account card which was reluctantly passed to me by a tearful Jerry during the week. I paid for the vouchers and skipped own to the car park to view our home for the day.

I breathed deeply as I took in the view, golden trees, mirror calm water and chilly mist in the air… I then walked back to get the car because all the gear was in the boot…Skipping is all well and good, but it doth transfer little equipment…

Mike was the first on the scene and we chatted breathlessly like a couple of familiar old cart horses as we emptied our vehicles of their contents.

I was under little doubt that today was going to be a challenge. Thirteen juniors with only four or five coaches doesn’t sound a big deal, and it wouldn’t be on a different venue. But a lake like the Main Lake at Revels offers little direct line of sight at this time of year and coaches need to be constantly moving to make sure everyone is still safely on the dry bit.

Because of the workload today, I had little chance to walk around the lake to see everyone. In fact, I didn’t get to see some of the juniors at all. I said ‘Hi’ and then said ‘Bye!’…

As you know, this blog rarely makes up stories and never embellishes the truth. So, I will bring you the day from my point of view…

Today’s words of wisdom were on the subject of winter or cold-water techniques. Lighter lines, smaller hooks and different equipment. I was well prepared and, if the photo that Tina took is anything to go by, it was either enthralling or totally confusing. Either way, I had their attention.

This is where things started to go very wrong….

I left the three Taster Session juniors with John whilst I herded the others round to Mike and Tim. I left them all in ‘the early pegs’ whilst I went to start the match located on ‘the spit’ only to find it had already begun…

I returned to the herd to find no equipment set up and a confused Mike rapidly assembling gear. I left the Porter’s with him, Reuben was in P2, and I made my way back to where we had started. Only three sets of equipment remained for eight juniors. It was about now that the cold sweats started.

By now, Neil (new nick names, Captain Underpants or just ‘Clunk’) had descended on a golden ray of sunlight to help out, and I have never been so glad to see a human being in my life! He took Lucas to peg 15, and Alexander hosted good friend Alfred (who I didn’t even know was coming because he wasn’t booked in!) on p16. I popped Elliot with a broken thumb on 18 (sorry, I hate that peg!) and Benji was on my seat box on 20.

John bravely took on all three taster sessions on his own, no footplate, and only three legs on his seat box (don’t ask!), rotating them in a very tight peg 21.

Everyone was in and fishing, but my head had broken and I was on a downward spiral of self-loathing and gloom.

The simple fact was that, for the last few years, Jerry has become a vital part of the juniors. From the organisation, the finances (more on that later), and the general running of the club. I would even go as far to say that he would cope better without me than I coped without him. Everyone needs a Jerry, and I am putting forward a motion or petition to prevent him from having any kind of social life for him or his wife, limited as it is already, on junior event days. (yes, I know we were forced to move the event because of the storms, but that’s no excuse!)

With Alexander leaving early to become a Ghost for Halloween (I’m hoping that he was dressing up rather than the worst-case scenario!), we only had three juniors for the match. They were:

PP = Permanent Peg

Peg 1: Vacant. (PP 6)

Peg 2: Kenzie Toulson (PP 7)

Peg 3: Josh Roe (PP 8)

Peg 4: Austin Scott-Kennedy (PP 10)

Peg Two:

Kenzie Toulson:

1lb 9ozs, 3rd place, 17-points.

Kenzie got off to a great start in the early stages of the match, but things turned rather sour as the day went on. I won’t go into detail about it but suffice to say that my heart broke to see the lad, and his mum, so upset.

It goes against all the coaching lectures and protocols, but I just had to give the boy a hug. It’s in my nature, I am an empathic human being, and I am unapologetic about it.

Naturally the fishing match was secondary to circumstances, and I actually appreciate them staying to the end.

Life sucks sometimes, and sometimes you just need a hug….

