Junior Match Report – Sat 7 Jul 2012

With the threat of torrential rain potentially putting a dampener on proceedings, 15 keen anglers arrived for the second Junior match of the season at Long Copse Ponds.  With current leader Sam Godwin away with mates on a fishing trip to Bury Hill, big guns Andy Baker and Matthew Goodwin also away and “Hot shot’ Jack Beckett unwell, the title was there for the taking!!

With all anglers electing to fish the top pond, the day got off to a flier! Will Bradley hooked the first carp on the method feeder and was building a good run of fish.  Ant Dunkley decided that surface fishing was the tactic and whipped his fly rod into action and was soon putting Bradley under pressure.  Meanwhile, Tommy Daniel was struggling on the pole after fishing a brilliant first leg back in June, and Felix Williams was off to a slow start by his standards with only 2 fish in the first hour.

Elsewhere James Cockayne was also surface fishing but using a controller float, and despite losing a big ‘lump’ had a good fish in the net.  On the other side of the lake Jake Warrington and Connor Berry had employed the services of one of our resident match men Matthew Jeffries to help. Jake was still to catch but mate Connor was now catching steadily using simple ledger tactics and luncheon meat. With the Catt brothers drawing a blank along with the rest of the field it was becoming obvious who were going to be the main contenders.

Late entry Charles Upfold (8) decided to fish the bottom pond and had a lovely crucian,  then a perch, a roach, a rudd and a common carp in his first 5 casts, a truly fantastic mixed bag!  Back over on the top lake Jules Cockayne, Ryan Gilby and Jacks’ Borthwick and Bass were still finding the going tough, despite the best efforts of some coaching from match angler Jack De Almeida and Junior organizer Steve.

Shortly after the lunchtime ‘lull’, the action was now hotting up.  Felix and Will were creating a Jacuzzi in the middle of the lake due to so many feeding fish, Tommy was taking a few nice fish on the pellet waggler, and the large ‘surface cruising’ carp were being picked off by James and the rod wielding Dunkley.  As the final whistle blew the stories of lost fish and missed bites were rife along with the news that The Aussies were 178 for 8!! It had been a cracking match and the heavy rain had stayed away.

At the weigh in Connor Berry took 4th place with a very respectable 17lb 8oz, 3rd was Felix with 28-8, Will Bradley was 2nd with a fantastic bag of 49-4 but the clear winner was fly fishing fanatic Ant Dunkley with a massive 61lbs, the biggest weigh ever recorded in a Junior match at Leatherhead Angling!!

In the overall Junior competition this was only enough to put Ant into 2nd place though as he missed the first match in June.  In 4th place overall was Tommy Daniel with a total of 45lb 11oz, 3rd was Felix Williams who fished consistently well over both legs to end with 52-8 and the winner was Will “Bradders” Bradley with a grand total of 74lb 6oz.

All four will now go on to fish the “Bob Nudd Match” in August so good luck boys! Results below.

Junior Match Results 2012

Position Name Weight 1 Pos Weight 2 Pos Total
1 Will Bradley 25-2 4 49-4 2 74-6
2 Ant Dunkley DNF - 61-0 1 61-0
3 Felix Williams 24-0 5 28-8 3 52-8
4 Tommy Daniel 33-7 2 12-4 6 45-11
5 Sam Godwin 39-11 1 DNF - 39-11
6 George Hobson 25-5 3 DNF - 25-5
7 Jack Beckett 22-3 6 DNF - 22-3
8 Matthew Goodwin 18-9 7 DNF - 18-9
9 Connor Berry DNF - 17-8 4 17-8
10 Andrew Baker 17-7 8 DNF - 17-7
11 James Cockayne DNF - 14-3 5 14-3
12 Jake Warrington DNF - 10-0 7 10-0
13 Jack Crooks DNF - 5-0 8 5-0
14 Jules Cockayne DNF - 4-15 9 4-15
15 Charles Upfold DNF - 3-0 10 3-0
16 Jack Borthwick DNF - 0-0 11 0-0
16 Dan Catt DNF - 0-0 11 0-0
16 Matt Catt DNF - 0-0 11 0-0
16 Ryan Gilby DNF - 0-0 11 0-0
16 Jake Bass DNF - 0-0 11 0-0