Twelve (12) anglers attended the penultimate round of the 2024 Winter League series. Conditions during the week leading up to round five (5) had been pretty harsh with a couple of frosts combined with torrential rain taking most of the colour out of the water and lowering water temperatures well into single figures.
Anglers understandibly struggled across the board despite a relatively pleasant day come match day, but given how clear the water was, the low bright winter sun probably only added to the already difficult conditions. Weirdly, carp could be seen cruising in the upper layers but were not interested in anglers baits. Most of the carp caught on the day fell to open water tactics on either the long pole of feeder.
The island pool proved to be the better of the two once again with recorded weights on woodside pool being comparatively lower.
WOODSIDE POOL
Confirming a comfortable victory on Woodside pool was Lee McKnight who acted as a stand-in on the day for Ben Hughes. Ben was unable to fish due to illness but was glad of Lee's efforts which saw him place 62-11-00 of mainly carp on to the scales. Lee caught at 13m on expanders over fishery micro pellets from peg 12 (permanent peg 3) to not only confirm victory on Woodside pool, but also an overall victory across both lakes on the day to contribute a very valuable point to Ben's total as well as a healthy weight buff.
Finishing in second place on Woodside pool for a second round running was local man Dan Bache. Dan drew peg 11 (permanent peg 9) and caught most of his 36-05-00 effort on maggot offered long down his left hand edge to secure another valuable two points on what proved to be a difficult day.
Finishing in third place from peg 8 (permanent peg 16) on Woodside pool was Lawrence Connolly (fishing in place of Josh Gaunt). Loz opted to fish maggot over fishery micro pellets on the long pole to catch a good number of skimmers, roach and a large bonus perch, plus a few carp to weigh in 20-11-00 to confirm three points.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
L. McKnight | 12 | 62-11-00 | Long pole & pellet | 1 |
D. Bache | 11 | 36-05-00 | Maggot in the margins | 2 |
L. Connolly | 8 | 20-11-00 | Long pole & maggot | 3 |
ISLAND POOL
Winner on the day was Jason Bird, who drew peg 6 (permanent peg 15). Jason managed to find a number of 'stockies' shoaled up on the point of the island and was able to tempt a number of them fishing a single maggot over groundbait putting together a decent run of fish. Jason put in a good effort to remain competitive mid table offering 55-03-00 to the scales recording a very useful single point score in the process.
Second place on the day was taken by Dave Bowyer, who drew peg 1 (permanent peg 2). This is an area that has had great form in the league up until now, but the lack of depth in front of him meant that Dave couldn't approach it in the conventional way given the conditions. Opting to fish a maggot feeder inbetween the islands instead, Dave was able to find a number of carp to weigh in a respectable 40-10-00, but couldn't help but feel like he could've won the match had it not have been for a number of lost fish due to the problematic areas of weed on his chosen line. That said, Dave still recorded a useful two point score, which sees him climb into the top three overall.
Third on Island pool was John Latham, who drew peg 4 (permanent peg 11). Knowing that there would be very little caught down his edge given how clear the water was, John opted to fish a small maggot feeder to find some better stamp fish in open water. Unfortunately for John, however, the bigger fish - although welcome - were not in abundance and exhibited a real reluctance to settle and feed instead cruising in the upper layers for the most of match. Despite his best efforts to catch shallow, it simply wasn't going to happen. John offered a respectable 25-00-00 to the scales to record his best league result to date and remain in the mix.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
J. Bird | 6 | 55-03-00 | Long pole & maggot over groundbait | 1 |
D. Bowyer | 1 | 40-10-00 | Maggot feeder | 2 |
J. Latham | 4 | 25-00-00 | Maggot feeder | 3 |
OVERALL LEAGUE STANDINGS (AFTER RD5)
POSITION | ANGLER | POINTS | WEIGHT |
1st | Dan Bache | 8 | 350-04-00 |
2nd | Josh Gaunt | 8 | 248-01-00 |
3rd | Dave Bowyer | 12 | 339-09-00 |
4th | Josh Sutterby | 13 | 196-06-00 |
5th | Dan Hart | 16 | 250-01-00 |
6th | Ken Hart | 16 | 145-10-00 |
7th | Jason Bird | 19 | 194-08-00 |
8th | Jeff Rush | 20 | 223-00-00 |
9th | Ben Hughes | 20 | 148-05-00 |
10th | John Latham | 23 | 82-01-00 |
11th | Nigel Hart | 27 | 99-11-00 |
12th | Allan Cox | 28 | 55-06-00 |
13th | Peter Taylor | 32 | 25-15-00 |
Round 5 sees Dan Bache return to the top of the table on weight with an undeniable advantage going into the final round. Josh, however, is still in with a real chance of taking back the lead once again if he can finish ahead of Dan on the last round.
Dave Bowyer has also put himself in with an outside chance late on with his round five performance putting him inside the top three. A win for Dave on the final round would see him climb the table further if both Josh and Dan have a bad day, or a bad draw! However, Josh Sutterby is also in with a chance of making the top three if he manages to finish ahead of Dave on the final round.
Despite another difficult draw for Dan Hart, he was able to climb a single place dragging himself into fifth place overall now and sits just inside of the overall top five payout.
The mid table tussle continues despite both Jason Bird and Ben Hughes both picking up a single point each. Jason remains top of this section of the table by a single point having now leap frogged Jeff Rush, who will want to forget round five in a hurry, and John Latham managed to do a good job of capitalising on others misfortune recording his best league result to date when it mattered.
Nothing changes at the other end of the table with both Nigel Hart and Allan Cox failing to weigh in and Pete Taylor picking up a hefty amount of points having now dropped out of the league.
Well done to both Lee McKnight and Jason Bird on their respective lake wins.
The sixth and final round will take place on Saturday 14th December.
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