CAA Juniors vs Maldon AS Juniors

Tufnell Mere Saturday 16^th September 2023

The inaugural Junior match against Maldon AS juniors took place on Saturday, 9 CAA Juniors lead by our Captain Ava, the reigning CAA champion, took on 8 Maldon AS Juniors lead by their Captain Erica

Ava and Erica stepped up for the draw conducted by Adam and his multi coloured plastic balls. There were 4 sections around the lake with 5 swims in each section, albeit with a few empty places.      After some slight confusion with where they were told to go and where they were actually supposed to go, all competitors set up ready for the off.

By now the sun was high with very little cloud it was already very warm, not ideal fishing conditions but we all hoped they would catch a few each. A slow start didn’t worry anyone and with only a 16lb coming out to Maldon angler Vinnie in section 4 peg 3 in the 1^st hour. A 3lb bream in the same section didn’t go down to well with one young CAA angle however.

Slowly but surely fish started to come out on a regular basis, but for the two Captains nothing was happening for them even though fish were showing over the spots they were targeting. The slightly bigger fish seem to be coming out of section 4 to the two Maldon anglers. Midway through and fish started to come out regularly. Section 2 along the left hand bank was producing plenty of fish to 4 of the 5 anglers, including Maldon Team Captain Erica.

Entering the final couple hour`s the weather changed with cloud cover one minute sunshine next, still very hot even with a breeze though. The Marshalls were being kept busy especially with Ava in section 1 peg 3 in the lefthand bay, fish had started to come thick and fast even losing a couple of good fish. Vinnie and Freddie both from Maldon were doing well in their section but both CAA lads weren’t doing so well. On the far bank Section 3, fish were a lot harder to come by with only 3 or 4 fish coming out all day.

Back in section 2 young Miller for CAA decided to let everyone else catch first, lull them into a false sense of security then bang, fish after fish graced his net. A dark horse coming up fast on the outside if ever there was one.

At the final whistle most people realised it would take a lot to pass Ava`s number of fish, and so it proved with her final tally of 146lb 3ozs, nearly double the next competitor Miller with 74lb 11oz for CAA, Maldon`s Vinnie was 3^rd with a very respectable 66lb 14ozs.

CAA took the team trophy with 326lb and Maldon with 177lb (217lb with adjustments)

Maldon AS were given a 40lb head start to allow for the extra competitors that CAA had, but even with that CAA run out comfortable winners.

CAA Club President Mr Gary Springett handed out the prizes to all the section winners, runners up   and the trophy to the winning Captain and overall winner Ava

Ava has now won the junior carp match three times in a row now and a good choice for CAA Captain by leading from the front. No doubt Erica for Maldon will be hoping for revenge next season if, hopefully, the match is held on a Maldon water

Out of 17 competitors 10 caught and sadly there were 7 blanks. Freddie from Maldon had the biggest fish at just over 20lbs.

As always, a big thank you to all the Bailiffs who gave up their time to marshal, offer advice and help all the Juniors, without their help the event wouldn’t be able to go ahead.

Thanks to Adam for organising it all and to Richard from Maldon AS who organised their juniors. Barry for sorting out the prizes and to our Committee for backing the idea and helping out on the day. Nick, Adam and Ed for strimming and clearing around the lake in boiling hot conditions.

Next, thank you to our generous sponsors and partners DT Bait who provided plenty of their bait to keep the winners in quality bait for a while and goodie bags with pots of flavours and pop-ups.

Nash Tackle who provided weigh slings, alarms, a dwarf sling mat and a goodie bag of rigs, funnel pva and packets of boilees.

Tails-Up who provided packets of their fake corn which eventually breaks down, unlike plastic corn.

All that is left for me to say is thank you to all that took part and helped out to make the go really well, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and to those who didn’t catch I hope it didn’t dampen your day too much. I understand some Maldon Anglers hadn’t been carp fishing for that long so I think overall they did very well under the circumstances.

 Thank you to the Captains for the day Ava for CAA and Erica for Maldon, a credit to both clubs as was all the Juniors who took part and I hope to see you all next season.

Ian Stokes

Chairman CAA