Match Angler Of The Year, Woodside & Island Pools
- Woodside Fishery
- Mar 30
- 13 min read
Updated: Apr 14
The 2024 Match Angler Of The Year qualification stages, which began way back in March last year and ran through to December, produced eighteen (18) of the year's top performing club anglers. Competitors went head to head across both main match lakes over two days in a bid to be crowned new 'Match Angler Of The Year'. This year's event saw a slight change with final placings being decided by way of points with weight becoming the deciding factor in the event of a tie.
Conditions for this year's final were a bit of a mixed bag to say the least with day one bringing with it near gale force, ice cold winds followed by bright sunshine and hardly any cloud cover on day two. Unfortunately, as a result, the standard of fishing across the two days left a little to be desired with some sections being decided with much lower weights than expected. Still, that said, it was a difficult two days for all competitors, which resulted in a closely contested and very fair final. It was definitely a case of who could keep their cool and ensure they did enough despite the frustrating conditions.
DAY 1 - ISLAND POOL
'A' Section
Permanent pegs 2, 3, 14, 15 & 17
Winner of 'A' section on day one on Island pool was Rob Sandall. Rob drew permanent peg 17 (MAOTY peg 9) close to the smaller of the two islands just off the car park and was straight into fish on a small method feeder. However, the carp quickly backed off so Rob spent most of the remainder of the match picking off individual fish with pellet up in the water before looking down his edge late on with dead red maggot to find a couple of bonus margin fish. Come the end of the five hours, Rob offered 63-07-00 to the scales to confirm a narrow section win to score a valuable single point.
Finishing close behind Rob, and picking up two (2) points was fellow TREC AC rod, Scott Banks. Scott drew permanent peg 14 (MAOTY peg 7) and concentrated on his short line offering paste for the most part of the match before offering paste down his edge to end the day with 57-00-00 of carp.
Third in section was Chris Hall (also TREC) from permanent peg 2 (MAOTY peg 1). Chris fished the beginning and middle part of the match on the pellet waggler before switching to his edges late on with dead reds to find mainly small stockies to weigh in 53-15-00.
'B' Section
Permanent pegs 5, 7, 9 & 11
Winner of a tough open water 'B' section on the opposite side of the lake was Lee McKnight. Lee drew permanent peg 9 (MAOTY peg 5) up in the far corner of the lake just round from the dam wall and found most of his fish down his edge on expanders fished over fishery micro pellet. Lee managed an almost exclusive carp catch besides a handful of small silverfish to weigh in 32-00-00 and pick up a well earned single point for his efforts.
Finishing in second place was Josh Sutterby. Josh found himself on neighbouring permanent peg 11 (MAOTY peg 6). Josh caught most of his fish on the method feeder with pellet before coming in down his edge late on offering worm over fishery micro pellet to weigh in a final 28-11-00. Josh picked up two (2) points to put himself in a good position ready for day two pending a decent draw.
Tight Lines AC rod Tony Dyson took third place in Section B with 24-01-00 from permanent peg 7 (MAOTY peg 4). Tony fished a tidy match offering pellet short and down his edge to return a reasonably healthy weight despite arguably one of the hardest draws on the lake.
SECTION A | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | R. Sandall | 9 (17) | 63-07-00 | Pellet shallow & dead maggot in the margins | 1 |
2nd | S. Banks | 7 (14) | 57-00-00 | Paste short & in the margins | 2 |
3rd | C. Hall | 1 (2) | 53-15-00 | Pellet waggler & dead maggot in the margins | 3 |
SECTION B | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | L. McKnight | 5 (9) | 32-00-00 | Pellet in the margins | 1 |
2nd | J. Sutterby | 6 (11) | 28-11-00 | Method feeder & worm in the margins | 2 |
3rd | T. Dyson | 4 (7) | 24-01-00 | Pellet short & in the margins | 3 |
DAY 1 - WOODSIDE POOL
'C' Section
Permanent pegs 3, 6, 8 & 10
Winner of 'C' section, and winning Woodside pool outright on a particularly difficult and uncharacteristic day, was Metal Closures man, Kim Hunter. Kim drew permanent peg 10 (MAOTY peg 13) and opted to fish worm over dead maggot down his edges to weigh in 37-01-00 of carp, most of which came late on in the day. Still, better late than never, as Kim's modest effort gave him a narrow section win and a valuable single point.