On to the next my friend…

Peg Three:

Josh Roe:

15lbs 13ozs, 1st place, 25-points:

Permanent peg eight is a peg from which you get a lot of stick. You get it if you win. You get it if you don’t win. Just because it is, most of the time, the best peg on the fishery. Of course, being Revels, it can bite you on the bottom too. Ask our very own Jon Bass who managed to draw it on an ‘off day’.

It can also make you look like a rock star. I drew it after returning to fish my first match in two years once. People were pleased to see me at the start. They were not so pleased after the draw, and even less pleased after weigh-in.

When I finally got round to the match pegs, Josh had only caught one fish. Was this going to be a Jon Bass day?

I didn’t do the weigh-in because of terminal sulking on my part (as well as a mountain of gear to pack away), But by the end, Josh had found a few or managed to extract them from their hidey hole enough to squeak victory on the day.

Proof that fluid thinking and changing tactics can win the day, and possibly save blushes perhaps (?)

Missing the bucket with the fish wasn’t the best thing and it was over long damp grass…Who needs an unhooking mat anyway? Tut-tut gentlemen….

Well done to Josh for the win.

Good job…

Peg Four:

Austin Scott-Kennedy:

14lbs 13ozs, 2nd place, 20-points:

Before I start with the report, we need to recognise some heroics performed by our championship leader the other week. During a midweek open match, a lovable, crusty 80-year-old turtle of a man by the name of Terry Lenny managed to throw himself in the lake at the end of the match. Who was the first in to ‘save him’? Our very own Austin.

Being relatively shallow, there wasn’t a lot of saving to be done. But there was the risk from cold shock on decrepit old bones (you can tell I personally know and like the guy!) and Austin helped get him out without thinking. (Proud dad moment). Although, to be honest, he's never needed much of an excuse to dive in anyway!

Back to the fishing and Austin was on a familiar peg on permanent peg 10. He had got off to a flying start and by the time I got to him, had four in the bag. Sadly, as is often the case particularly at Revels, the fish backed off probably to empty peg 11. One more fish was added to his tally, and he missed out by ounces.

With Seth sadly missing due to injury, Austin added some more points to his total as he inches towards his second junior championship title.

Great job from a great lad, well done…

I had broken a whip, tipped maggots into pinkies, tied myself in knots and beaten myself up a bit. I even paid £9.00 for three juniors that didn’t need paying for! Although £3.00 of that was for one junior who I didn’t know was coming. So, only a £6.00 overspend.

I looked at the photo’s sent to me after I’d returned home, and I understood some of the kind words spoken to me during the day. There was me, with no teaching experience, speaking to a small crowd of people young and old about a subject that has sustained me for my entire life. The photo captured the best part of the day for me because I set a very high bar of expectation for myself.

But despite this, my brain has changed since a breakdown many years ago and I can’t manage decision making situations without a degree of panic and self-doubt.

We coped with it as a team, but I’d rather not have to ‘cope’. I’d rather things be smooth and well organised and that was lacking today.

Regardless of my personal inner turmoil, (nearly) everyone had a good day, everyone caught something and went home safely. What more does one need?

Thank you to Jason Fricker at Revels Fishery for hosting the event today.

Thank you to Tim Broughton, John Evans, Mike Cullen and Neil Haine for their support and assistance.

Next week we will be at Lodden Lakes for the first time with the juniors.

Lodden is a larger, very pretty lake with plenty of fish to catch. I have only seen it once and never fished it myself. But, talking to people who have, it can be very good indeed.

I will speak to some of those people and get back to you with bait and tactic recommendations as soon as I can.

This match is a trophy match for the Martin Vine Memorial Cup.

Martin was a fishing and travel partner of mine who sadly died very suddenly.

His passing is a reminder that sometimes plans are best acted upon rather than just talked about. The return to our fishing trips was only planned and the last points match of the year is celebrated as a reminder to the last fishing trip that never happened.

We survived the chaos today. I will bring a Jerry with me next week so programmes should return to their usual times…

I’m off to stare at a piece of cheese to see if I can make it move using only my mind…

G…