MATLOCK SO CLOSE TO GLORY IN CLUB COMPETITION 20 YEARS ON

20 Years on from Matlock Angling Club being so close to Glory!!!!

Back in 2000

Angling Times launched a Club competition for fishing clubs throughout England. It proved a huge success and in its first year over 390 clubs took part from all over England. the competition was to be run like this

Round 1

Teams grouped together in local areas. The draw was made by Angling times, groups of 2 or 3 teams would compete against each other, (team drawn first would pick the venue) the winning team would go through to the next round. The first round would be teams of 10 anglers and the matches would be completed by the end of Febuary.

Round 2

Winners of round 1 would again be drawn into groups of 3, first out of the hat chose the venue, matches would be fished before the beginning of May

Semi Finals (6 anglers per team)

MIDLANDS -2nd June 2001 Earlswood Lakes, Birmingham, 19 winners from round 2. First 6 teams to qualify

SOUTHERN - 9th June 2001 19 winners from round 2. First 6 teams to qualify.

NOTHERN - 16th June 2001 17 winners from round 2. First 5 teams to qualify

FINAL - JCB NORTH LAKE (3 Anglers per team)

JCB WOODSEATS LAKE (3 Anglers per team)

17 teams of 6 anglers compete in the final

Matlock AC team for Rounds 1 & 2

1. Malc Bent

2. Asa Cooper (Captain)

3.David Greatorex

4.Mark Gregory

5. Tony Hopley

6. Julian Lamb

7. Phil Parsons

8. Martin Twigg

9. Stef Humly

10. Mark Wain

Round 1

Matlock AC v Duffield AC

VENUE River Derwent Matlock

First up for us in Round 1 was local club Duffield. Pleased with the draw and fancying our chances we opted to fish the match on the River Derwent at Matlock. Loooking back we would have probably been better to fish against them on Tansley Pond with the River at Duffield being similar to Matlock. But clearly Duffield didn't fancy their chances and withdrew so we was through to Round 2 without casting a line!

Round 2

Geordie Maggot v Matlock AC v Middleton A.S

VENUE Sherwood Farm Park Fisheries (Holmesdale Lake)

Not the draw we wanted a Carp puddle. We were more suited to River fishing or natural venues. But to our surprise as many of the Geordie Maggot Club fish two matches a week on the venue and were strong favourites to win and showed their confidence with one or two verbal comments pre draw, However Mark Gregory and Malc Bent who were probably more suited to this type of fishing both caught double figure weights and all our team caught at least one fish, whereas both the other teams had blanks. To be fair if the Carp had have fed we would have probably been well beaten, but they didn't and Mark Wain delivered some verbals back when the result was confirmed. We left pleased with our achievements, beating Geordie Maggot in their backyard and now faced the dizzy heights of a Semi Final.

Midland Area Semi-Final 2nd June

Venue - Earlswood Lakes, Birmingham

19 Qualifying teams were to field 6 anglers per team, 3 to fish the Engine Lake (mainly Carp) and 3 to fish on the Windmill (Yachter Lake) which contained mainly Bream & Roach. After several visits and practices our teams were chosen for both lakes. However a fish kill on the Engine Lake resulted in a last minute cancelation of the match on that lake, so each team only fielded 3 anglers on the Windmill lake.

Result of Midland area Semi-final 2nd June 2001

Venue - Windmill lake

19 teams of 3 Anglers

A section

Malc Bent 4lbs. 0oz 10points

B section

Tony Hopley 16lbs. 8oz 6points

C section

Asa cooper 4oz 10points

The 6 teams with the least points qualified for the final. To say the match was difficult was a understatement. With much annoyance our team of 3 decided that they had not faired well and went straight home and didn't go back for the presentation.

However because there was a number of blanks (each angler blanking got 19 points) we just scraped into last qualifying place! Tony Hopley received a phone call from Fred Smith (JCB) to say we had qualified. Tony hastily phoned Malc & Asa who were still travelling home to share the good news. Asa's lone Perch had avoided a blank and seen us sneak through to the final. Having missed the presentation, we also missed out on the photos for teams who had qualified. You can see on the pictures of teams in the finals we are missing.

Not in the photo we were somewhere on the M1 heading home sulking

17 teams that made the Final

FINAL QUALIFICATION PREVIEW

So with much delight we had qualified for the final, It was to be fished on JCB lakes, which was a fairly close venue for us. We had all fished the venue before, with Asa Cooper, David Greatorex and Julian Lamb all enjoying some success on the Woodseats lake. We also knew that Tony Hopleys Knowledge of the North lake was second to non and he had enjoyed great success on the venue before having set a couple of match records. With Malc, Mark Wain, Mark Gregory, Stef Humney, Martin Twigg and Phil Parsons we knew we had some good anglers to form a team for both lakes.

