Thirteen (13) anglers lined the banks of both Woodside and Island pools for the opening round of this year's winter league event. This year sees a couple of changes to proceedings with the league no longer being silverfish only and final placings being determined by way of points instead of cumulative weight over the six rounds. Anglers will alternate between the two main match lakes each round with a second random draw taking place on round four to mix things up and to ensure anglers are not fishing against the same six or seven for the duration of the campaign.
Conditions for this year's opening round started off feeling very chilly with a heavy due resulting in a cold, damp morning. However, upon the match getting underway, the dull weather made way for bright sunshine with an intermittent breeze, which was quite strong at times.
The standard of sport on the day was very much determined by which lake anglers drew with Island pool continuing to produce some good weights. Woodside pool, however, proved to be quite difficult with the resident carp seemingly shoaled up quite tight and showing little willingness to move or feed.
WOODSIDE POOL
Winner of Woodside pool on day one, and getting their winter league campaign off to the perfect start, was Lawrence Connolly. 'Loz' drew peg 9 (permanent peg 18) and started his match fishing maggot over fishery micros short to find roach and skimmer bream in numbers. Later, 'Loz' switched to his short line, again with maggot, and opted to fish up in the water to find more silvers as well as some bonus carp before looking down his edge with corn over fishery micro pellets to find some late bonus fish. Lawrence ended the day with a hard earned 55-03-00 to win the lake on the day by a comfortable margin.
Taking runner-up position on Woodside pool was Ken Hayes. Ken has been enjoying a good run of form here over the last couple of weeks, which continued for him on his latest visit here, which saw him confirm a two point score from peg 8 (permanent peg 1). Ken fished maggot down his edge over fishery micro pellets to weigh in 36-12-00 of carp and a handful of small skimmer bream.
Finishing in third place on the day and managing a decent three point score was Ben Hughes. Ben drew peg 12 (permanent peg 11) and started his match fishing maggot over 4mm fishery pellets on the long pole and was soon into skimmer bream. However, after an hour and a half (and one lone angry carp), this line had more or less dried up so he switched to a short line fishing maggot to depth feeding maggot over the top to find better quality silvers as well as three bonus carp before switching to his edges. Ben managed one decent carp from his right hand edge on maggot over groundbait to offer 28-04-00 to the scales.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
L. Connolly | 9 | 55-03-00 | Maggot short, Maggot shallow & Corn in the margins | 1 |
K. Hayes | 8 | 36-12-00 | Maggot in the margins | 2 |
B. Hughes | 12 | 28-04-00 | Maggot long, Maggot short & Maggot in the margins | 3 |
ISLAND POOL
Winner on the Island pool was local rod, Dan Bache. Dan drew peg 6 (permanent peg 15) close to the point of the island. Dan offered pellet tight to the far side edge for most of the match to find mostly carp with a smattering of roach, skimmers and some nice perch to end the match with a very respectable 91-15-00 and a single point.
Second place on the day was taken by Jeff Rush from peg 1 (permanent peg 2). Jeff started his match fishing maggot short to find some real good quality silvers including some big perch and stamp roach before switching to his edge line with pellet and corn to find small carp in numbers willing to feed. Jeff ended the match with a valuable two points and a weight of 83-12-00.
Third on the lake was Dave Bowyer, who drew peg 7 (permanent peg 16). Dave caught mostly on maggot fished down his edge to weigh in 56-03-00 of mainly carp with a handful of roach and skimmers to earn himself three points.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
D. Bache | 6 | 91-15-00 | Pole & pellet | 1 |
J. Rush | 1 | 83-12-00 | Maggot short & Pellet and corn in the margins | 2 |
D. Bowyer | 7 | 56-03-00 | Maggot in the margins | 3 |
OVERALL LEAGUE STANDINGS (AFTER RD1)
POSITION | ANGLER | POINTS | WEIGHT |
1st | Dan Bache | 1 | 91-15-00 |
2nd | Lawrence Connolly | 1 | 55-03-00 |
3rd | Jeff Rush | 2 | 83-12-00 |
4th | Ken Hayes | 2 | 36-12-00 |
5th | Dave Bowyer | 3 | 56-03-00 |
6th | Ben Hughes | 3 | 28-04-00 |
7th | Dan Hart | 4 | 52-10-00 |
8th | Josh Sutterby | 4 | 22-05-00 |
9th | Jason Bird | 5 | 24-00-00 |
10th | Allan Cox | 5 | 07-07-00 |
11th | Nigel Hart | 6 | 17-02-00 |
12th | Peter Taylor | 6 | 08-14-00 |
13th | John Latham | 6 | 03-02-00 |
As the weights above suggest, it was quite a tough opening round for most with just a handful of anglers managing to find carp in any numbers. The remainder of the field on both lakes had to be happy with mostly silvers with the odd better fish here and there. As the league progresses and the weather gets colder, it should even things out a little for the remainder of the series with the resident carp stocks expected to back off in the not too distant future.
Congratulations to both Dan Bache and Lawrence Connolly on winning their lakes and scoring a perfect single point each. Congratulations also to Jeff Rush and Ken Hayes on finishing runner-up on Island pool and Woodside pool respectively.
Well done to all other competitors on what was a difficult day. Roll on round two, which takes place on Saturday October 19th.
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