Second place was Lee Cashmore from permanent peg 6 (MAOTY peg 11). Lee caught the majority of his fish on caster fished up in the water to offer 27-09-00 to the scales at the end of the five hours to pick up a useful two (2) points in what proved to be an unusually difficult day for those that had drawn close to the island.
Third in 'C' section was Jason Bird from permanent peg 3 (MAOTY peg 10) on the opposite end of the section. Fishing 4mm pellet over maggot down his edge produced 25-15-00 of mainly carp for the TREC AC rod giving him three (3) points come the end of day one.
'D' Section
Permanent pegs 13, 15, 17, 19 & 21
Taking top spot in 'D' section was Quarry Bank Labour's Les Jones. Les managed a decent third place finish with his club the weekend before so was coming into the opening day of the event reasonably confident. Fishing maggot over fishery micro pellet down his edge from permanent peg 15 (MAOTY peg 15), Les produced a double-figure bag of silvers as well as a couple of big carp to weigh in 20-10-00. On the day, this was enough to win the section and pick up a single point.
Second in section was secured by Lawrence Connolly on neighbouring peg 17 (MAOTY peg 16). Loz quickly realised there were very carp in his swim so spent most of the match chasing silverfish up and down in the water on his short line with maggot in a bid to put as much weight in the net as possible on a difficult day. Loz offered a final 18-13-00 to the scales, of which 14-13-00 was made up of roach, rudd and skimmers. This was enough to give Loz a well earned two (2) points.
Finishing third in the section on the day was TREC's Roger Tomes from end peg 21 (MAOTY peg 18). Like most, Roger struggled to find the carp in this open water section and ended the day with 16-09-00 of carp caught on dead red maggot down his edge.
SECTION C | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | K. Hunter | 13 (10) | 31-07-00 | Worm in the margins | 1 |
2nd | L. Cashmore | 11 (6) | 27-09-00 | Caster shallow & Corn over groundbait in the margins | 2 |
3rd | J. Bird | 10 (3) | 25-15-00 | Pellet in the margins | 3 |
SECTION D | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | L. Jones | 15 (15) | 20-10-00 | Maggot in the margins | 1 |
2nd | L. Connolly | 16 (17) | 18-13-00 | Maggot short, shallow & in the margins | 2 |
3rd | R. Tomes | 18 (21) | 16-09-00 | Dead maggot in the margins | 3 |
After near gale force winds hampered angler's best efforts on day one, competitors were hoping for a better second day. Although the wind thankfully subsided, the change from overcast conditions to very bright and sunny conditions resulted in the carp across both lakes coming up in the water and showing very little interest in angler's baits. Consequently, anglers found themselves having to work extremely hard for section points. The majority of the carp that were caught fell mainly to mugging tactics with any anglers that had drawn in the shade struggling to compete.
Day two also saw current Champion Dan Hart have to withdraw from the competition due to family matters, which meant seventeen (17) anglers fished on day two. Dan recorded a fourth in section on day one from permanent peg 15 (MAOTY peg 7) but had to vacate the title being unable to attend both days.
Sections were amended accordingly.
DAY 2 - ISLAND POOL
'A' Section
Permanent pegs 2, 3, 14, 15 & 17
Winner of 'A' section on an extremely difficult day was Les Jones from permanent peg 2 (MAOTY peg 1). Despite drawing one of the more favoured areas, Les struggled to find the fish. Fishing corn and maggot over fishery micros down his edge produced just 16-03-00 of carp and silverfish, which to everyone's surprise (including Les's) was just about enough on the day giving him his second section win in as many days by the slimmest of margins - 1lb 2oz to be exact!
Second in the section on the day was Dave Greybanks from permanent peg 14 (MAOTY peg 7). Dave alternated between maggot and 6mm pellet to weigh in 15-01-00 of mainly carp to add two (2) points to his overall tally.
Finishing third in the section was Lee Cashmore from permanent peg 17 (MAOTY peg 9). Lee was expecting a good days fishing with Rob Sandall having won the section from the very same peg the day before but, such was the change in the weather, the fish had retreated out of reach into the weed beyond where Lee could responsibly fish for them. Offering pellet up in the water and short, Lee was able to put 11-08-00 on to the scales to limp across the finish line with three (3) points.
'B' Section
Permanent pegs 5, 7, 9 & 11
Winner of an equally tough 'B' section on the Island pool was Jason Bird. Jason drew permanent peg 11 (MAOTY peg 6) and fished both banded white maggot and pellet shallow to find mainly carp to offer 43-08-00 to the scales, claiming a single point and a comfortable overall lake win to boot.
