NJAA 2006 Reading

This year Reading Fishing Club of which I am a member are hosting the NJAA national


The event is being fished on 3 venues the juniors are fishing on the Thames Promenade at Caversham and the intermediates are fishing on the Thames at Goring and The Beale Park at Pangbourne

Unfortunately I didn't make either of the club teams (by about 30 years) so I volunteered to steward 1 of the sections

Lucky for me I drew C section on the Prom at Caversham - close enough to home to walk down and an on-site cafe

The weather forecast for today was for howling gales and torrential rain so things didn't look pleasant for the kids fishing or come to that the stewards and parents

To get to the Prom at Caversham I walk along the Thames from Tilehurst which takes me past the site used for the Reading rock festival and I would just like to say to anyone that reads this that attended the rock festival You need a black sack full of rubbish stuffing up your arses you filthy b*******'s

Nothing personal of course but if I was in charge of Reading council I would send a dustcart round to the home of every twat that brought a ticket and dump all your crap and rubbish back on your doorsteps!!!!!!!!!

Any way back to the fishing

My job as a steward was quite simple and surprisingly very rewarding all I had to do was make sure there was no cheating by the kids or the parents/coaches and assist any of the kids that have a problem during the match and weigh in the fish at the end

Walking up to my section I was amazed at the tackle these kids had it was like walking past a tackle stall but watching them set up they certainly knew how to use it all

Once the all in was given I sprang into action but unfortunately there was nothing sinister happening that caught my attention so I settled into pacing up and down my section watching the kids fish and I must say that for under 16 year olds they were amazing

The threatened bad weather arrived after about an hour and the winds got up and started howling across the fields which kept me busy picking up poles and pole rollers that had blown over

Unfortunately the Thames was doing it's usual in a match and fishing crap and very little was being caught in my section any way

Word along the bank was that the end sections were fishing better and the middle sections seem to be fishing the hardest most of the kids in C section had had a couple of fish mainly small Perch and Roach and only 2 had still not caught

but by now the wind was out of control and some of the gusts were bringing branches down out of the trees and thanks to the lazy arseholes that attend rock festivals a constant stream of plastic bags cups paper and anything else that could be blown was flying across the fields and into the river

with an hour to go I nipped along to the cafe to get a coffee and was amazed that A and B sections were totally different with much lighter winds than C section and a few of the kids had caught decent Bream and as I passed 1 lad was battling with a 6lb Bream on light elastic and I was pleased to see on my return journey that he had won and was just netting the fish

Back on C section

The wind blew, plastic bags floated around but unfortunately very little action from the fish and that's the way it stayed till the end of the match

The most exciting thing that happened in the last hour was when the people that live in the house opposite arrived home in their helicopter (which I managed to miss) but if you look carefully in the picture you can see it parked beside the house

Any way I had to weigh in C and D sections alough I cant remember the weights I do remember young Jake from Reading fishing Club won D section with 1.1kg

and I think the best on C section was about 200g and 2 out of the 9 didn't weigh in not too good at all

But all the kids seemed to enjoy their day and certainly none of them complained about the conditions or the fishing

A most enjoyable day and a pleasure to watch some stars of the future