NEWS RELEASE
24 hour carp match
13th/ 14th August, 2011
raising £3,631.60 for
Cancer Research UK
The early morning rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of the 17 anglers gathered at Prairie Lake, Elphicks Fisheries, Horsmonden, Kent (www.elphicks-fisheries.co.uk) on Saturday morning for the start of the Golden Balls Fishing Charity 24 hour carp match to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.
At 12 noon, Committee Member and organiser of the match, Del Sturrock gave the signal for the match to start little knowing that the next 24 hours would produce some frenetic fishing.
By 6pm that evening, what turned out to be the heaviest fish of the weekend, a 24lb 12oz common, had been caught by Danny Shoebridge, not only his personal best but the common lake record, and a total weight of 443lb 5oz had been caught in just over 6 hours.
Special thanks go to Tracy and Kim Slee who arrived to assist Marshals, Trevor Dyer and Diane Parish, as the pace of catches increased.
9pm Saturday evening saw Charlie Ball fishing with Webb baits, Strawberry & Scopex, moving into the lead with a total catch of 99lb 10oz. Colin Heywood was close behind with 86lb 8oz. It was clear at this stage that the outcome couldn’t be predicted. Warren Richards of Angling Direct Kent, Sittingbourne (www.anglingdirect.co.uk), to whom thanks go for donating several prizes for the lucky pegs, had increased his catch from the 6pm total of 6lb to 73lb 2oz. What would daylight bring ?
Terry Clayton had had a busy night, increasing his catch from 32lb 12oz at 9pm the previous night to a staggering 173lb 15oz! Warren Richards was not too far behind with 134lb 4oz, with Charlie Ball at 122lb 14oz and Colin Heywood at 121lb 13oz.
The tactics of Bryan Houghton had clearly started to pay off for him. When the morning weights were logged he had 62lb 2oz but by 10am he was storming ahead with 161lb 3oz! By this time it was clear there were 5 contenders for the top 3 places, Terry Clayton (200lb 11oz, Bryan Houghton 161lb 3oz, Charlie Ball 154lb 10oz, Colin Heywood 141lb and Warren Richards 134lb 4oz) but as we all know with fishing, anything can happen……..
At 12 noon on Sunday, 14th August, the end of what has to be one of the busiest 24 hours of fishing on Prairie Lake, Del announced the results:
1st Place – Terry Clayton – 211lb 9oz
2nd Place – Bryan Houghton – 206lb 11oz
3rd Place – Charlie Ball – 188lb 8 oz
We must mention also the angler who cleared 100 lbs :
4th Place – Steven Gee – 163lb 6oz
5th Place – Warren Richards – 154lb 8oz
6th Place – Colin Heywood – 151lb 2oz
7th Place – Adam Bottle – 128lb 12oz
The overall weight was an amazing 1,666 lbs of carp.
Thanks go to all the anglers who took part and raised funds for Cancer Research UK, to Bryan Houghton who ended the day by giving all who participated a “Spomb” (www.spomb.com) and especially to Mark, Neil and Phil of Elphicks Fisheries for kindly donating the venue and allowing us to increase the pot of Cancer Research UK by £3,600.
Elphicks Fisheries have offered us the venue for a match in 2012 for which we are extremely grateful. Look out for details in the near future as we’re sure this is going to be one of the Golden Balls major venues for the future. Thank you to all.
www.gballs.webs.com
GoldenBalls Fishing Charity on Facebook
Email: GoldenBallsCRUK@hotmail.co.uk