Finishing second in the section on the day was Neil McMillan, who drew permanent peg 9 (MAOTY peg 5). Neil opted to fish pellet shallow for most of the match to weigh in 23-04-00 of mainly carp to claim two (2) points.
Third on the day was secured by Lawrence Connolly from permanent peg 7 (MAOTY peg 4). Loz made the most of an unkind draw fishing maggot shallow to end the day with 9-15-00, three (3) points and a new found respect from those around him with the two anglers to his left failing to weigh in.
SECTION A | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | L. Jones | 2 (1) | 16-03-00 | Corn & maggot in the margins | 1 |
2nd | D. Greybanks | 7 (14) | 15-01-00 | Maggot & pellet in the margins | 2 |
3rd | L. Cashmore | 9 (17) | 11-08-00 | Pellet shallow & short | 3 |
SECTION B | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | J. Bird | 6 (11) | 43-08-00 | Maggot & pellet shallow | 1 |
2nd | N. McMillan | 5 (9) | 23-04-00 | Pellet shallow | 2 |
3rd | L. Connolly | 4 (7) | 09-15-00 | Maggot shallow | 3 |
DAY 2 - WOODSIDE POOL
'C' Section
Permanent pegs 3, 6, 8 & 10
Woodside pool fished marginally better on day two with Josh Sutterby recording a section and lake win of 41-07-00. Fishing caster shallow over to the island on the long pole from permanent peg 3 (MAOTY peg 10), Josh managed a little over 40lb of carp with a handful of silvers to secure a valuable point.
Finishing in second place was Lee McKnight from permanent peg 6 (MAOTY peg 11). The peg had underperformed the day before, but Lee was still quietly confident he could do enough having recorded a section win on day one when the odds were against him. Lee mugged cruising fish with pellet for the first half of the match before looking down his edge with corn fished over the top of fishery micros to end the day with 29-10-00.
Third from section 'C' on day two was Rob Sandall. Rob opted to fish pellet up in the water on the long pole from permanent peg 10 (MAOTY peg 13), but struggled to find the fish. Despite the peg having won the section the day before, the change in the weather had resulted in the fish backing off round to the opposite side of the island and out of reach. At the end of the match, Rob had just 11-12-00 to show for his efforts picking up three (3) points in the process.
'D' Section
Permanent pegs 15, 17, 19 & 21
Winner of 'D' section on Woodside pool, and picking up a single point, was Chris Hall from permanent peg 15 (MAOTY peg 17). Given the conditions and where Chris found himself, he decided to concentrate on the pellet waggler to find a handful of big fish to weigh in 24-02-00.
Second place was awarded to Craig Lea-Hair from end peg 21 (MAOTY peg 17). Like Chris, Craig concentrated on singling out big fish by fishing a method feeder down the edge with dead red maggot on the hook but managed just a few carp that went 10-07-00. Still, it was enough for two (2) points so the gamble paid off to an extent.
Third in section 'D' on day two was Scott Sprigg from permanent peg 15 (MAOTY peg 14). After a disastrous first day, Scott dusted himself off and did what he could on a difficult day to weigh in 7-01-00 to secure a healthier three (3) point score with the man two pegs to his right failing to weigh in.
