JEDBURGH ROTARY CLUB
CHARITY GRAYLING COMPETITION
The
Tsunami disaster on Boxing Day 2004 touched the lives of everyone in
some way. On Saturday 28th January 2006, 20 fishermen from as far away
as Chester, competed in the inaugural Jedburgh Rotary Club Charity
Grayling Competition.
The primary objective was
for the event to raise money for a specific Tsunami project adopted by
Jedburgh Rotary Club. They are raising funds to help repair or replace
fishing boats destroyed in the disaster at a small fishing village.
They followed the policy that while short-term aid would support
survivors for maybe a few months, providing a fishing boat and nets will
support 3 families and give them an income for years.
The
whole fishing competition was only made possible by the generosity of
the Lothian Estate. They made available their prime beat on the River
Teviot, over two miles of double bank fishing. Because it was such a
worthy cause, all this was given free of charge, to help raise as much
money as possible.
A number of other
companies gave generously so an impressive array of trophies and prizes
were up for grabs.
Friday afternoon and
evening saw some rain, but on Saturday morning the river was in perfect
order.
Registration started at 8
o’clock so that competitors were on the river by 9 o’clock. There was a
lot of friendly joshing going on between the fly fishermen and the bait
fishermen, only time would tell where the winner would come from!
By mid-day the bait
fishermen were having slightly more success. One angler, Mike Cressey
caught his first ever Teviot Grayling, a magnificent specimen of sixteen
inches.
Mobile phones were buzzing
up and down the river, tipping each other off if one method was working
better than another. Unofficial team spirit was building as the day
progressed. Late in the day saw some sudden success for the fly
fishermen, the fish seemingly coming on the feed. Some big fish were
caught, but would it be enough? Points were scored depending on the
length of the fish. No fish were harmed, just carefully measured then
returned to the river.
At 4 o’clock sharp,
fishing stopped and score sheets were signed and handed in to the
fishing hut so the tallies could be added up. While the organisers were
busy on the results, the anglers retired to the Cross Key’s Pub in
Ancrum, where the new landlord, Michael Ludgate and his wife Michelle,
provided big platters of sandwiches as their welcome to everyone. (And
very good they were too!)
By 5 o’clock results were
ready and the presentations were made. The overall winner came from the
fly fishermen, including the biggest Grayling of the day.
A good day was had by
all. What made it even better was that £250 was raised for another
fishing community on the other side of the world.
Results:
Fly:
1st Overall, 1st
Fly fisherman and largest fish of the day: David Wright, 37 points and
an 18 ½” fish
2nd placed fly
fisherman: Mark Munro
3rd placed fly
fisherman: Jake Harvey
Bait:
1st placed bait
fisherman was George Ashton with 24 points
2nd placed bait
fisherman was Richard Cove
3rd placed bait
fisherman was Chris Hosker
Acknowledgements:
The
Organisers would like to thank the following companies and organisations
for their generosity in donating prizes and other items to help us to
run this event:
In
Alphabetical Order:
BC
Fishing Ltd, Jedburgh
Bob’s
Tools and Hardware Kelso Sunday market
Country Sports shop Jedburgh
Cross
Keys Pub Ancrum
Forrest
Kelso
Lothian Estates
Jedburgh
Members of Jedburgh Rotary Jedburgh
Mike’s
Bait and fishing tackle
Edinburgh
Mounthooly Fishings Nisbet
Tweed
Trout & Grayling Initiative Drygrange Steading
They
would also like to thank all the companies who helped to publicise the
event, the anglers, and the helpers on the day.
Thanks must also be extended to Rotarian Ian
Davies and his team for organising this very enjoyable event.
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