Team spirit prevails as Owen shows grit
YOUNG GRIMSBY STAR DIGS IN TO TAKE TEAM TITLE
RISING Grimsby star Owen Newman was in action at last weekend’s National Junior Team Championships.
He was part of the Blakes Baits A4 team, a newish company which sponsors anglers such as Andy Bennett and Paul Holland. The event was at Packington Somers, near Birmingham.
It was not the best of news when finding out his peg - England international Mick Vials confirmed it was a bad draw and that Owen would have his work cut out.
You cannot always draw flyers, so it was a case head down and fish the peg the best you can and hope you can contribute to the team. At one point in the match, Owen was staring a blank in the face it was that bad. Going into the second hour, he had not had a bite - then after about 90 minutes, his float dipped and it was a small roach in the net - a big relief for Owen as it meant he wasn’t blanking.
He plugged away and put the odd roach, perch, skimmer and F1 in the net. He ended up with a total weight of 8.525kg and was second in his section.
His proud dad Mike said it was his best ever performance. Although he won it individually last year, this was a display of resilience with a bad peg and shocking conditions - not once did he give up, showing determination and a commitment to the team.
Although all the team had average to bad pegs, together they won the event and were crowned 2020 team champions.
Well done to Owen and the team. Hopefully Owen will now get a chance again to try to fish for the England junior team. He got the offer last year to go into the trials, but it was on a natural venue and Owen was not confident - so he turned it down. But now with him fishing on different venues and the help that Claytons Fishery has given him, he has improved.
He has also been asked to take part in a team event at Hallcroft Fishery, near Retford, involving anglers from across the country.
The event attracts top teams from all over and Owen will be the youngest taking part. With lots of internationals involved, it will be a fantastic learning curve.
On to the local match results and, now we are drawing to the end of the year, many of the clubs have already finished their season. One club still braving the elements is Westlands.
They fished for the Parrot Cup at Messinghams Sands’ Island Pond. With a chilly north wind, everyone knew that it was going to be a hard match with the colour dropping out of the water.
As the draw had placed the club’s two titans at either end of the lake - Andy Shone on peg 5 and David Edwards Junior on peg 20 - neither could see how the other was progressing.
The scales gave Andy 57lb 11oz and fourth place but by 1oz David claimed third with 57lb 12oz - so the club Championship goes down to the last match.
Martin Young, fishing from peg 16, took second with 64lb 04oz of fish on the scale and only 5oz adrift of the winner on 64lb 09oz - Ian Thomsen on peg 8.
On the sea fishing scene, things are hotting up for this week’s charity match on the North Wall – more than 35 anglers have already booked in.
The fishing has also improved - the bigger whiting are coming in and in greater numbers. As the match will be fished some of the time in darkness, I would expect that the whiting will come in closer to feed. Also, the big soles are still about. There is also a possibility of a bass.
Last Saturday the Friends Fishing Club fished at Humberston Creek, it was a very low tide and there was no tidal run. This made it very hard to get a bite. For the first time ever at the Creek, I blanked. I had one bite all day and that was that. Next door was Jack Barlow who managed to catch three flounders.
But it was Steve Netherton - who likes this venue and always does the business – with five flounders for 164cm to take the honours on the day.
Then it was Paul Denholm who had to wait until the last half hour to have a bite. He then got four flounders for 126cm to claim second. Third place was Jack Barlow with three fish for 100cm.
Match organiser Steve Robinson took great delight at the end of the match in announcing that I had blanked. Hopefully things will get back on track this week!