The Steve Ramsey Memorial 2009

Every year a great bunch of blokes have a get-together to remember an old friend who sadly passed away to cancer. The 'Steve Ramsey Memorial' is held every year on the first weekend in May at Witherington Farm lakes in Salisbury. As you may know I moved to Salisbury around 18 months ago,and have fished Withy throughout the winter so signed up as first reserve for the event and luckily manage to get a place as one of last years competitors dropped out. There was plenty of banter flying about on matchfishing-scene in the weeks (and months) leading up to the event,and it was safe to say that everyone was really looking forward to it. The format for the event is a two-day competition with three sections of eleven anglers. We already knew what section we would be in,and I was to be on Sellwood on day 1 with the other two sections on Barnmoor and Cottage respectively. Day 2 saw all three sections on the snake,both inner and outer. In the weeks leading up to the event all of my spare time was spent tying hooklengths,assembling rigs,and I even managed to fish the lakes once or twice.

Well the Friday finally arrived and after working in the morning, (I say working,my time was spent watching the clock and thinking of Withy) I finally pulled into the carpark at around 12.30. Pete Bailey was sat on Cottage peg 2 and was emptying it wherever he fished. I eventually decided that a quick practice was in order so sat on Sellwood peg 3 and set up the waggler. I had a few skimmers on pellet before being told the peg wasn't in the match so I moved around to peg 2 and caught a few decent carp on the waggler and a few down the edge before packing up and moving around to watch Dave 'Pikey' Pearson catch a few on peg 10 on the paste. Eventually a few of the lads that had fished Rolfs during the day arrived and it was good to finally put a few faces to names. Myself, Pebs and Pete had a good look at Hillbilly's Tri-Cast pole that had doubled up powergum through the top. I held on for dear life as Hillbilly told me to pull harder and I can honestly say it's the strongest pole I've ever seen- indestructible comes to mind. Anyway, I headed back to into town for a shower and a change before meeting Pete for a quick Chinese and then heading to the local drinking establishment for a jar or two. One or two became seven or eight before the Jack Daniels came into play.....it seemed like such a good idea at the time! After a few games of pool and plenty of laughing it was time to stagger home and get a few hours sleep in readiness for Day 1

I woke up with a thumping head-ache picked Pete up at around 8am and was pleased to see he looked as rough as I felt! Fishing was the last thing I felt like doing and I just hoped a bacon roll and a coffee would sort me out. A quick look at the pegging revealed that there were two pegs on sellwood without a margin to fish,10 and 14. As all of the recent weights have been caught down the edge I was praying to avoid these,and was hopefull of drawing either pegs 13,11,9,6 or 2. Come 9 o'clock we all assembled for the draw and in I went and saw peg 14 staring back at me- typical! The other margin-less peg went to Ian 'Scone' Toplis who was as pleased as I was.

I got to my peg and found myself in a 'Pikey Sandwich' (oo-err) with Dave 'The Drawbag' Pearson to my left and his brother 'McPikey' on my right. At this stage I bet Pikey a pound that he would walk the lake from that peg,as he had loads of room to his left and the margins would no doubt hold a few fish,ideal for fishing the paste. I told myself that the best I could hope for would be third in section,as I expected Pikey on peg 13 and Gary Haisman on Peg 9 to catch a few as they had plenty of room down the edge. I decided that my best bet would be to fish the waggler in open water at around 25m where I had 3ft of water. I assembled a 13ft Carbonactive Sentient,Daiwa 2503CU reel with 3lb Maxima,a 2.5 AA waggler and an 0.16 trace with a bait band on the hair of a Fox Series 2 18 eyed hook. I planned to fish and feed this line exclusively with 6mm Coarse pellet. I then set up two pole lines at 14.5m where I had a similar depth. The first rig was a 4x10 Chimp on 0.16-16 B911 and doubled 8 slip. I also set up a lighter rig on 0.14-18B911 and doubled 6 slip in case it was a struggle. I also set up an line at 5m to my right on 0.18-4x10 Scone Jubleez and a size 3 Tubertini 175 and Wilkie orange. I didnt really expect to catch here with peg 15 in but I decided to set it up just in case. Finally I set up a tip-rod, 11ft Beastmaster,8lb Matchwinner to 0.16,Fox series 2 18 with a band on a hair. The board said I had the point of the island to fish but it was a good 35m away and with Gary Haisman fishing to the same point from peg 9 I was hoping I wouldn't have to fish here. For bait I had a pint of damp micro's,4mm & 6mm feed pellet,two tins of corn and some hook pellets.

