Langport league rd 1 2007

The Langport League is an annual six match series fished in the summer on the Rr Parret and Stathe drain . It has been running now for 13 or 14 years. I wrote its constitution and chaired the inaugural meeting, since then I take no credit whatever for its enduring success. In the league's early years I fished for successful teams but for the last 7 or 8 years I have fished for the Terminators. The Terminators , I believe , have been last in every year bar one , that does not bother me or any other member of the team as far as I am aware. We all do our best and when the wheel eventually falls off , have a laugh about it . I am also the member of the team that drinks the least which is a position of some novelty for me. The team consists of skipper Shaun Gamble, Keith (The Chief ) Dowdell , Dickybob Webber, Vince Stuckey, new boy Russ Farley and myself . Sadly we lost our other team member Dave "Grandad " Taylor who died after a long illness on June 16 th. Grandad was a super character and family man and I wish circumstances had allowed me to get to know him better. As I have previously mentioned we have not been the leagues most successful team over the years but without doubt are the thirstiest and nicest looking. Voted sexiest team in league by Girlie Tarts magazine for the last 7 years. We are all still available for modelling contracts and Girlie talk shows for reasonable fees. The other thing to mention is the deadly rivalry that has existed between us and a team called the Amigos. This rivalry has escalated in recent years due to some quite outrageous bets, contentious transfers and new signings.There are also attempts to nobble the opposition by getting them plastered on the night before the match. I generally keep aloof from these goings on because I am too old for this nonsense and I do not think my marriage would stand this kind of behaviour. So , on the morning of the match we duly assembled at the Langport Arms .Our team looked in reasonable order with the exception of Dickybob who had had a late night .On the plus side the Chief had shaved off his Ricky Gervais beard because Russ said he looked like an armpit with teeth. It was a very nice touch that a minutes silence was observed for Grandad and the team wore black armbands. I was drawn D3 in the new section of Calders field , upstream of the normal E section.I had absolutely no idea how this section was going to fish because I could not remember the last time it had been matchfished. On my left was ex boxer Ron Mortimer, Ron is getting on a bit now , but has been the only Weston Super Mare team member to threaten me with violence unless I stop suggesting that their team behave improperly with donkeys . On my right was Amigo new signing John Buckingham who I have known for years and of course I have known Ron for donkeys years .I think the river took us all a little by supprise it was certainly faster than I had anticipated. I liked the look of the swim , it is narrow for the Parret , deep and even paced. I fed 8 babies heads at the off and began with a 2grm jolly on a 7m whip. The first 45mins went very well in deed as despite the fact I was not catching quickly . I was getting the odd good skimmer and hybrids. I was enjoying my match except for the weather and settling in to a nice rythm when out of the blue I was into a real lump. To be honest this is not the sort of fish you want on a whip in 12 ft of water of this pace and when I saw it briefly for the first time I thought it was a tench.( need new glasses ) I did not think it was coming out on this tackle but I stayed calm and just put a little pressure on when I thought I could . To my supprise the fish eventually tired and up popped a very dark bream of some 2.5 kilos+ . Gently into the net and what a bonus. I then faced a dilemma , I was going well on the whip , but were there more bream? I made a decision . 15mins on the feeder to look for one. I did not get any response so back to the whip. Things went very well for the next 1 1/2 hrs as I picked off some good hybrids and roach but in the back of my mind was when to have another look on the feeder. At about the half way mark my mind was made up for me as odd bream began to show in the section. Despite being confident that I was well ahead of all the anglers I could see there was still time for it to turn into a bream catching contest and my early lead could be wiped out. I then put a couple more balls in and committed totally to the feeder . After a long wait for a response the tip fell back and I had a bream of about 1 1/2 kilos . This I thought gave me about 7kilos in total. I gambled that this would give me good points in the section and stayed with the feeder . This produced another couple of kilo fish and two more lumps . At weigh - in the scales registered 13 kilos 600g to easily win the section. My match had gone very smoothly and I was pleased with how I had fished (for a change) Alan Diamond was 2nd in the section with 4 small bream for 5kilos + . 3rd was Scott Russell with an excellent 4 kilos+ of small fish. Scott seems to be in good form these days , catching well wherever he goes. Back at the Arms I hear that I have won the match and just as pleasing the team are 2nd with 31pts ,well ahead of the dreaded Amigos. I pick up £87 for the win and after buying the team a drink leave them to torment the Amigos mecilessly.