| Lilford Lodge Shield |
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Here we are twelve months on and it was time to pack the bags once
again to try and defend the Lilford Lodge Shield. For any newcomers to
the site this is a match between Holgan Farm Angling Club and a side
from the bah gum county of Yorkshire known as Magical Marking. It is an
annual event that is held on a neutral water just outside of the pretty
town of Oundle. Over the years Holgan Farm has never lost the match but
this year it was felt that Andy Phillis had assembled a pretty strong
side and were favourites to take the trophy.
Here we are twelve months on and it was time to pack the bags once
again to try and defend the Lilford Lodge Shield. For any newcomers to
the site this is a match between Holgan Farm Angling Club and a side
from the bah gum county of Yorkshire known as Magical Marking. It is an
annual event that is held on a neutral water just outside of the pretty
town of Oundle. Over the years Holgan Farm has never lost the match but
this year it was felt that Andy Phillis had assembled a pretty strong
side and were favourites to take the trophy. We arrived early on Friday morning for a practice day only to find that Gadge(Graham Gannon) and his mate Bob Marsh had got there the day before and were already at the lakeside practicing. Both Graham and Bob live in Ystradgynlais in Wales even though they fish for the Yorkshire based team. They are great mates and needed to be as there tiny little tent suggested. During the day Gadge caught a couple of tench and a 17lb 12oz carp but it was a case of too much too early as they both found it hard during the two matches. The writer of this article found this extremely funny 
. Better luck next time eh lads. Graham Block from London also caught a
fish but it frightened him to death when it happened. Fishing with a
worm he was suitably surprised when a 4lb pike swam off with it and
then when he landed it he had to extract the hook from a mass of teeth On the Friday night people went into Oundle to eat and when they got back to the fishery a few decided that a good drink was on the agenda and proceeded to put some more profits into the likes of Carlsberg and Strongbow. Steve Johnston not normally known for a felon stole The Whisperers hat, not that the whisperer would have known anyway cos he was far too gone to notice. The following morning a rat in the form of Graham Gannon crept into the camp and told the whisperer what had happened. It was a good job the rat was there as the sun came out and the whisperers follically challenged head would have suffered badly. The match on the Saturday went off without too much incident, although it was noticed that Ian Heaps left his peg to try and find out what was going on. Ian always preaches that you can't catch anything if you are wandering the bank. Point taken Ian!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Half Mile Lake Saturday Result 1st Richard Baldwin(HF).......6lb 5oz 2nd Ian Heaps(HF)................1lb 11oz 3rd Richard Hogan(HF).........1lb 4oz 4th Paul Clutterbuck(MM)......1lb 3oz Carp Lake Saturday Result 1st Stretch(MM).........................73lb 1oz 2nd Colin Bates(HF)................53lb 8oz 3rd Craig Thompson(HF)........47lb 8oz 4th Dave Cheetham(MM).........43lb 1oz After match stories of the one that got away on the Half Mile Lake didn't materialise as the fishing in the crystal clear waters was as tough as old boots while the Carp Lake produced some decent bags. Tomorrow would be interesting as the anglers swapped lakes. Holgan Farm had sneaked a small lead on day one. On the Saturday night a pig roast ensued and after the eats we were entertained by Gina Melhuish and Mel Wilkins. These two are renowned anglers in Holgan Farm and although we knew they did an act we didn't know what to expect. Well let me tell you they were fantastic and the people that witnessed it enjoyed it immensely. In between singing a lot of favourite songs they were adept at picking on the right people to have a laugh with. Richard Baldwin came in for a bit of flack, so much so that he had to leave early. This was not because of Gina and Mel, he had heard that a pie shop had just opened and wanted to be first in the queue. The girls continued to entertain us through the evening with renderings from Margarita Prakitan and Freddie Mercury which was, believe me, brilliant. A thoroughly good evening was had by all especially Self Cocker whose impression of The King(Elvis) had to be seen to be believed.  A tribute by the girls was received about Eric Rimmer and everybody at the shindig wished him well. The evening was over in my opinion too quickly and everybody went back to their relevent sleeping places in a thoroughly good mood.  Sunday was here and before the all in on the Carp Lake nobody noticed except your eagle eyed reporter that Limpet had taken a swim. He went to get some water for his groundbait and forgot to stop at the waters edge filling his boots with the agua in the process. Thought you got away without anyone noticing didn't you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!Around three-quarters into the match on the Carp Lake Richard Baldwin had a carp on and his pole decided to part company at an unspecified joint. Moral, never point your pole at an annoyed carp or you will find it could be costly. It could only have happened to Richard this weekend  . Half Mile Lake Sunday Result 1st Dave Cheetham(MM)............9lb 12oz 2nd Craig Thompson(HF)..........4lb 8oz 3rd Melv Wilkes(MM)....................2lb 10oz 4th John Westwood(MM)...........2lb 0oz Carp Lake Sunday Result 1st Ian Heaps(HF)....................76lb 15oz 2nd Richard Baldwin(HF)........73lb 4oz 3rd Richard Hogan (HF)..........71lb 14oz 4th Kevin Roberts (HF)............70lb 0oz Biggest Carp was won by Colin Bates with a fine specimen of 10lb 14oz. Biggest Bream was caught by Craig Thompson with an enormous fish to big to put a proper weight on. Biggest tench. As no tench were caught Both Craig and Colin shared the prize.  Well it certainly fished better on Sunday with good bags coming from the Carp Lake and the Half Mile Lake produced better nets as well. It was now time for the presentation and Andy Phillis was looking a little dejected. He had not had a good weekends fishing himself and it reflected down to his troops as Magical Marking took a hell of a beating, much against the bookies forecast. With the gloating Ian Heaps ready to receive the trophy yet again Andy reminded us all that Magical Marking would be back for another attempt at lifting the elusive shield. With that Ian proceeded to reveal the score. Holgan Farm Dream Team 653lb- Magical Marking Marauders 411lb.  The team captains thanked everyone for attending and also thanked Dolph and his wife for the venue. For those people who have got away with a ribbing from The Whisperer take note, it won't be for long. Richard Hogan and Scott Heaps both fell into a ditch whilst under the influence, it did reach the whisperers attention.  Richard Baldwin won a lot of beer vouchers this weekend and is as we speak in negotiations with a view to purchasing his local sausage roll shop with the proceeds of his win.  This reporter had a terrific time this year and can't wait to when he meets some very good friends again. It is all about having a good time in life and believe me all those who took part this weekend amused me in some way or other. I hope that everyone enjoyed themselves and I will hopefully see you all again next time. Weekend Rating 11/10 
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