David's end peg

2011 has been good to me in several respects but also on the Match Fishing front. I put a bit of effort into my match fishing and fished matches most weekends throughout the year.

I fished my first ‘Big’ Festival early on in the year which was the IADA Spring Festival on Lough Muckno. It didn’t go quite to plan for me but it was an eye opener to see what way these festivals run and I also learnt a few things along the way.

I also rejoined Lurgan Dynamite Fox Match this year and fished most of their Summer League back on a few venues I used to fish regularly years ago. The top 10 in the league qualified for a 1 Day Final which I managed to secure 2nd overall on the day.

I entered the All Ireland again this year after winning section money in 2009 and getting a section win and 2nd overall in 2010, 2011 didn’t see everything go to plan with not a great section draw and fishing it to positively on a tough day which saw alot of low weights.

I registered for the Irish Team Selection Process and fished several qualifiers over the country and managed to end up joint 2nd overall to secure a place on the World Championship Team for 2012 in the Czech Republic in September.

I also started to fish this years Erne Anglers Float Only Winter League having fished it 2 years previous and missed it last year. I’m ending 2011 in the overall top 3 and it’s a great league to be fishing.

With exception to being selected to fish for Tubertini Ireland at the 2012 World Championships, the highlight of the year has to be the trip over to Scotland to fish the Home International Annual Match known as the ‘Celtic Cup’. The team fishing was an experience on it’s own but I also managed to secure an individual section win and overall win on day 2 of the competition which I won’t forget in a hurry.

Tackle wise, I upgraded my old Browning CC-44 & 66’s to a Drennan Zircon. It has been a great investment and is winning me a few quid since I purchased it which can’t be a bad thing and it was tested to it’s limits over in Scotland which it comfortably handled.

Hopefully 2012 has a few surprises in store…