Third and final coach trip of the year and our final Summer League match for 2015 and it was down to Tunnel Barn Farm fishery.
A massive 26 anglers for this match, thanks to Jon Green who used his van to take six lots of gear and to Neil P who was his passenger for the day. Couldn't have got all the gear on the coach so needed the extra space. Dave Newton travelled in his own van as he had to get back sharpish after the match.
The day got off to a bad start when our coach driver Colin affectionately known as 'young Brian' (don't ask) couldn't even find the first pick up point at the Hoop and Mallet! Twice the muppet drove past us, third time Kev Smith and James Bryan stood on the corner doing star jumps to attract his attention.
As this was the final coach trip we also had our pairs match today which was a random draw after the main peg draw.
Before all that of course we had to have breakfast so we stopped off at truck stop on A5 which was packed with yet more anglers, being an efficient lot, we soon got fed and watered and it was back on the road. Our arrival at Tunnel Barn was delayed again when driver took another minor detour, which after a quick course correction was sorted and it was arrival at TBF by 9.15am.
After unloading the coach, members making their purchases at the shop and sorting pegs and match time with Sarah and Les of TBF it was on with the draw.
The next hiccup was our Chairman getting the numbers wrong, saying we had 25 when we actually had 26 anglers. That came to light during the draw when Rob didn't have a peg. Match referee Alan sorted an acceptable peg and we resumed normal service (another panic over).
All-In was at 10.45am with all-out at 3.45pm. This then gives time for the weigh-in, coach loading and escorting off site by a member of TBF staff.
The all-in duly sounded and the weather today was quite pleasant getting to about 20 degree's with a light breeze and sunshine for those on the right side of the pool for others it was a day in the shadow of the trees.
Given that we had 26 fishing today as opposed to last year when we had 20 the final weights were considerably down with nobody anywhere near getting a ton, unlike last year when four anglers got over 100lb. Today's winning weight would only have managed eighth place in last years results, so you can see the difference it made to what was a slow match.
Several people still managed to break tackle including Butch Whiteside who broke a number four section, our infamous driver also had a breakage as did Mike Lewis. Joe had his pole submarine into the pool but managed to stop it in time. Bait today and methods were widely varied with no one bait/method being head and shoulders above any other so pellet corn, maggot paste all were in use.
The all-out sounded at the scheduled time and the weigh-in completed by Alan, James and Neil P today. The results can be seen below along with the pairs match results.
Lee Clarke was the unlucky recipient of the Golden Peg which still stands at £200, but again the curse blighted Lee's chances putting him into 17th place.
After loading the coach we headed back up to Solihull to have our tea and a beer (or bottle of Red wine and beer if your name is Paul Roby). We stopped at the Greville Arms as we did last year which is a sizzler pub and has really good food at a reasonable price along with decent ale. At 7.30pm our driver dragged us kicking and screaming from the pub. Thanks to Joe and Helen our hosts for organising our tables and serving us some excellent food, I can personally recommend the 20oz Steak! Fully refreshed it was off home and by 10.15pm that's exactly where we were after having detoured the last 40 minutes around roadworks in Warrington.
Thats it, another season complete you can visit our leagues pages to see the winners and losers this season. The trophies will be presented on Friday 9th October at Roosters Club, Warrington we hope our members and families can make it along for a great fun filled evening with our usual hot food and fine ale served by Mark and Maureen at Roosters.
So that's it for now, before you know it our Winter League starts on 17th October when we will be at Lathom fishery..

See you all soon......Tightlines.....