Muddy Matches Fishing Week

For those of you who haven’t been with us from the very beginning, here’s a quick Muddy Matches history lesson:

We came up with the idea for the site in the pub back in May 2006 and in December 2006 we launched to our friends and friends of friends (and friends of our friends’ friends!).  The plan was to test the site out and try and get some friendly faces on before the full site went live on March 1st 2007.  As an incentive to get people to join before the official launch date, we set up a free prize draw to win a week’s salmon-fishing holiday in the Scottish Highlands and anyone who completed a profile and uploaded a photo was automatically entered.

The winner was the lovely Flick from Buckinghamshire, who has just got back from said fishing holiday after setting off up north with nine of her friends.  Here’s a picture of her and the gang:

A highly entertaining bunch, with – they won’t deny – not much fishing experience between them, they got really involved and caught 19 for the week!  Congratulations to Piers, Pete, Sam, Serena, Josh and Ben who all caught their first fish!

There was also a bit of stalking available and Piers, Pete and Salmaan all shot their first stag.  Serena loved the stalking so much that she had to pull straws with Sam to see who got to go out on the hill with Salmaan (with foot and mouth meaning that only three people were allowed out at a time).  Unfortunately for Serena she lost…so she resorted to getting Sam steaming drunk the night before  and sneaking out the house early the next day – we we were impressed by both her commitment and tactics!

Now, amongst all these ‘firsts’, you don’t see us mention much about Flick or Kara.  Yes, ladies, it’s time to name and shame: neither of them made it on the hill or the river!!  That’s a lie – they did pop down to the river once to put on the smartest fishing lunch we’ve ever seen:

No ham sandwich and a packet of crisps for these ladies!  Despite the lack of interest in the fishing, they both seemed to have  a brilliant time and were always on excellent form…the dogs were also walked to within an inch of their lives!

Now – let’s get down to gossip.  There was some love in the air over the week.   As the Muddy Matches Fishing Week, we’d like to take some credit, but it actually happened all by itself…over a game of strip poker!

Finally, a big thanks to Angus, the week’s resident ghillie and sous chef.  To quote him, “I genuinely enjoyed teaching the duffers how to fish/catching a few of them their first salmon”.

For more singles holidays and countryside social events, visit www.muddymatches.co.uk/events.