Anglers not put off by big freeze

Winter is well and truly upon us with temperatures dropping well below freezing this week.
But does this deter us from our sport? Not a chance!
The winter leagues are now in full swing and the predator hunters and beachcasters are out in force and all are enjoying some brilliant action.
Saturday saw Stuart fishing the winter league at Lakeside Fishery, Ranskill and Roger at the coast beachcasting.
Although two completely different disciplines both sessions were well supported by anglers from our area with plenty of fish to go around.
The quality of the coastal fishing at the moment has to be seen to be believed. After darkness fell the bait had literally no sooner hit the bottom before the tip was rattling with quality whiting falling to every cast.
The weights in the winter league were down on the prolific catches of the summer but still showed there is quality silver fishing to be had.
Also at this time of year, many clubs are holding their presentation nights and Saturday was the turn of our club, St Joseph’s AC.
Chris Crosbie won four matches and the aggregate trophy and, as you can see from our photo, bore a striking resemblance to a younger looking Ken Ward.

Club results
Grafton AA visited Horseshoe Lakes at Wales on Sunday 13th November where Ian Topham weighed in 11.75kg fishing pole fished pellet on the deck on peg 8 to take first place.
Walt Elgy took the runner-up position with 4.75kg from peg 10 and Bill Adie weighing 3.80kg at peg 18.
Grafton AA donated their waters on the Chesterfield Canal for a fundraiser in aid of the Worksop AA senior squad.
This was run as a practice match for next Sunday’s final round of the Angling Times Winter League Trent Division and we would like to wish all the team the best of luck in their pursuit of a semi-final place.
Despite the harsh conditions where ice had to be broken before the match could commence, Richard Wilson of Daiwa Trentmen managed a very respectable 17lb 2oz of chub from peg 91 for top place.
Fellow Trentman Kevin Hibbert took second place with 11lb 3oz from peg 109 with Middy Matchmen’s Jim Clayton taking third position with 10lb 7oz from peg 98. Worksop’s Steve Burkenshaw made up the frame with 8lb 11oz from peg 92 in te 50-angler field.

Lakeside round-up
Saturday saw the first round in Linda’s Lakeside Winter League where conditions were arctic and the ice had to be broken with the motor boat before battle could commence.
But this did not deter local angling superstar Sean Storey from showing yet another masterful performance in putting 15lb 1oz of roach and skimmers on the scales using pole fished pinkie over groundbait to take top spot from peg 13.
Stuart Lilley was second with 13lb 11oz on peg 26 and Ian Symmonds third with 13lb 4oz from peg 29.
Sunday also saw the Woodseats Winter League taking place with Dave Loveday pole fishing maggot on peg 27 to take a winning silver fish bag of 15lb 4oz.
Paul Wilkinson weighed 9lb 15oz from peg 13 for second with Terry O’Field weighing 8lb 1oz for third off peg 21.
On the Strip Lakes, action has slowed down with Stuart Smith netting a goldfish of 4lb in his mixed net of 30lb plus taken on bronze maggot and caster on the first peg of the second strip.
On the Carp Lake Garry Robson landed two fish from peg 4 the best a mirror of 24lb 4oz and Scott Tordoss of Worksop landed one fish, a common of 22lb 8oz, from peg 6 with a pineapple pop up boilie.
Over on the Trout Lake sport is still as hectic as ever with Jack Walker netting 14 fish to 10lb 14oz on segmented bloodworm various buzzers and intermediate line.
Ray Smith of Worksop caught 16 fish to 3lb using white cats whisker and intermediate line.

Lodge farm round-up
The latest round of Mick and John’s Winter Series on Sunday saw Stuart Brumpton use feeder with a maggot hookbait to bag a top weight of 13lb from peg 92 on Long Island.
The in-form Ian Mellish took the runner-up position with 11lb 10oz from peg 87 and Pete Scott was third with 7lb 6oz at peg 97.
Also on Sunday Hodthorpe Working Men’s Club AC held a match on Lily Pond where George Adie weighed in a winning weight of 19lb 13oz from peg 69 employing the maggot feeder.
Just one fish behind was Steve Godley with 19lb 8oz from peg 55 with Alan Hadfield making up the frame with a level 18lb from peg 67.
On the Top Pond Frazier Davie topped MandM’s pro groups match with 11lb 7oz of tench, skimmers and perch from peg 37 taken in the deeper water beyond the first shelf.

