Well … 2018 certainly was a Final to remember, here’s a brief account of the events as they happened…

Wednesday, 19th September 2018, (Practice Day).

The teams had the opportunity to either practice on Lakes 3,4,5 or 9 or join in with a little ‘knock-up’ organised on Lakes 6 & 7. The weather was reasonably mild but the forecast warned of severe winds due to the first storm of the season, "Storm Ally".

Whether practising or fishing the ‘knock-up’, most of the lads had a decent days sport. The ‘knock-up’ was won by Dave Lowe from the North West region, that being said, he had drawn an "out & out flyer", namely end peg 86 on Lake 6! Dave managed a modest weight off this magic peg with 109lbs, but it was enough to take the 1st place cash.

Back at the hotel, the "usual suspects" gathered in the bar and everyone was eagerly looking forward to the draw. Due to the number of regions taking part, (11), it was necessary to have some ‘split sections’. Roy Marlow had consulted with some of his regular match gurus and had devised a cunning plan to ensure the sections were as fair as possible. The actual draw went without a hitch and compared to previous years the captain’s meeting and draw were over and done with fairly quickly.

Back in the bar an hour or so later.., it was at this point that some of the anglers decided that the pegging system was "not fair" and that some individuals "could not possibly compete within their section" due to the split sections devised by Roy, (you know who you are!). As the night wore on, people had to tread carefully in the bar due to all of the floppy bottom lips that were still lying around on the bar’s floor!

Despite this, (or possibly because of this), the usual suspects were still partaking of some liquid refreshment into the early hours, needless to say, they were also still complaining at their draw.

Thursday 20th September 2018, (Match Day).

The anglers woke to a dark & dismal day with a constant drizzle, luckily though the wind had subsided, so things were just about tolerable. The bleary eyes peered over their coffee cups and fresh orange whilst trying to take on some breakfast to help soak up the ‘refreshments’ they had been consuming just a few hours previously.

Suitably refreshed, the anglers made their way back to the fishery. The weather forecast advised that the still and wet conditions would give way to dryer spells with increasing winds, (storm ‘Ally’ again!). Unfortunately, for once the weather forecasters got it spot on and after a couple of hours of still but damp weather, the anglers were subjected to winds from every direction possible, well in excess of 60mph, this resulted in a few stories of broken pole sections in the bar later.

The lakes fished relatively well, it was always felt that Lake 1 and Lake 3 could be the harder sections, however, Yorkshire’s Alan Weare had a great match and won the individual trophy with a great weight of approx. 168lbs off fancied peg 1. 2nd place went to Dave Lowe, with 138lbs off peg 83 on Lake 5. Dave had to eat copious amounts of humble pie, as he was one of the culprits that were convinced he stood no chance at all and Roy’s pegging was "bonkers"?

Back at the hotel, the Angling Committee busily reviewed all of the weigh-sheets and compiled the final results. The presentation meal was excellent and after the usual pleasantries the teams were informed of the final standings.

It had been a close run event with Yorkshire and The Midlands being tied on 21 points, but thankfully, The Mighty Yorkshire were crowned Champions having exceeded the Midlands by approx. 70lbs on total weight.

I just want to finish by thanking all of those that chipped in with the weighing-in, recording the weights on the sheets etc., I also want to thank everyone for their support they gave me on my first solo year as the Coarse Angling Organiser… roll on 2019 at Weston Pools.

Neil (Robbo) Robinson, CSSC Coarse Angling Organiser