Worksop into final

A Worksop and District Anglers’ Association (WDAA) team has reached the final of the Angling Times Winter League - believed to be for the first ever time.

The 10-man team fished the Yorkshire Ouse (Leeds waters) on 13th march in the competition’s northern area semi-final.

And the squad of Steve Shepherd (captain and manager), Gordon Smith, Mark Pressley, Steve Fretwell, Colin Bacon, Phil Turner, Paul Goulding, Dave Wright, Terry Moroz and Nick Atkins were delighted to make it through to the final - on 4th July on the River Nene where they will tackle 14 other teams.

On the day, the Ouse fished abysmally due to the low and clear conditions.

It was all about not recording blanks and WDAA had six people catch out of 10.

The first three teams who qualified were: Connah’s Quay (44 points), Saints (62) and Worksop (62).

Worksop were helped both prior to, and on the day, by local angler Phil Austin, whose advice was invaluable.

Team member Gordon Smith described the match to me and said: “Basically, in practice, we saw two different rivers.
“If there was a touch of colour and some extra water it fished OK.”
“It’s very deep, with an average depth of around 18 feet. Roach could be caught on either pole or big stick float, or bolos.”
“There were also some big bream to be caught off a few noted pegs - I won a practice open off a ‘can’t fail’ peg with three for 19lb 8oz!”
“Mark Pressley also had two for 13lb 6oz and four in another open match.”
“However, in the run up to the match, the river became low and clear and it was obvious that the first priority was to catch a fish.”
“Our plan was to start down the middle with very small feeders containing chopped worm and caster ‘soup’ and groundbait that contained almost no feed.”
“After half a dozen casts, the feeder was taken off to be replaced by a bomb. We used small 24 or 22 hooks to 08 or 010 bottoms using pinkie, red maggot or pieces of worm as hookbait.”
“Maggot was also fed very sparingly a couple of rods out and a bomb fished over it.”
“That was the basic plan but I know that Paul Goulding caught a fry down the edge on a pinkie cut into half and then half again because the fish was too small to get a full bait in its mouth!”
“Terry Moroz caught a ‘Tommy Ruffe’ casting a block-end feeder to the far bank with chopped lobworm inside.”
“The worm was cut so it was too big to get out of the holes of the feeder but still attracted the fish without feeding them.”
“Finally, captain Steve Shepherd had his only fish (a gudgeon) on the last throw in!”
“It won him the section (some might say he is a jammy so and so!). Phil Austin had told us the last 15 minutes would be critical and so it turned out to be true.”

Notice Board

South Carlton AC are to hold an urgent meeting at 8pm on Tuesday 6th April at the Grey Horses, Carlton.
Everyone must attend to avert the possible closure of club. Telephone Ken Asbery on 01909 730689 for more details.

Go-Baits Angling will be hosting a series of open matches at Langold Lake every Sunday (match reports below).
Entry fee is £15 all-in. The draw is at 9am and fishing is from 10am to 4pm. Telephone 01909 540105 for information.

Round-up

In the Go Baits Open on Sunday 21st March, 26 fished and Worksop’s Ian Turner convincingly won the second in this series.
He caught five big bream and a few skimmers for a combined total of 23lb 14oz (peg 1). Second was Rab John with 9lb 9oz (peg 8) and third was Saul Goulding with 7lb 8oz (peg 2).

The following round, on Sunday 28th March, saw 32 people fish in perfect weather conditions.
But it did not reflect the difficult fishing, which left top anglers scratching their heads as many of the fancied pegs failed to produce a bite. The winner, Stewart Goulding (10lb 11oz, peg 52), caught steadily using maggot feeder tactics.
Runner-up was Pete O’Donovan (7lb 9oz, peg 47) followed by Bob Walker (7lb 8oz, peg 2) and M. Turner (5lb 11oz, peg 95).
Greyhound AC held a match on Sunday 28th March at Carvale, Bolsover.
Tracey Dickenson (9lb 6oz, peg 4) was first followed by Steve Bassett (7lb 10.5oz, peg 16), Bret Northage jnr (7lb 7oz, peg 6) and Cliff Brailsford (6lb 8oz, peg 17). Maggot feeder was best.
The club also held a four-match series and the results are as follows: Match Two, Whisby Garden Centre Lincoln. First - Martin Watkinson (2lb), second - Keith Morris (3oz), third - Arthur Bird (2oz)
An interesting day where the rest of the field blanked!

Match three, Winthorpe (Trent). First - Adam Jackson (3lb 14oz), second - Martin Watkinson (3lb), third - Keith Morris (15oz), fourth - Alan Sargeson (8.5oz).
Chub/feeder was best.

Match four, Crankley Point (Trent), pegs 1-13. First - Martin Watkinson (9lb 9oz), second - Keith Morris (7lb 7oz), third - Arthur Bird (3lb 10.5oz), fourth - Steve Bassett (3lb 9oz).
Mixed fish and feeder were best.
Aggregate result: first - Martin Watkinson (4pts), second - Keith Morris (6). third - Arthur Bird (10). fourth - Steve Bassett (13).

Please get in touch

I’m always grateful for the amount of angling information passed on, which assists with the writing of my weekly column.
Trouble is, my angling-journalistic skills do not include being telepathic, so a quick phone call or e-mail will usually suffice.
A chap called Jeff Harris sent a letter, which spoke of the successes of our WDAA senior squad who have qualified for the Angling Times Winter Final. He questions why anyone from WDAA has not bothered to report this.
Among other criticisms is to query the whereabouts of results from the Grafton Winter league sponsored by Ken Ward.
All I can say is that his comment about the non-inclusion of the result and report of our boys’ success on the AT Winter League Final was a tad premature.
And, in the meantime, if Mr Harris (his real name?) would like to forward his full address and telephone number, including the Grafton Winter League or any other results, I shall do my best to include them in this column.

If you want to get in contact with Martin to give him any results, stories or information, you can e-mail him at martintrona@aol.com

Previous Martin Introna Columns