We had 5 weeks to practice and hit the venue hard, It was decided fairly early on that Asa, Dave and Julian would fish on the woodseats lake, it was more suited to their way of fishing, it was mainly small fish. They hit the matches hard and and soon formulated a plan that was working well for them in practice. Everyone fished both lakes but it was clear who was suited best for the venues. The north lake was difficult, mainly Carp on the feeder. After much practice it was down to Asa to pick his team, having said earlier the woodseats team picked its self really and most Had ruled themselves out of fishing on there, so really it was a case of picking 3 anglers to fish the North lake!

With much thought Asa chose his team of 6 anglers

WOODSEATS LAKE

Asa Cooper

Julian Lamb

David Greatorex

NORTH LAKE

Tony Hopley

Malc Bent

Mark Gregory

FINAL DAY 15TH JULY 2001

We had started the journey back in January, not expecting to arrive in the final in July. But we had made it, enjoyed a bit of luck along the way, well i say luck it was probably our shear determination not to blank that had seen us progress all the way to the final. There was no pressure going into the final, we had no expectations, we knew we had a decent team who were all capable of catching on their day. To be fair we probably felt a little out of place but were determined to enjoy the day and the free breakfast beforehand. The local team JCB were the clear favourites on their own water, but safe to say their team captain was playing it down.

The weather was set fair with only few clouds in the sky, breakfast finished and it was onto the draw. I cant remember who drew for us, but we had drawn one end peg on the North lake and Mark Gregory had the end Peg so he was all smiles. There were no other notable draws, Julian had a decent draw as he was in the bay on the woodseats, me and Asa was in the narrows. Tony and Malc had average Pegs on the North Lake, but knew the venue well and seemed confident. We were allowed one bank runner who was Mark Wain. We shook hands and wished each other well, it seemed according to Asa we had all drawn flyers but his Peg was shite.

WOODSEATS LAKE

D SECTION

Asa Cooper 2lb 15oz 5points

E SECTION

David Greatorex 4lb 5oz 7points

F SECTION

Julian Lamb 4lb 14oz 11points

The woodseats lake did fish very hard and it appears Asa was right his section was very hard. It was a case of just scratching around for anything that would feed, anyone who had fished the woodseats will know its covered in Lilies, lost fish were guaranteed and would make a big difference for us in the end, I remember losing a few fish from far over on the waggler and a skimmer being bumped off. Julian had local venue expert next to him and i think it just did his head in. We had said before the match just beat the anglers either side of you and we will do well. Unfortunately all 3 of us could only beat 1 side. After the weigh in we felt that we hadn't done ourselves justice!

NORTH LAKE

A SECTION

Malc Bent 8lb 7oz 4points

B SECTION

Tony Hopley 3lb 15oz 9points

C SECTION

Mark Gregory 13lb 13oz 1point

The North lake was again very difficult but Mark Gregory took full advantage of the end Peg to secure a section win with a net of 5 Carp. Malc also snared a few Carp for good points and Tony Hopley with probably the toughest draw made his venue knowledge count to beat both anglers either side for good points. Fairly upbeat after a section win and good points, the North lake team was happy.

The Results

This time we did stay around for the presentation, probably with the incentive of food back at the JCB social club. We all met up some with a glowing sun tan. We discussed the match, fish we had lost, took the piss, filled our face's and discussed who we thought had won. We all agreed we had a fantastic day and was well up for next year.

Awaiting the results

After what seemed to be a eternity and after much talk we was hearing that we had done ok, Other teams even saying we had won it. We didn't entertain that idea for a moment but was content that we had competed and done well. Then the results started to be read out, if memory serves me right, i think they started with the top 5. When Angel AC was announced 5th with a points tally of 51 we all looked at each other with disbelief and started to believe we might just have a chance of a top 3 here. Then came Mercury MG in 4th with 44pts, more shock, we were either dreaming or we had been told a pack of lies, then 3rd Grebe AC with 38pts. Well we was now in shock had we won it or was we not even in the top 5, then the announcement 2nd Matlock AC with 37pts. We didn't know what to do, we was delighted, we hadn't won but we was right up there. In the end we missed out by 2 pts with the winners being Ringwood DAA 35pts.

TOP FIVE TEAMS

1ST Ringwood DAA 35pts

2nd Matlock AC 37pts

3rd Grebe AC 38pts

4th Mercury MG 44pts

5th Angel AC 51pts

We had nearly won, missed out by 2pts but we had competed with Club teams from all over England and nearly beat them all. We received a medal and individual trophies for our efforts presented by Bob Nudd.

We did return again to the final at JCB lakes a few years later, but by this time the competion had lost its identity as a club competition and was becoming far more serious. In all the years we fished the competition, we never lost on our home waters, seeing teams off at Tansley pond and the River Derwent. We even did well away from home, winning at Carvale, Brians pond and Chesterfield Canal to name a few. The competition then became a Carp puddle contest and we lost a bit of interest.

Big thanks to Tony Hopley who supplied all the photos and lots of information.