THE DYNAMITE BAITS – ROY TICKLE SENIOR SHIELD FOR MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT 2019 CHARITY CARP EVENT.
So, as the second charity carp event finishes on Carr Mill we have managed to equal last year’s total of £2000 going to Macmillan Cancer Support. I’d firstly like to thank all those at the club and committee that made this event possible on what I think was quite a successful weekend, raising money for a fantastic charity.
Last year’s event although successful saw a lower amount of fish caught and this year was somewhat of a slightly better affair. Carr Mill has seen a slight rise in carp anglers this year and I do believe the fish are responding to it positively.
Again this year we had a fantastic turnout and managed to get an event sponsor in Dynamite Baits. The team at Dynamite provided 1st 2nd and 3rd place prizes and I’d like to thank them on behalf of myself, Chris and Roy.
It didn’t take long to get the event booked up and I was over the moon to find that both Ronnie & Rimmer had decided to join us for the weekend along with Andy & Platty. I’m chuffed to bits they have seen the dam from a night fishing perspective as it’s a completely different place under the cover of darkness. With Rimmer with his pinny on, the food and drink where flowing along the roadside and they even managed to get some of the match lads along for some support ?
Drawing the pegs for the match this year again saw the return of a watercraft draw, picking your peg of choice in the order of number drawn. As numbers where picked pegs soon started to go, some being picked due to accessibility, but mostly due to how good a particular spot looked on the day.
After choosing position number 10, father and son pairing Ben and Don Cunliffe settled for pegs 23 & 24, which turned out to be an excellent choice given the events that unfolded. Ben is no stranger to the dam with a reputation for being the bigger fish catcher on there, having caught many of the dams bigger residents in the past. Full of confidence the dad & lad combo found a couple of spots and lightly baited after getting their rods in just after dark. Don is not an out and out carp angler and can be found catching many of the bigger bream and carp on the digpit on a variety of methods, but this weekend showed his big fish catching son how it’s done with a margin rod absolutely melting off at 2am Saturday morning with a lovely common weighing in at 17lb 8oz. Their next fish came after quite a long wait and at 7pm Saturday night an open water rod went off to another common weighing in at 15lb 5oz. Their next fish came just after midnight on Saturday from exactly the same spot weighing 14lb dead, leaving them with a match total of 47lb 3oz. Having being in front from the start, the rest of the dam where playing catch up, but they walk away worthy winners of this year’s event.
This year saw an old dog new tricks approach seeing Carr Mill regular Craig Marsh pairing up with a recent new night angler Declan Sullivan. After drawing 15th in the draw the “in demand” pegs were soon snapped up but Craig and Declan made the decision to fish from the bench peg towards the arches and what a decision that turned out to be. In the last two years that end of the dam has been given a wide berth and both Craig and Declan proved this to be a mistake for those last year as they soon found themselves on the fish on Saturday night after a quiet day Saturday morning. The bench peg isn’t the easiest place to fish one night on let alone two, but Craig and Declan managed to pick up their first fish weighing 14lb 8oz at 10pm. The wait wasn’t long before the second fish arrived just an hour or so later at 9lb and it was a welcome addition in keeping them hot on the tails of Ben & Don. After the rods were re set and sleeping bags zipped up, it wasn’t until the third fish came in weighing 16lb dead at 4.30am which can be a regular bite time down there. With a combined weight of 39lb 8oz, this was enough to secure them a well deserved second place on what isn’t the easiest swim to fish.
After drawing 3rd in the draw, Stu Friar & Roy Tickle chose the digout swim, given the wind coming into the face of the swim and the lack of other anglers close by. This proved to be somewhat of a frustrating weekend as they utilised a heavy baiting approach, feeding heavily with boilies. After seeing a few fish crashing out over their baited spots they were confident of catching, but early Saturday morning provided them with one hell of a show seeing large amounts of fish feeding and crashing out over their baited spots. At around midday the left rod screamed away and an upper double common was lost at the net by Roy. As fish were still crashing out it was no longer than an hour and a half before the same rod screamed off again, resulting in the capture of an absolutely stunning mirror weighing 10lb 8oz and some redemption for Roy. Saturday evening continued to frustrate as fish could be seen all over their baited area and lamenting the loss of the earlier fish, some rig and bait changes where made across all four rods and the rods where re set for the evening. After somewhat of a peaceful night the scream of a receiver woke the boys up around 5am and it wasn’t long before Stu had a common in the net weighting 12lb 8oz. The lads really had to work the swim to try and get a result and they were rewarded 3rd place overall with a combined weight of 23lb 6oz.
With the success of those above, it was good to see other fish coming out from all over the dam from the roadside to the arches. Chris Owen, Ste Manning and young Finley Knowles all finding themselves in and amongst the fish, showing that fish can be caught from all over the dam which is great to see.
The end of the match saw a presentation and raffle to raise even more money towards MacMillan. The top 3 pairs where presented with their winning shields and prizes from Dynamite and the raffle ensued. Without raising the peg fee for the event we are limited as to funds we can bring in, so we rely heavily on a good raffle turn out to boost sales of tickets. As usual there were plenty there to show support and that’s what helped us reach that total. With some hard work from Stu, Chris & Roy we managed to get in some excellent prizes to be raffled off and I’d like to thank those people that donated personally.
With thanks to:
Baden Hall fishery for providing us with a 48 hour session for two people on either Glovers or Bridge pool.
Eccleston Mere Syndicate for providing a 48 hour session for two people on their new syndicate.
Kev McGuiness for his donation of 10kg of KTM Baits
Jon at PB Products for his continued support and his end tackle bundles and spools of PB Control line.
Jamie Cody for his 20kg of particle donation for yet another event.
Si Morgan at SM_Leads for his fantastic donation of 200 leads again and his help in conducting the raffle and arranging of prizes for the presentation.
Matt at Utopia Carp In France for his Rig Marole end tackle bundles, Ridgemonkey spools of line and Fortis sunglasses
St Helens Tackle & Bait for their Ridgemonkey Gorilla case and Fox medium storage boxes.
Alien Carp Clothing for their donation of shorts and tee shirt
Rigworx tackle for their end tackle bundle
Carp Company for their stick mix, pop ups and hook bundles
Carp Spirit for their donation of a large padded holdall
St Helens Angling Association for their donation of £120 vouchers for St Helens Tackle & Bait and for rounding up our total to bring it up to £2000, many many thanks
If I have missed out anyone at all then please let me know, but myself, Chris & Roy have been truly blown away by your generosity and cannot thank you enough for helping us raise such a fantastic amount for what is a fantastic cause.
From Stu, Chris & Roy we thank you all
Until next year ??️????♥️