No one expects hot balmy days
when fishing the Autumn Festival but even the most hardy of us didn't expect
the weather that was thrown at us this past week.
It is with the deepest of
regret that I have to inform you that Eric Rimmer passed away peacefully
yesterday (11th September) after a long illness.
Eric was diagnosed with
cancer some while ago and not given a great deal…
Pembrokeshire Fishweek is nine years old this year. Over that period of
time it has successfully grown in to a very popular tourist attraction. It was
born as a fishing competition to catch sewen in the lower reaches of the…
39 anglers gathered last weekend to contest this year’s
annual Spring Festival. The field was a lot more open than in previous years so
hopes were high that with an element ofluck and good fortune at the draw they…
Despite warnings of gale force winds, tsunamis and other meteorological
horrors, 34 anglers supported the popular Gadgers’ “rod and reel only”
match held on both the Carp and Match lakes on Sat 8th March.
No one expects hot balmy days
when fishing the Autumn Festival but even the most hardy of us didn't expect
the weather that was thrown at us this past week. With high winds and
torrential rain on an almost daily basis it made fishing uncomfortable to say the
least but fish it we did.
The wind made bait
presentation difficult at long distances and most anglers favoured the short
pole line or fished the tip. Unfortunately the weather did affect the results
and only one 100lb+ catch was recorded throughout the week.
The long awaited inaugural Eric Rimmer Memorial Match was held on the
Match Lake on Sunday 8th Feb. Such was Eric's popularity that the match
was a sell out with 30 anglers booked in to fish, anglers travelling
from as far afield as Yorkshire and the midlands to pay their respects,
unfortunately due to one no show it left 29 of us to compete for the
new trophy.
Everybody hoped that Eric would provide us with some good weather to
fish the match but being the joker he was, he decided that drizzle,
rain, precipitation and sub zero temperatures would be the order of the
day. Nice one Eric!!
Eric's favourite peg on the Match Lake was always peg 23 and it is on
that peg that his memorial bench has been placed. There was a shocked
silence when peg 23 was drawn as the Golden Peg for the day and when
Llew Spink drew the very same peg you could hear the wind whistling
eerily through the trees. Llew was one of Eric's best mates and he was
visibly shaken at the coincidence.
Being a silver fish match light lines and tackle were the order of the
day, but with some good weights of roach reported in practise sessions
hopes were high of a good competition.. Within an hour of the start of
the match it was obvious that this was going to be a hard match with
bites being as rare as hens' teeth. With both members of the Heaps'
family on pegs 6 and 7 and catching fairly regularly it seemed at this
stage that Scott on peg 6 was going to run away with the match, fishing
fluoro pinkies over a bed of hemp he seemed to have found the method on
the day catching 1oz roach at regular intervals. All good things come
to an end however and he struggled along with the rest of us as the day
progressed. The dam wall end which has produced some good weights
recently was not the place to be today, Neil Morgan who can normally
catch 30lb from a damp sponge was having his wings clipped on peg 15.
Gadger, on peg 4 was having a whale of a time catching carp, his final
tally was six, pity they didn't count Graham but at least you had a bit
of sport! Paul French was having a bit of a busmans' holiday on peg 9,
he spends his whole working week watching paint dry and then had to pay
for the privilege today.
42 anglers converged on Holgan Farm to contest this years
Autumn Festival. Four former festival winners were in attendance, together with
former World Champion, Ian Heaps, last years Fish o’Mania champion, Clive
Wright, former England international, Vinnie Smith and British Berlin Angling
Association Angler of the Year 1979, Nobby Clarke.
