Midlands Air Ambulance Fundraiser, Woodside & Island Pools

Seventeen (17) anglers lined the banks of Woodside and Island pools for the annual Midlands Air Ambulance charity fundraiser organised by Gary Hickton of Worcester Angling Centre. Conditions on the day were a little odd and unseasonal for the time of year with plenty of cloud cover making things feel quite cool and the threat of rain forecast for later on in the day. The fishing, although secondary on an event such as this, was also a little odd with pockets of fish shoaled up in very specific areas willing to feed but not in others.

WOODSIDE

Winner on the day on Woodside pool was Dave Bowyer, who drew peg 8 beneath the oak trees close to the island. Opting to fish 6mm expanders down his edge for most of the match, Dave found carp willing to feed in numbers from the off and managed to keep a steady run of good-sized fish to double figures coming to the net for the full five hours. Upon the scales making their way around, Dave confirmed a superb weight of 165-06-00 to take not just victory on Woodside pool, but also to win the event overall.

Second place was awarded to last year's winner, Dan Hart. Dan drew corner peg 6 close to the pads and, by his own admission, struggled to get into his normal rhythm for the opening two hours. However, Dan eventually sorted things out and put a good run of fish together on paste down his edge during the second half of the match to weigh in 109-00-00.

Third place on the day was taken by Neil McMillan from peg 5. Opting to fish pellet shallow over to the island, Neil found odd carp patrolling the far margin to weigh in 28-08-00 - proof indeed of how tightly shoaled the fish were!

POSITION	ANGLER	PEG	WEIGHT	METHOD
1st	D. Bowyer	8	165-06-00	Pellet in the margins
2nd	D. Hart	6	109-00-00	Paste in the margins
3rd	N. McMillan	5	28-08-00	Pole & pellet shallow

Dave Bowyer with part of his impressive 165-06-00 catch taken from Woodside pool

ISLAND

Winner on the day on Island pool was Richard Read, who drew peg 1. Starting his match fishing corn shallow, Richard was able to find a number of smaller carp willing to take shallow baits before a move to his edge later on with corn and pellet produced some slightly better stamp fish. At the of the match, Richard offered 108-11-00 to finish in third place overall and also qualify for the Match Angler of the Year final in the process.

Second place was taken by Rob Gown, who drew peg 14. Offering corn and pellet down his edge, Rob found mainly carp with some roach and skimmer bream to weigh in a final 50-03-00.

Rounding off the top three finish on Island pool was Barry Jones from end peg 16. Barry caught most of his 44-09-00 on corn down his edge.

POSITION	ANGLER	PEG	WEIGHT	METHOD
1st	R. Read	1	108-11-00	Corn shallow & pellet and corn in the margins
2nd	R. Gown	14	50-03-00	Pellet & corn in the margins
3rd	B. Jones	16	44-09-00	Corn in the margins

Richard Reid confirmed his second win here at Woodside almost in as many weeks with hia 108-11-00 effort, which sees him in next years Match Angler of the Year final

All in all, despite both the weather and the fishing being a little unseasonal for the time of year, everyone caught and helped raised a total of £347.48 for a very worthwhile cause.

Well done again to Gary Hickton of Worecester Angling Centre for organising the event and a massive well done also to everyone that took part. You can all hold your heads high knowing that you have, almost certainly, helped save someone's life thanks to your donations.