Martin Hughes Memorial Match Results

Everyone rearing to go, but the damn P.R.O demands a group photo!

What a match to kick off our new club year! We all assembled at 08:30 this morning in Shaw’s car park, Athy. Luckily the chill of last week had moved on and we had a balmy 8 to 10 degrees for the match. We made the call to fish the Marina as the Barrow was truly boiling after all the rains last week. With entry fees paid, pegs were drawn and we all set off for the Marina to get set up. We were really at max capacity with 14 anglers fishing the Marina, given the amount of demand happening for match content we’re lining up some work to try and increase our Marina capacity. More on that later :)

A rare sighting of the headless fisherman! Some say he haunts the dreams of those who blank in the Marina…

The Marina was an absolute flurry of activity with everyone getting set up. The whir of drill whisks mixing groundbait, the plop of plumets finding their depth, what a sight to see so many participating in our humble course corner of the Irish angling world!

Lets see how everyone was getting on with getting ready!

All In was called at 10:15, with strong starts in pegs 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8. For the southern side of the Marina the roach were very much on the feed! Pegs 2 (Ollie D) and 3 (Miro) set the pace right off the bat, pulling roach after roach on every cast. Pegs 5 (Tommy), 7 (Ryan) and 8 (Martin R) were not far behind. On the northern side of the Marina, Chris, Noel and Jimmy were also off to a decent start, pulling a mixture of Roach and Perch. Declan landed squarely on all of the perch and would pick them up bit by bit for the duration of the match. On the far side of the northern edge, Des and Ollie F had a very slow start. They were fishing pegs 16 & 17 and it’s been a long time since those pegs were fished in a match! They would spend most of the match enticing the fish to revisit the area, ultimately picking up a few silvers towards the end.

Just after midday on the south side of the marina, pegs 5, 7 and 8 began slowing down. However pegs 2 & 3 continued to truck along. Throughout the majority of the match the sound of fish being caught was in the air constantly, you’d swear we were fishing a commercial!

All out was called at 15:15 and the weigh ins commenced. And wow, what a result we got! Just look at all these happy anglers with their massive bags of fish :) …except Miro, who somehow looks disappointed with his 31 POUNDS!

Absolutely fantastic results, it has been a long time since the Marina has delivered like this! Here’s hoping that with continued proper care, it will keep offering such excellent bags of fish. Time for the results!

1st place goes to Ollie Doyle with a phenomenal 41lb 8ozs! Prize presented by Martin Hughes

2nd place goes to Miroslav Svajlenin with an amazing 31lb 10ozs

3rd place to a very happy Tommy with an excellent 29lb 10ozs

4th place goes to a truly delighted Martin Rush with a brilliant “I think I have 10 pouns” 26lb 8ozs

Well done to our winner and framers, excellent fishing by all and what a fantastic overall result! We would also like to make a huge thank you to Martin Hughes for sponsoring this memorial match, it is very much appreciated!

Let’s take a look at the overall results: