JV club give me a great welcome

 Peg 6, Elm, Decoy
I've never been on a cruise, but I've spoken to several who have, and it's obvious that it's not just being on the sea for two weeks that they remember - it's the whole experience: eating, meeting new people, visiting new places, learning new things, watching fiery sunsets, dinner with the captain etc etc...

 Well that's why I go matchfishing. It's not just a question of going out, catching fish and going home. And that's why my first match and experience with JV Angling Club was so enjoyable. They drew under cover in the cafe, where you can get a coffee, they took all my details and gave me a club book with all the venues. The anglers were chatty on the bank before we started, and after the match there was no tearing hurry to start the weighing-in, which meant I could take pictures and follow the scales all round.

Fairly calm at the start, but the cold North-Easterly picked up during the match.

Then - best of all - nearly all the anglers, many of whom I know (and most of whom are better than me), adjourned to the cafe for the results, where everyone was very free with the information about how they caught (or didn't catch). Frankly just that 20 minutes was worth all the money and time spent. I learned an awful lot - none of it guaranteed to do me any good in the next few matches, but all of it worth remembering. Finally, I was invited to their subsidised Christmas dinner! What a reception for a newcomer...

Trevor Dunkley, to my right, had three carp and half-a-dozen bream for his
25 lb 10 oz total, taken mainly at 13 metres.

Houston - I had a problem!
The match itself was, for me, dire. I managed just three bream and a carp for 12 lb 7oz, losing two foulhooked carp. That was last on the lake, except for a DNW, and almost last in the match, which was a pairs event held on Elm and Oak, with the pairs being drawn after the result. 

However, I certainly wasn't upset, as I had a sort of good excuse - my 11-metre pole section broke before the start, it couldn't be telescoped, and so far as I could ascertain almost all the fish on my bank were caught out at about 13 metres or more. Meanwhile I was limited to less than 10 metres. And also, as I had half expected, the better swims on our lake were at the far end, just past me.

Lee Kendall won our lake with 77 lb 14 oz, from Peg 14...

...including several barbel like this one, all taken on maggot.

We had a cold North-easterly in our faces which probably accounted for the fact that few, if any, fish were caught in our margins, while opposite most of the anglers caught some fish in their margins, which were shielded from the wind. Top on our lake was Lee Kendall on Peg 14, who fished long to the platform on his right with maggot for 77 lb 14 oz, a lot of his fish being barbel. And every one of the anglers I spoke to afterwards had caught their fish on maggot.

My old mate Ron Cuthbert took his 42 lb 4 oz in his left margin on Peg 16.

My first bream came to pellet, the second on corn, and the carp and the final bream on dead maggot. One interesting fact was that Smug Whiting on Oak took a section-winning 65 lb 7 oz between about noon and 1 pm and never had another bite. That shows me that the fish are in pockets, as you would expect now temperatures are falling.

The result of my lake. Lee Kendall won the pairs when drawn with Smug who was on Oak 24.

The result from Oak lake, which fished a little better than Elm.

For those interested, here is the Jon Whincup Winter League result from Beastie Lake,
held on the same day. As you can see, the weights are definitely falling in the colder weather.

So my first JV match was a really good experience, and I expect to fish with them every Sunday during the Winter. My next Spratts match tomorrow, Tuesday, is on Cedar, where I expect to be concentrating on maggot. Obviously.