Sunday 16th October - Open
Gary Thorpe
"309lb in weighers and a 5lb Chub - 8oz off his own world record.. Not a bad day? " Is there no end to the giant weights to be taken by Gary Thorpe? Drawn on Golden Peg 32, Gary found himself into fish immediately, however, running backwards and forwards cost Gary so much time; about 45 minuets, he was always going to be pushed to get anywhere near to 500lb. On a 'Special' where Rolf allows all fish to go in the nets - as is required to set a World Record - it is estimated that Gary would have taken about 600lb today! and who are we to ague that he wouldn't have.
Gary only managed 81lb from a peg just 20 yrds away yesterday and was first to comment on his poor luck of drawing such a peg. I guess the problem is that now Gary has set the World Record with 489lb 8oz, when he breaks the 500lb and 600lb barrier, the press will continue their 'Oh, and the World Record has been broken' easy going attitude to the hard word put in by Gary and the GOT Baits anglers. A true team effort. Not taking anything away from Gary, his weights are as consistent as they are unique, but Gary would also be the first to acknowledge the work of Trevor Price, Mick Wilkinson and many others. As the GOT Baits empire continues in its construction, I guess such successes can only stride to cement the good name amongst top matchmen of the product. It's a shame that the national presses find it hard to do the same. For the life of me I just can't think why they continue with such a limited vision of something quite remarkable. If the World Record went in any other sport, the front pages would be littered with accolades and the centre pages would be rewritten to tell the story in every way possible. I doubt this weight will do little more the make the 'Other Matches' column in Angling Times or Mail. As a fellow GOT Baits angler, I'm not surprised at the sharpe increase in 300lb plus bags of fish at Rolfslake. The increase has followed Rolfs decision to allow only one type of pellet, GOT Baits. The fish are in fantastic condition and are being fished for with the same pellet that Rolf supplements the anglers offerings. Elsewhere, 490lb won the match.. I guess the lake is fishing well? With unseasonably warm weather it's no surprise that huge weights are still on the cards. The only surprising thing is the lake of sell outs for the Opens at the moment. Russell Alexander fished a storming match on Peg 24 by fishing under the bush on the vacant Peg 25!! to rub salt into the wounds of traveling partner Norman Youlden who took just 30lb less next door on Peg 23. |
