Anglers finish the year off in style
As we now come to the close of the angling match calendar, Liverpool & District Angling Association Match Secretary Mike Dickson yet again put an outstanding effort to finish the year off in style, with another fantastic competition.
Dickson has made an incredible impact on the canal fishing scene at Liverpool and with his reputation as being one of the best organisers on the circuit, working alongside his team of committee members, visitors from all over the region have enjoyed some excellent matches that have been a credit to everyone involved.
As everyone knows in this game, within match angling there is never a time when anyone can guarantee pleasing everyone. Whether it's by not putting the match length on someone's particularly favoured area, there will always be a time that someone will complain that the length used is too pedestrianised, weedy or simply an area allegedly devoid of a certain species , or even of any fish.
With this, one solution and a sensible one, is to simply rotate the match lengths used as utilised by the L&DAA for many years with Dickson and fellow organisers at the helm.
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However, there also comes the time when the weather conditions can also make the decision making for any match so important and once again only last weekend, the forecasted 65 mph high winds that were expected saw Dickson use all his experience to sort out pegs for the Christmas ‘Big One’. This would hopefully see the 60 competitors booked in all hopefully being able to fish.
Putting 20 pegs on the Plex Lane cut in, 10 on the Scout Hut, 15 on the running Horses and the rest either side of Shop Lane, Dickson pulled a master stroke finding a little or some shelter even though the conditions were actually horrendous throughout.
A fancied area is always a bonus as every match angler will agree and one man not making any mistakes on drawing one and one which was an end peg as well was Richard Yates.
No stranger to winning ways, Yates who is a member of the Leigh Tackle & Bait team took a superb weight on the day which saw him pocket a Christmas bonus of £350.
After losing his very first skimmer at 11m when it was fishable from his peg near the Running Horses, Yates made no mistake on landing his next 10 fish before the weather worsened.
Coming short at 6m with a different approach opting for feed worms, a few small perch were backed up by a nice 1.5lb fish to round off a successful winning weight on the day.
Further down on the Shop Lane short lengths, team mate Dave Trafford took just 6.8.0, which consisted of a net of small roach and a late skimmer which saw off Sensas’s Ian Fewtrell who took third on the day with 6.1.0.
Rounding off a great day which saw the 57 competitors enjoying one of Mike Dickson’s famous fun raffles, where all the proceeds will be directed to selected charity, many thanks were offered for not only another great event that was put together on this occasion, but for his work throughout the year. Well done Dicko.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year everyone.
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