White Springs
   Fishery

Pirates 2009 Champion Geoff Walker receives his trophy from White Springs Owner Vince Lloyd. Geoff totalled 99 Points from the 42 matches, with Gordon coming in second with 78 points and Tony on 76points.

Geoff also enjoyed sucess in the 6 week weds Pirates Club winter mini series winning with 7 points beating Gordon again by one point. Tony was 3rd with 10 pts Richard Lewis on 12pts Keith Tueson 13 pts, Ron Shipton 19pts Rob White 21pts and Mike Thomas 25pts

We wish the match anglers all the best in 2010.

Geoff Walker (69) was origonally from Stoke on Trent and he now lives in Talley, his personal best is 130lb which he managed to acheive whilst fishing the Match Lake here at White Springs itself. He likes to use the Pole and Paste as his favourite type of setup and he currently is using a Shimano Anteres 16M Pole with a Shimano Anteres Silk Shock Special Competition Line rated at 5.39lb and .140mm with a Kamason B981 Barbless Specimen Size 16 round bend hook. His Bait is expander pellets.

He has fished for approximately 60 years and got hooked on fishing by accompanying his father all those years ago, being both a keen fisherman and cyclist he regulary (at least once a week) used to fish the Trent and Mersey canals. He told me that he just loves to fish and just loves the thrill of catching that fish, never knowing what is going to come out. He enjoys making his own end tackle and is very profficient at making floats from balsa wood and has been doing this since his early 20's. He leaned over and confided in me that sometimes he finds the making of the floats more satisfying than the fishing itself though he did admit that there is nothing better than catching a fish from one of his home made and very proffesional looking floats.

Asking him what else he loves about fishing he told me that it was the social aspect of the fishing that he loved especially amongst the Pirates of which he is a founding member, amongst the Pirates he loves to wind them up and trade banter with them about the fishing and everything else.

Geoff told me what he loved about White Springs........ there is a good variety of lakes here at White Springs so it is good to be able to have a change as it saves you getting bored. It is convienant for me to travel to as well.

His most memorable experiance was one or two international matches where he got the chance to compete and win matches against some of the top anglers in the country, he nodded to me winked and pointed out one of the anglers opposite him, "Great guy he said and he fishes for Wales and I am in a competition with him what more can I say"

I asked him for some advice for any up and coming anglers and he told me that

You shouldn't be afraid to ask the more experianced anglers on the lake for advice, you will learn more in an hour of watching an experianced angler that you will in 12 months fishing on your own, so dont be shy to ask and watch the experianced anglers.

Sounds like good advice to me Geoff and with that we shall bid you good day and hopefully catch up with you another day. Good luck in your fishing in 2010 and congratulations on your results for 2009.

Tight Lines