Fishing Match 1999

This was the start of the Fishing Match {FM} events. The anglers were fishing so much that they felt it was time to have a match to see who was the best angler of 1999. 5 anglers took part.

PREVIEW

Rick Barker will go off as the favourite after improving over the last couple of seasons. He may not have it all his own way though as his brother Bear will be trying very hard to win this one. He looks sure for a top 2 slot as he now has more experience than any of his rivals.

Steve Dash has only been fishing for a few months and he surely cannot win this. His whip tactics could work well so expect him to catch something.

Of the remaining anglers, Matt Johns has a good chance on his recent form at Retallack. His 1998 catches mean he should be there with the leaders but Jon Collins will most likely struggle as he is very new to this type of fishing.

HOUR 1

With weather conditions absolutely appalling on the Retallack canal, all anglers struggled to find the fishing easy and no-one was catching anything to start with.

It was Rick who caught first followed by Bear but these were only small fish. Dash finally got on the mark after about 10 minutes.

The match had actually begun without Matt Johns who was running late and he missed the first hour. Brummy had a poor first hour and never even encountered a bite !

HOUR 2

Matt Johns finally arrived and began heavily groundbaiting his swim to try and make up for lost time.

All the anglers continued to battle the testing conditions with no-one catching more than a few small rudd.

Brummy was finding the going quite tough even at this stage.

HOUR 3

Suddenly Matt decided that he had a bad peg and moved pegs, causing him to be instantly disqualified from the match. We were down to 4 to contest the first fishing match. The windy and rainy weather was at last clearing away and hopefully the fishing would pick up.

It didn't for Brummy who was still without a bite for 3 hours ! and his patience must have been wearing thin. He now tried luncheon meat in the hope of netting a monster.

During hour 3 Bear hooked into a good fish which he had to play for the best part of a minute before it seemed to dive into a snag on the bottom and the line had to be cut.

Rick and Dash continued to extract the odd small fish as the sun began to come out for the first time.

HOUR 4

As Dash continued to find very little to add to his net, Rick took a firm lead in the match when catching a bream of about 7/8oz. It left Bear and Dash with a bit of work to do now with only about 2 hours left to fish.

Brummy still had no luck and things got worse when he casted his rod into the water !

HOUR 5

The match seemed to be heading only one way now as Rick began panning on the far side next to some overhanging brambles. The fish were feeding like crazy and Dash saw what he was doing and began doing the same thing in his own peg.

Bear on the other hand kept to his own tactics and he was finding the going extremely tough at this stage.

Brummy finally got off the mark with a small rudd while Matt had had a bit more success further down the canal but of course it wouldn't count towards the match.

HOUR 6

 As the final hour approached, Rick only had to keep catching these fish to win but his casting let him down when on one occasion, he hooked the brambles he was fishing under and lost his set up. Dash pounced on this opportunity and bagged minnow after minnow while Rick was setting up a new rig which took a solid 15-20 minutes.

Bear was not going to win unless he hooked something big now because his peg had all but dried up and Brummy was a well beaten 4th .

Rick did manage to get going again but lost another hook when striking into his keep net ! Dash continued to catch right up until the final whistle and it would be close to see who had won FM 1999.

REVIEW

No-one could believe it when both Rick and Dash weighed in on level terms. It had to be settled as a draw with Bear way down in 3rd, Brummy a long way back in 4th and Matt a dreadful 5th.