The Harold Taylor Trophy 2023

We woke up to a real autumnal day, with a real chill in the air and the cars frozen up.

However, by the time we congregated at Hunters Pool, the early morning frost had disappeared and left us with an intense blue sky.

Bob and Stu walked Hunters and chose, mostly, pegs that would benefit from the afternoon sun. As is now becoming traditional, we drew pegs without Paul Abela – he’s virtually never on time and this was no exception, although Pete Turner was slightly worried, as Paul had his bait!

Paul finally turned up and Stu called “all in” spot on 12 and we started. It become quite clear early on it was going to be a struggle, simply as a result of the last couple of overnight temperatures.

Although Bob was quite cold (he was on one of the pegs not in the sun) he was, predictably, catching well on the pole and everyone else had a few fish in their keepnets, but it remained a close-run thing until 5 minutes from the end when Stu hooked a carp over 7lb. He expertly brought it in and, the match was won.

The weigh in followed and, as always there was much chatter and banter, especially when we awarded Stu the “Harold Taylor” trophy and Pete Turner was honoured as the last place angler – although we didn’t have our Booby prize to hand out – so well need a proper ceremony for that when it’s returned.

So, the final results were…

A huge thank you to Stu for all his work in organising this and all the other matches this year!