The convoy didn’t last long though as we lost Sprucey as we shot up the A38, much to Heinzer’s concern as to our direction, whilst Sprucey continued along the A5 route.
15 minutes on and we are in the middle of nowhere driving down some country lanes, totally reliant on the Tom Tom as neither of us had fished this venue before.
My mobile rings, it’s Jonah.
‘Where are you? That postcode you gave me has taken us into a cul de sac. We’re lost.’
Well I hadn’t a clue where Jonah and Terry Turnip were, so we checked out the post code.
‘B79 0LH’
‘Yep, that’s what we’ve’ got’
I was a little concerened now, and fully anticipated ultimately joining Jonah’s lost van in the same cul de sac
However 10 mins on I was relieved to see a sign for Thorpe Constantine indicating it was 1.5 mls away and within a couple of minutes we pulled into the carpark.
A few minutes later and another call from Jonah - ‘Got any flares you can send up, we are still lost?’.
I gave him some sketchy details of a village or two that we had passed through and left him too it.Quite a few members were assembled and KOD handed me the paperwork as he set off
to drop our pegs in the allocated pegs for the day which were 10 to 36.It looked a nice venue and what’s more, a couple of pleasure anglers were already in situ and into fish………
10 minutes later, Jonah and Terry Turnip roll up. Apparently Terry had tapped a ‘O’ into the postcode, instead of a ‘0’ in the Tom Tom.
Wedgey also rolled up, chancing his arm that there would be a spare peg going. Well he needn’t have worried on that score, need he, as a known, but undeclared casualty for the day was revealed. The casualty was actually a real casualty - he’d been bitten by an adder at the same venue
a week or two earlier as several of the members had been down for a (practise?) session. With KOD having done the pegging
and all the monies collected, the short draw pegs were sorted out for the walking wounded (I’m sure I can qualify for one of those now with my dickie knee). The draw was done and guess what was left in the bag for me…………….peg 18 - the longest walk in the far corner 
- now aint that a surprise. ::)Arriving at my peg in that far corner, I was quite ‘happy’ with it
and my main adversary for the day, co knock out finalist MrV was only two pegs away. In fact I reckon my peg in the northernmost corner would have been a potential flyer all summer and up to fortnight earlier ………….only problem now was the wind that was blowing from the northwest and coming over my back - the next 5 hours would confirm or dispel those fears…………. My peg............wind in the wrong direction?
Well there’s not a lot to report - on a personal note I snared a few small early carp, but struggled for 3 hours or more, as did all four of us in that corner, whilst I heard comments that others were ‘bagging’
Although the angling didn’t live up to expectations I must add that this match was the most ‘enjoyable’ I’ve experienced on the Cashmores circuit for a few years - this year I’ve experienced some dire matches in which there’s been barely a grunt from the members on adjoining pegs
- but today the banter and crack from the four of us in that corner was A1 , spiced nicely by the added fact it was the knockout final particularly as bites were at a premium for us. So sorry MGB if we spoilt your day being ‘too noisy’ as I can only presume your other posting related to us, because I cant recollect any ‘shouting’ across the pool, apart from the occasional news that The Wedge and Big Baz were emptying it.Perhaps it was all down to me exorcising all of those miserable matches I’ve fished recently, making the most of the opportunity of some cracking company.
If not us ‘naughty four’ in that corner, apologies and I'll stand corrected………..Talking of those in the corner……….it's time for a picture for Joffie
What a scream on the day - its non other than S*****h, sorry I mean Jonah to my right
And to my left, its Terry Turnip who was also in fine form
A smiling MGB two away to my right
And two away to my left, obviously on a flyer, my adversary on the day, MrV
Bagging down the back straight
Anyway onto the tale of the scales………….and first to set the benchmark was The Wedge
PEG
25 THE WEDGE 91.2.0
24 D JEFFERY 49.6.0
23 GOLDENBALLS 49.12.0
22 HEINZER 39.7.0
21
20 MGB 3.2.0
19 JONAH 23.7.0
18 TK 19.3.0
17 TERRY TURNIP 25.15.0
16 MR V 21.3.0
15 YAMO 69.4.0
14 B ASTBURY 89.1.0
13 R COTTERELL 30.1.0
12 SPRUCEY 45.15.0
11 M STANAWAY 35.1.0
10 JUAN CHUB 24.14.0
9 C CASHMORE 35.3.0
8 ABUMAN 38.4.0
7 S DAVIES DNW
6 KOD 26.11.0
5 M KENN 5.15.0
4 P BROADSTOCK 10.4.0
3 T COOPER 4.1.0
2 B BRADLEY 17.12.0
1 H MAIN 37.4.0
So there you have it - one fish between Wedgey and Big Baz - and I heard loads of fish were hooked and lost off some pegs - incl Big Baz who owned up I think to losing 15
Hats off to MrV too for ‘doing me’ and winning the knockout
Well that's telling it Azitiz from a TK perspective - all in all, a nice, clean tidy venue - I’m sure Cashmores will visit it again one day…………..
I started on the "Sprucey" method, and stuck with it for the full 5 hours (apart from the odd drop in on a choppie line, which did yield a few Barbel). I agree with your comment about the match being enjoyable, and the banter was red hot 
I do however apologise to anyone who thought it was too loud. I guess being pegged in a tight corner with 5 or 6 of us in close proximity didn't help. However, I go on these matches to enjoy myself and have a bit of fun. Having spent 30 odd years fishing Team and individual "big uns" and being all seriarse, if I can laugh and joke while fishing now, all the better :-X
Thanks to Big Baz for entertaining us with his swan antics. Bad luck too Baz, but well done to the Wedge 
kicking in somewhere during procedings 
as surprise surprise it started raining just before the end 
