Thirteen (13) anglers braved pretty grim conditions for round 3 of our winter league series. A definite drop in temperature coupled with high air pressure and an unusual lack of breeze made for difficult fishing in the main with only a handful of pegs producing consistent sport.
It was down to the luck of the draw as to whether or not carp would be the target species for competing anglers with the carp stocks especially having made their way into areas of deeper water now with specific pegs (particularly on Woodside pool) regularly producing results when they otherwise would not. It may result in a little frustration depending on whether or not anglers draw on carp, but it certainly evens things out going forward with roach and skimmer bream now becoming more of a focus.
WOODSIDE POOL
Winner of round 3 on Woodside pool, and picking up a valuable single point, was Josh Sutterby from peg 8 (permanent peg 1). Josh made the most of a good draw and started his match down the edge with worm over fishery micros to find some early bonus fish before switching to his short line with worm and caster. Josh was able to maintain a steady catch rate throughout the day managing to find a good number of carp on both his short line and, later, back down his edge to offer 56-15-00 to the scales.
Finishing in second place on Woodside pool was Josh Gaunt. Josh drew peg 10 (permanent peg 16) and was expecting a tough day given the pegs pretty awful form thus far. However, Josh fished a superb match starting on a pellet feeder to find a few carp early on, but soon decided it would be more worthwhile to target silvers instead and, in doing so, found quality roach and skimmer bream on the short pole up in the water for the remainder of the match. Come the end of the five hours, Josh had managed over 20lb of silvers plus his carp to confirm a weight of 37-11-00, which was enough for two points.
Finishing in third place on Woodside pool was Ken Hayes. Ken drew peg 9 (permanent peg 18) and also managed to find more carp than most fishing corn over casters down his edge for most of the match to weigh in 26-12-00 and pick up another three points.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
J. Sutterby | 8 | 56-15-00 | Worm & caster short & Worm over pellet in the margins | 1 |
J. Gaunt | 10 | 37-11-00 | Pellet feeder & Maggot shallow | 2 |
K. Hayes | 9 | 26-12-00 | Corn over casters in the margins | 3 |
ISLAND POOL
Island pool produced better weights in the main during round three with more carp featuring in anglers nets across the board.
Winner on the day was Dan Bache from peg 1 (permanent peg 2). Fishing worm and pellet down his left hand edge for most of the match, Dan was able to find carp in numbers, including a couple of large fish, as well as a double-figure silvers net to offer a solid 76-15-00 to the scales to make it two wins out of three at the midway stage of the competition.
Second place on the day was taken by Dan Hart from peg 2 (permament peg 4). Dan fished an excellent match after a difficult draw saw him placed on the infamous dam wall. However, undeterred, Dan opted for his tried and tested method of paste down the edge and was rewarded with 60-14-00 of mainly carp to keep himself in the mix.
Third on Island pool was Dave Bowyer from peg 5 (permanent peg 14). Dave was also able to find carp in numbers down his edge to 6mm pellet to end the match with 51-06-00 to snatch the three points away from fourth placed Jason Bird on neighbouring peg 6 by a mere 5oz.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
D. Bache | 1 | 76-15-00 | Worm & pellet in the margins | 1 |
D. Hart | 2 | 60-14-00 | Paste in the margins | 2 |
D. Bowyer | 4 | 51-06-00 | Pellet in the margins | 3 |
OVERALL LEAGUE STANDINGS (AFTER RD3)
POSITION | ANGLER | POINTS | WEIGHT |
1st | Dan Bache | 4 | 258-05-00 |
2nd | Josh Gaunt | 4 | 132-06-00 |
3rd | Dan Hart | 7 | 207-12-00 |
4th | Josh Sutterby | 7 | 118-09-00 |
5th | Ken Hayes | 8 | 99-08-00 |
6th | Dave Bowyer | 9 | 193-06-00 |
7th | Jeff Rush | 12 | 159-08-00 |
8th | Jason Bird | 14 | 103-01-00 |
9th | Ben Hughes | 14 | 58-09-00 |
10th | John Latham | 14 | 44-04-00 |
11th | Allan Cox | 16 | 44-10-00 |
12th | Nigel Hart | 17 | 70-04-00 |
13th | Peter Taylor | 18 | 25-15-00 |
At the midway stage of the competition local rod Dan Bache is sitting top of the table with a fairly healthy weight advantage heading into round four.
Josh Gaunt manages to stay in contention after a great third round performance saw him secure a valuable two point score from an area which, in the two round previous combined, had produced just 12lbs.
Dan Hart also kept his hopes of challenging for the title alive with a great result from a difficult draw.
The stand out performance on round three, however, came from Josh Sutterby, who climbs three places after winning Woodside pool. His 56-15-00 effort saw him gain significant ground on the league leaders putting a decent amount of daylight between himself and the mid-table tussle between Jason Bird, Ben Hughes and John Latham.
Jeff Rush lost a couple of places after suffering a bad draw, but still has a healthy weight advantage over others placed above him and could easily put himself back in contention.
Congratulations again to both Josh Sutterby and Dan Bache on winning their lakes and scoring a perfect single point each. Congratulations also to Josh Gaunt and Dan Hart on finishing runner-up on Woodside pool and Island pool respectively.
Well done to all other competitors. Here's looking forward to round four, which will see a random draw to mix anglers up for the second half of the competition.
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