Sherwood round-up
The Wednesday Fun League open match on 16th November on Holmedale Lake was all but sewn up at the draw when Dave Madin drew his favourite peg 32.
Alternating between pole fished at 13m and a small ground bait feeder cast to the lily pads with pellet and meat on the hook, he had carp from 12oz up to 10lb doubling the second placed anglers weight on the next peg with 73lb 11oz.
Second was Pete Hodgetts (35lb 12oz, peg 31) and third John Woodland (27lb 10oz, peg 54).
With three weeks of the league left Dave Madin leads the way with 44 points from Carl Brown (34) and Neil Wilkinson (29). Next week’s match draw is at 9am at the cabin.
A big drop in water temperature from last week and a big drop in weights saw just three anglers break double figures on the Cavendish Lake in Tuesday’s open match on 15th November.
Winner Geoff Bennett fished pole and pellet at 13m over a bed of soft pellets and had one carp going 4lb but the rest of his weight was made up of skimmers, the best being just over a pound, for a total of 32lb 12oz from peg 12.
Second was Ralph Marshall (15lb 5oz, peg 2) and third was John Darby (13lb 9oz, peg 9).

Sherwood round-up
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Saturday) Moat Pool (22 pegs). 1. B. Spacey (Triana North) 94lb 10oz, peg 11 outer; 2. P. Bagshaw (Maver Barnsley) 33lb 8oz, peg 13 outer; 3. L. Sears (Hallcroft) 33lb 0oz, peg 26 outer.
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Sunday) Moat Island (25 pegs). 1. A. Tait (Hallcroft) 33lb 4oz, peg 28; 2. G. Gibson (Worksop) 23lb 8oz, peg 70; 3. N. Vernon (Crooked Billet) 22lb 3oz, peg 19.
Tigra Tackle Silverfish League, (Sunday) Bridge Pool (28 pegs). 1. G. Mumby (Triana) 21lb 8oz, peg 17 island; 2. L. Sears (Hallcroft) 14lb 9oz, peg 23 outer; 3. S. Bestall (Tigra Black) 12lb 3oz, peg 39 outer.
Overall Position 1. Tigra Black (21 points), 2. Hallcroft Select (22), 3. Triana North (25), 4. Tigra Red (30).
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Monday) Reed (18 pegs). 1. P. Morgan (Triana North) 28lb 7oz, peg 32; 2. I. Temple (Hallcroft) 27lb 6oz, peg 11; 3. J. Masson (Maver BCUK) 17lb 13oz, peg 9.
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Tuesday) Moat Island (11 pegs). 1. J. Simms (Hallcroft) 34lb 0oz, peg 8; 2. R. Beckett (Moorthorpe) 16lb 12oz, peg 5; 3. D. Madin (Ultimate Anglers) 15lb 9oz, peg 17.
Daiwa Hallcroft Veterans Match (Wednesday) Bridge (22 Pegs). 1. A. Payling (Peg One) 95lb 8oz, peg 24 island; 2. K. Sales (Leegem) 41lb 14oz, peg 20 island; 3. R. Teigh (Hansworth) 37lb 8oz, peg 18 island.
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Thursday) Bridge Island (12 Pegs). 1. J. Masson (Maver BCUK) 51lb 12oz; 2. G. Bennett (Peg One BCUK) 33lb 4oz; 3. R. Dennis (Climax Tackle) 30lb 11oz.
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Friday) Reed (14 pegs). 1. J. Masson (Maver BCUK) 28lb 4oz, peg 34; 2. S. Clarke (Daiwa Trentmen) 27lb 11oz, peg 14; 3. G. Brown (Hallcroft) 26lb 12oz, peg 37.

Through the grapevine
Finally, safety on the bank is highlighted in this month’s Total Sea Fishing and features an X-ray of a carp angler with an Arsley bomb embedded in his eye socket.
Apparently he had cast out and embedded the weight in the far bank and had pulled for a break, instead the bomb shot back and nearly killed him.
Fishing can be a potentially dangerous sport and while we promised that we would never use this column to preach, we have witnessed similar incidents – so please be careful.