Last Saturday I travelled down to Whinwhistle Fishery near Romsey in Hampshire for the second All Things Piscatorial Roadshow. I had arranged to stay in a hotel overnight to attend the social evening and discussion the night before the match on the Sunday. Only Steve Gray and Ian Coates were there, along with their partners and as the journey took less than an hour I could have travelled down the following morning and saved myself £40. I spent a disturbed night in the hotel due to a long lasting wedding reception and arrived at the fishery in time for breakfast with the others. There were only seven coaches in attendance which was a disapointment as we were raising money for the The Teenage Cancer Trust. We had lots of raffle prizes, kindly donated by various people but no-one to sell the tickets to.

It was decided over breakfast not to count carp in the match, I am afraid I was responsible for this as I stated my reluctance to put carp into any kind of keep net and I hope this did not spoil the enjoyment for the others.

I am neither a match angler nor an expert with a pole but I enjoyed the element of competition and soon entered into the spirit of things.

Me on my box in match mode

I was pegged next to Steve Gray who proceeded to give me a right pasting, ending the match with nearly four times the weight I weighed in. He arranged for his wife Paula to distract me by constantly taking photographs of me, I hope she likes sweetcorn.

Showering the photographer with sweetcorn

Steve has written a full report of the day, well worth a read. The day ended with Steve having his head shaved for the charity.

Stev with his new hair cut

I understand that a lot of money was raised for the chosen charity but it was a shame that the event could not have been better supported by the other coaches. I do hope that there will be more support for the next one.

Group shot with the banner

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