"Sunday 25th July 2010 After the recent practice sessions I have put in with some of my NDP10 teammates on the River Rother, which I have mentioned in my past blogs, it was game on last Sunday for the second round of the Kent Angling League at Newbridge. Forty anglers took part with myself drawn on peg B5, not a peg that I had fished before but I knew the section well and I was looking for some more success. Recent practice sessions had provided plenty of bites down the middle of the river using a bold balling in attack and with the bonus of discovering a few eels in the area my confidence was very high to the point that I felt almost unbeatable.

Eel soup

With 10 balls of groundbait ready and plenty of chopped worm, maggots and a casters concoction ready to cup in on my six metre eel line, the whistle sounded at 10am where, after throwing in the 10 orange size groundbait balls at 13 metres, I cupped out my slushy eel soup for later in the match. In past matches and practice session’s bites, have always been instant after balling in the groundbait line so when I went 20 minutes without a sign of a fish I was somewhat puzzled. Looking up and down my section I could also see that no one else was catching either so it was not time to panic, something was amiss. Eventually my float buried and in a five minute spell I had four small skimmers in the net before my peg went quiet again. Apart from the odd bleak and small perch my section rivals were also finding it tough, but during this time I was flicking in red maggots over my eel line and every now and then I continued to cup out my slushy mix.

Time for plan B

Two hours into the match all I had was five small skimmers and one gudgeon. It was time for plan B as plan A was not going to work, which was very unusual. I could see anglers around me starting to panic and fish for the bleak off the top, but they were so small and not enough of them were around so that was a no goer for me and to be honest I was glad to see them try for the small bleak. On my first put in on the eel line my float raised and I was netting a skimmer of 12 ounces, a good start I thought. At 12.05pm my float buried and an eel was pulling out some elastic, it was a good fish over the pound mark and that was the beginning of a purple patch as I had four eels by 12.30pm. Feeling that I had already done enough to win my section I relaxed to really enjoy the rest of the match as I continued to put more eels in my net to build up my target weight of double figures. Double figure bags always frame in the Rother matches and nearly always gain maximum section points so I was well confident of achieving what I set out to do.

An eel success

By the end of the five hour match, I had 12 eels in the final three hours pulling out of two eels and missing four good bites. I fed around three quarter of a kilo of dendras worms, a pint of casters and a pint of red maggots. Along with six skimmers, two perch and that solitary gudgeon, I scaled 11lbs 7oz with just 3lbs 1oz being the nearest weight to me but was it good enough to win the whole match? Sadly not, as the two end pegs had 52lbs and 22lbs from the far end of the match length and with one other weight recording just five ounces more. I settled for fourth overall which put me in the money but more importantly for my team, maximum points. Teamwise, we had a mixed day but we still were good enough for third on the day with 33pts which leaves us second in the table with seven more rounds to go. Personally I was very satisfied with my efforts and my net of eels raised a few eyebrows at the weigh in as eel bags of late have been few and far between but as I found out in practice they were back on the scene and for a while in my net.

A patronship

On the day of this blog I received a phone call earlier in the day from Richard Stringer of the Kent Disabled Anglers Association who asked me if I would like to be a patron of the association. I was rather surprised to be asked but gladly accepted his kind offer and hope to help out where I can over the following seasons. On Saturday 9 October the KDAA will be holding a match that I will be attending along with Bob Nudd, Richard Taylor and Nick Rowe. The event is the John Hollands Memorial Shield Open Match with all proceeds from the match going to the Kent D.A.A and Reels On Wheels. Entry is £20 with the draw time at 8.30am fishing 9.30am to 3.30pm and more details of how to book in can be gained from visiting the www.kentdaa.co.uk website or by calling Richard on 01732 460074. With a coaching lesson midweek at Bury Hill and a match at Hartleylands this Sunday to look forward to plus all the goings on at the fishery, I will have plenty to report on next time. Tight lines, Russ Evans."