The all-in was called and I pinged a few 6mm's at 25m before potting in half a cup of corn and pellet at 14.5m. I decided not to feed the edge at this stage,preferring to feed it about 20 minutes before I planned to fish it. The first half an hour saw two missed bite's on the waggler that I put down to skimmers,so I decided to change the feeding pattern from two pellets every 15 seconds or so to around 10 pellets every few minute's. By this stage Gary on peg 9 had caught a couple of carp on the waggler to the point of the island and Scone had caught one shallow on the pole at around 13m. I caught a few skimmers on the pole but wasn't catching fast enough to do any sort of weight so decided to put a full pot of corn with a pinch of pellet in and leave it for an hour or so while I fished the waggler. A couple of skimmers on the waggler weren't exactly what I was after so I picked up the tip rod,baited with a 6mm pellet and attached a small tea-bag of pellets to the hook. First cast landed about 2 feet short of the island and after about 5 minute's the tip slammed around. 'Errr,that'll be a bite then' said Pikey,and a minute or two later I panned a small carp of around 4lb. By this stage Pikey had caught a few down the edge and Gary had also had a few down to his left edge. With nothing to show but a few liners in the next 20 minute's I decided to cast a bit closer to the island,landing the lead within a few inches. Again it took around 5 minute's before the tip slammed round and another carp of around 3-4lb was in the net. The two fish I had were quite small for Sellwood,as they normally average aroun 6-8lb. At this point I decided to get off my box and head to the shop and get some 8mm pellets,as I felt it would be better to ping some bait across and I couldnt reach with 6mm's. Despite the odd liner I couldn't add any more fish so it was back on the waggler in the open water. I had been regularly pinging pellets on this line and after 5 minute's the float dipped and a strike was met with firm resistance. A few minute's later I netted another carp,again smaller than average at around 4lb. I re-cast with a 6mm banded pellet and after the fourth cast another bite saw a slightly better carp of around 6lb come to the net.

There was still around 2 hours to go and I was in with a shout,although usually you can rely on a few decent fish down the edge to move you up the section but I knew I didn't really have this option. Despite ringing the changes I couldn't buy another bite on the waggler,so it was back on the pole line where I caught a few more skimmers before hooking a proper carp that I played back to the net before the hook pulled. It didn't feel foul-hooked but it's not often you lose a fish hooked in the mouth so I can only assume it was. At this point I decided to put a bit of bait down the edge at 5m,and it was back on the tip where I eventually managed to find another carp,but at 3lb it wasn't exactly what I needed. A few looks down the edge saw a couple of small fish-a sure sign that there aren't any carp there. The last half an hour was spent on the tip to the island but I failed to find any fish as the match fizzled out. I guessed I had around 25lb,and I thought Pikey would have 40lb+ and Gary Haisman almost certainly had more than that as he had found a few fish down the edge.

The scales made their way around the lake and there were a few low 30's and mid twenty weights before Gary on peg 9 put 52lb odd on the scales. Scone only managed the one carp early on,and Rick in the corner managed a few fish for about 19lb. Pikey then plonked 39lb odd which was enough for second place. My five carp went 19lb odd,with 8lb something of silvers giving me a total of 27.12 and a disapointing 5th in section. I must admit I was gutted,as to stand a chance you needed a bit of room down the side,as most of the weights on Sellwood were caught this way. I effectively needed two decent fish to take 2nd in section,and I'm sure I would have caught a few if I'd had a margin to fish. The only other person without an edge was Scone and he had 1 carp (and a big scale) for a DNW. Knowing that I was out of contention for the title after the first day was hard to accept,and I couldnt even go out and get drunk on the Saturday night as I had to sort a few things out due to recently moving to a new house. To compound the feeling I found out that our section was to be on 'suicide straight' on the Sunday-the low numbers on outer snake. And to cap off my run of bad luck I didnt even come close to winning any of the fantastic prizes in the raffle. The only bit of luck I had was avoiding the boobie-prize of some floats that were 'not quite Wilkie's'