SECTION C | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | J. Sutterby | 10 (3) | 41-07-00 | Caster shallow | 1 |
2nd | L. McKnight | 11 (6) | 29-10-00 | Pellet shallow & corn in the margins | 2 |
3rd | R. Sandall | 13 (10) | 11-12-00 | Pellet shallow | 3 |
SECTION D | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | C. Hall | 15 (17) | 24-02-00 | Pellet waggler | 1 |
2nd | C. Lea-Hair | 17 (21) | 10-07-00 | Method feeder | 2 |
3rd | S. Sprigg | 14 (15) | 7-01-00 | Pellet waggler | 3 |
OVERALL TOP 8 FINISH (receiving payout)
POS | ANGLER | DAY 1 WGT | DAY 1 PTS | DAY 2 WGT | DAY 2 PTS | TOTAL PTS | CUM WEIGHT |
1st | Les Jones | 20lb 10oz | 1 | 16lb 3oz | 1 | 2 | 36lb 13oz |
2nd | Josh Sutterby | 28lb 11oz | 2 | 41lb 7oz | 1 | 3 | 70lb 2oz |
3rd | Lee McKnight | 32lb 0oz | 1 | 29lb 10oz | 2 | 3 | 61lb 10oz |
4th | Chris Hall | 53lb 15oz | 3 | 24lb 2oz | 1 | 4 | 78lb 1oz |
5th | Rob Sandall | 63lb 7oz | 1 | 11lb 12oz | 3 | 4 | 75lb 3oz |
6th | Jason Bird | 25lb 15oz | 3 | 43lb 8oz | 1 | 4 | 69lb 7oz |
7th | Lee Cashmore | 27lb 9oz | 2 | 11lb 8oz | 3 | 5 | 39lb 1oz |
8th | Kim Hunter | 31lb 7oz | 1 | 6lb 2oz | 4 | 5 | 37lb 9oz |
As the weights above suggest, it was quite a tough couple of days, which made for a tight and difficult to call final with very little separating anglers across the board going into day two. Given the difference in the conditions over the two days, it was very much a final of two halves - day one producing the better weights, with day two producing very little across the board. Anglers that had put themselves in a good position after day one recording section wins found themselves struggling on the second day, which although frustrating for anglers, made for an interesting prospect from a neutral perspective.
A massive congratulations to Les Jones on winning this year's event. Although Les didn't record a big weight either day, he did enough to win his respective section each day to record a perfect two (2) point score - the only angler to do so over the course of the weekend. Congratulations again Les!
The final could have easily fell in favour of either Josh Sutterby or Lee McKnight who almost ended up fish for fish at the end of the two days. Despite winning his section on day two, Josh missed out on a section win on day one by a little over 3lb - just one fish - by the hands of Lee McKnight. However, the tides were turned on day two with Josh returning the favour.
The title of Match Angler Of The Year evaded Lee McKnight for a second time on the bounce. Despite managing to win a difficult section on day one, Lee was beaten to the section win on day two by Josh Sutterby, but four (4) lost fish almost certainly cost Lee section C on Woodside pool. So, it was third place again for the Midlands open circuit vet with Josh managing to hold on to second place overall on weight.
Kim Hunter also looked well placed to take the title after a section win on day one and a favourable draw on day two. However, like many, Kim suffered at the hands of the changeable weather and the unpredicted effect it had on where the fish wanted to be. Normally, you would expect an angler of Kim's ability to have won the match from permanent peg 15 on Island pool, but it wasn't to be with the Metal Closures rod failing to make double-figures on the final day.
The same could be said for Rob Sandall. Rob not only won the lake on day one, but recorded the top weight of the final over the two days. Day two saw him draw the very same peg that had won 'C' section on Woodside pool the day before, but the fish simply weren't there.
REMAINING FINALISTS PLACED 9TH - 18TH
POS | ANGLER | DAY 1 WGT | DAY 1 PTS | DAY 2 WGT | DAY 2 PTS | TOTAL PTS | CUM WEIGHT |
9th | Lawrence Connolly | 18lb 13oz | 2 | 9lb 15oz | 3 | 5 | 28lb 12oz |
10th | Scott Banks | 57lb 0oz | 2 | 10lb 14oz | 4 | 6 | 67lb 14oz |
11th | Neil McMillan | 11lb 13oz | 4 | 23lb 4oz | 2 | 6 | 35lb 1oz |
12th | Dave Greybanks | 17lb 8oz | 4 | 15lb 1oz | 2 | 6 | 32lb 9oz |
13th | Craig Lea-Hair | 4lb 3oz | 4 | 10lb 7oz | 2 | 6 | 14lb 10oz |
14th | Scott Sprigg | 4lb 0oz | 4 | 7lb 1oz | 3 | 7 | |
15th | Tony Dyson | 24lb 1oz | 3 | DNW | 5 | 8 | 24lb 1oz |
16th | Roger Tomes | 16lb 9oz | 3 | DNW | 5 | 8 | 16lb 9oz |
17th | Dan Hart | 34lb 8oz | 4 | - | 5 | 9 | 34lb 8oz |
18th | Dave Peters | 12lb 5oz | 4 | DNW | 5 | 9 | 12lb 5oz |
Well done to the remainder of the framers and thank you to everyone who took part and made the final possible. The 2025 final will be taking place in March of 2026. To qualify, you must:
A) Win two matches here at Woodside, or
B) Record a cumulative weight over a maximum of two matches of 100lbs
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