My Match This Final
Feeling a bit shattered after a long, very hot weekend! Saturday was the Maver Match This Final. I must have watched the wrong weather forecast as it was red hot, sunny and still all day, so the carp were a bit moody to say the least. I drew peg 79 in the near corner nearest to the bandstand. It wasn’t exactly where I wanted but at least it offered me some room and a chance.
It was a surprisingly tough day, not helped by the searing conditions, but I managed a hard-earned 31kg and a tidy £750 section prize. A massive well done to Andy Bennett showing his class with a 57kg win from peg 35 worth a cool £50,000!
Not sure I could’ve won on the day unless I fished a perfect match, but the 44kg third prize was certainly achievable. Don’t feel I caught the early fish I needed to settle myself and I was in ‘garden gnome’ mode the last 90 minutes with fish coming into the edge but not being able to catch them, which sounded like a similar story all over.
Definitely not my best performance and I would’ve done lots of things differently but still a great day nonetheless and glad to get a section prize. Thanks to Aid Mansfield for his excellent bankrunning duties and my fantastic family for coming to watch me, plus all the people who wished me luck and said hello on the day. And of course Matrix and Sonubaits for the sponsorship. Still no phone call from Cadburys…
I felt the event was superbly run and extremely professional and a credit to the sport, so hats off to Maver, Andy Kinder, Sarah Taylor, Steve Bellion and Bob Dyer for all their hard work and effort.
It was a great match on a really great venue. I really like Hayfield Lakes. It’s a great arena and the two Adams lakes are perfect for a 25-man final. Maybe remove the three blockers and spread a few pegs a little and it’d be perfect. The size of the fish make it a really exciting match and although there are hot areas you never quite know where it’ll be won or what tactics they’ll use.
For me, a bit of proper river fishing is now way overdue. Hope you all had a good weekend and never got too sunburnt!