Day two dawned and I arrived at the fishery at around 8.30am as I needed to sort some bait out in readiness for the draw. The most obvious thing was the wind,it was howling from left to right down the straight and would make fishing across extremely difficult. The usual four best pegs in the section were at the top end (23,25,27 & 29) and as they were around the corner and out of the wind it is where we were all praying to draw. Into the bag I went and out came....peg 5. About as far away from the top end that I could get....just what I needed. As I was out of the running I contemplated driving straight out of the car park and going home but eventually decided to give it a go. The wind was absolutely howling and although I set two rigs up for fishing across I felt that a positive near line was needed so I plumbed up at 5m slightly to my right and would feed this line heavily with corn to hopefully catch a decent stamp of fish. At least I could get decent presentation here as I had around 5ft of water so set up a 4x14 chimp on 0.16-16 B911 and doubled 8 slip. For fishing across I set a rig for up the shelf at 15m (4x10 Chimp,0.16-16B911 and doubled 8 slip) and a rig for down the shelf on the same tackle but with a slightly heavier 4x12 Chimp. I also set up two shallow rigs at 6 inches and 18 inches but didn't really expect these two work as feeding shallow would be very difficult. My final pole rig was for the inside at 10m to my left and was a 4x12 Scone Jubleez on 0.18-Tubertini 175:3 and orange wilkie hollow. Finally,I also set up a 9ft tip rod in case the wind got any worse. To my left I had Gary Haisman and to my right on end peg 3 was Steve May.

The all-in was called and I put a full pot of corn in at 5m,and a full pot at 10m to my left. I went straight across on the top-shelf rig with a single grain of corn and cad potted in a few grains and a couple of pellets. After a minute or so the float dipped and I hooked into a carp. I'm not sure if it was foul-hooked but as I got it towards the net the hook pulled and I knew it was going to be one of those days. Gary to my left foulhooked a 10lber that he got in and Steve to my right also landed an early carp. The wind was making things difficult across and what few carp that were there seemed more interested in spawning. All I could catch on the 5m line were skimmers and I couldn't buy a bit down the edge. I was starting to realise why they call the area 'suicide straight' as the only person I could see catching atall was Gary and they were almost all foul-hooked. I never leave my peg during a match unless nature calls or I need to get an extra topkit but by now I was so despondent I decided to put another pot of corn at 5m and down the edge and went to the lodge for an ice-cream. I got back with around 2 hours to go and had a chat with Scone who was suffering exactly the same problems. I made the decision to give it one more hour and if things didn't improve I would call it a day as I had to be in work at 6 so would have had to make a sharp exit at the end anyway. I started to catch a few skimmers and small fantails at 5m before hooking a lump that tore off and pulled out after 5 minute's or so. I'm convinced it was foulhooked which seemed to be a common occurence in our section. A quick look down the edge produced nothing so with just under an hour to go I did something I've never done in a match before-decided to call it a day before the end. I lifted my net and had about 13lb of silvers and as I packed away Gary was still foul-hooking fish across but managed to get a few in. To combat the problem Steve on peg 3 was fishing hair-rigged corn 3 inches deep under a bubble float and managed to catch one or two as it was the only way to avoid the foulhookers.

By this point I had completely had a gutsfull and was happy to pack up and after saying a few goodbyes head home. It was a very disapointing end to the weekend but one thing's for sure in match fishing,sometimes you can't beat the drawbag. I later found out that the title was won by Tim 'firstpeg' with a perfect 2 point score over the 2 days. Well done mate,awesome performance and a thoroughly deserved victory. All in all it was a superb weekend in the best possible company and I'm already counting down the days to next year when hopefully the drawbag will be a bit kinder. One thing I did learn about the weekend is that it's not all about the fishing. It's about meeting up with your mates,having a good laugh and raising plenty of money for a very worthy cause.