Congleton Anglers Society

Angling Times Clubman Scheme

The Clubman Scheme
Since joining the scheme, four of the societies match anglers have qualified for a clubman cap, with their catches being considered amongst the best around the country for that week. Our four winners so far are:

Mick Byram - for his performance in winning the R1 Supercup 2000 match against Crew Post Office.
Bernie Chappel - for his 23lb 8oz catch on the River Dane in June 2000.
Neil Jellis - for his 26lb 5oz catch from Knypersley Reservoir in October 2000
Karl O'Donoghue - for his 32lb 2oz catch on the River Dane in October 2000.

As part of the scheme Club members can collect tokens in the Angling Times that then allow them to buy three bags of VDE groundbait for the price of two. Anyone looking to redeem the tokens needs the Society's Clubman Registration Number that can be obtained from the Membership Secretary.

AT/Van Den Eynde Clubman Supercup
As part of the Clubman scheme we have entered a team in the Supercup competition since the competition started in 2000.

In 2002 we were drawn against Ball Haye Green AC and JCB (again!). The match was fished on Ball Haye Green's stretch of the Caldon Canal at Cheddleton. The first practice session proved that the water was not going to be an easy one to crack. 10 anglers fished for 4 hours each and no one had a bite. Subsequent practice sessions did little to help, as it proved impossible to catch with any degree of consistency although we did find that there are some good sized perch in the water. If the water had some colour then there was a reasonable chance of catching, but if not, it was a case of scratching right from the off!

Match day found the venue with a little colour and a howling wind that made good presentation in the higher peg numbers difficult. The fishing was very hard and we were unfortunate to have 3 dry nets, whilst Ball Haye Green had 4 and JCB none. It was the 3 dry nets that were to prove our downfall as JCB scored 13 penalty points whilst we had 16 and Ball Haye Green 19. So we lose out to JCB for the second time in 3 years. We did have the consolation of providing the overall winner in Mark Buxton who weighed in 15oz from peg 2. Karl O'Donoghue won the section prize for the first 12 pegs with 4oz.

Light relief was provided by Dave Sproson who attempted to put some more colour in his peg by falling in within 2 minutes of arriving at his swim! Dave fished on despite the cold but was glad to get in the car for a blast of hot air!

The 2002 team was Mark Buxton, Mick Byram, Karl O'Donoghue, Pete Farrell, Ian Hayes, Wilf Hudson, Neil Jellis and Dave Sproson. Bernie Chappel was our bank runner and Barry Fern was the reserve.

In 2001 we were drawn against Prince Albert and Macclesfield Waltonians in the first round. The match was held at Prince Albert's Rossmere water just outside Wilmslow. The match proved to be one of the big upsets of the first round as Macclesfield Waltonians stormed to a very well taken victory scoring 26 out of a possible 30 points. Prince Albert were second with 18 points and we came in third with 15 points. Whilst we had 6 anglers come second in their 3 peg section, we were unable to find any section winners and suffered one dry net. Macclesfield Waltonians performance in beating Prince Albert so comprehensively on their own water was rewarded with the team being made Match Angling Plus magazines Team of the Month. Macclesfield Waltonians won their second round match and are through to the Northern Semi Final.

The team that competed at Rossmere was 'Dabba' Booth, Mark Buxton, Bernie Chappel, Barry Fern, Colin French, Ian Hayes, Wilf Hudson, Neil Jellis, Paul Turnbull and Bill Wood. Our bank runner was Karl O'Donoghue.

In 2000 we were drawn at home in the first round against Crewe Post Office. Following a comfortable win in that match, held on a cold and uninviting Goodwins Pool in the middle of February, we were drawn against Van Den Eynde JCB and Normark Riverbanks for the second round. The match was held at JCB's Woodseats lake, the eventual venue for the final. The match was won by JCB, with Riverbanks second and ourselves third.

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