World champ’s praise for his local support

by angling correspondents Roger Stocks and Stuart Lilley
Roger Stocks: 07733 092237 – Stuart Lilley 07811 923599 – email: roachpole10@aol.com

WORLD champion Matt Godfrey’s stunning achievement last weekend, when he beat 65 anglers to the under 17s title, owed much to the eastern European surroundings which felt just like home.
The championships were held on the River Labe in the Czech Republic which in essence bears similarities to the none tidal Trent and saw Matt taking bream, skimmers and a fish called Vimba.
His method was red worm on a size 14 hook over a bed of ground bait on either the long pole with 4-6 gramme floats or the Bolognaise rod with a 10 gramm float.
Matt says he wouldn’t have been able to manage this feat without the support of his family and his bait sponsor Greg Forester of Worksop Angling Supplies. He would also like to thank his present team Triana North for their ongoing support and Worksop District AA for their help over the years.
There’s nothing much to report from the Division One NFA national on the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal near Doncaster with the Worksop & District AA’s squad managing a creditable 41st position out of 66 entrants thus cementing their place in the Premier Division of angling.
On an individual basis team captain Adrian Higginbottom secured a section win and the ninth spot overall. Also we would like to wish the best of luck to Gordon Smith and Andrew Lakey in the Maver pairs to be fished this weekend at the Maver Larford complex in Worcestershire.
It is with mixed feelings that we report on the imminent retirement of stalwart Worksop association baliff Fred Foster after 15 years loyal service.
Many of you, whether you are anglers or not, will have seen Fred doing his rounds with his loyal dog Cassie by his side on Sandhill Lake and Woodsetts quarry pond. The good news is that Fred will still be out and about with Cassie taking an interest in the local wildlife and stopping to take time out and have a chat with fellow dog walkers and anglers alike.
Fred has made a great many friends over the years and is continuing to help with the junior events and is also looking forward to fishing the senior citizens’ matches. Earlier this year he was made an honorary lifetime member of the Worksop DAA and we wish him well with hobbies.

CLUB RESULTS
MEMBERS of Anston WMC fished their annual Joe Hepworth Memorial match on the River Trent at Holme Marsh. Unfortunatly precautionary foot and mouth restrictions were in order so the pegs above the weir were out of the question so they were pegged in the 80s upwards: 1st Darren White 21lb 10.5oz peg 94 groundbait feeder skimmers and bream; 2nd L. Tomlinson 6lb 0.5oz peg 84 on feeder; 3rd T. Bailey 5lb peg 96 on feeder and pole.
Last Tuesday saw the Worksop disabled anglers make the journey to Ranskill where they fished the main lake at the complex: 1st Steve Hill 70lb 5oz peg 16 carp on floating dog biscuit presented on the pole; 2nd Mick Drage 50lb 13oz peg 21; 3rd Ian Mellish 35lb 3oz peg 11.
On Saturday, members of the Black Diamond AC of Cresswell also tackled the main lake at lakeside: 1st Chris Newton 81lb 5oz peg six carp on dog biscuit; 2nd Greg Prophet 35lb 8oz peg 10.

LAKESIDE ROUND-UP
AT the time of writing with the warmer weather upon us, floating dog biscuit is the top method for the resident carp. With this in mind Kenny Farmer employed this method to lead the way in Wickersley’s open match last Wednesday with a weight of 135lb 4oz.
On the second strip pond, venue regular Paul Simpson banked over 100lb of carp including two doubles taken on pole fished pellet and sweetcorn.
On the carp lake, Paul Dobson used the in-method of the moment, dapping a dog biscuit on the surface from peg three to account for six fish which included a mirror of 24lb 10oz.
Over on the trout lake, Worksop’s Chris Parker tempted 13 fish to 4lb on a black buzzer and a floating line with fellow fly caster Mark Rollinson slipping his landing net under 10 fish to 5lb on a segmented bloodworm cast on a sinking line.

RIVERSIDE ROUND-UP
THE big news at the Scrooby venue is that after the recent re-stocking programme the fishery is bang up to form with both the three-hour and six-hour match records being broken on the main lake in two days.
In Thursday evening’s three-hour sprint: 1st Keith Ridley 139lb 13oz peg 29 carp to 4lb on pole fished pellet; 2nd Les Richmond 90lb 11oz peg 35 pole and pellet; 3rd Phil Morgan 87lb 13oz peg 43 pole and pellet.
On Friday, the over 50s veterans’ match took place on the main lake: 1st Mick Cook 152lb 12oz peg two pole fished pellet; 2nd Pete Ware 104lb 4oz peg 44 pole fished pellet.
Saturday’s open match again took place on the main lake with the resident venue expert Les Richmond just managing to fall short of the magic 100lb mark: 1st Les Richmond 97lb 9oz peg 44 pole fished luncheon meat over pellet; 2nd Stuart Lilley 59lb 10oz peg six pole fished pellet and meat.
We would like to rectify a mistake that we unwittingly made in a previous week’s column in that the new café owner is Val Siddons and not her husband John.

LODGE FARM ROUND-UP
LAST Wednesday evening’s three-hour match was fished on Field Pond as usual where, despite the weights being a little down on recent weeks, the fish are more evenly spread: 1st Daz Godley 25lb 9oz peg 35 pole fished meat; 2nd Alan Wordsworth 22lb 6oz peg 33 pole fished meat; 3rd Roy Butterfield 20lb peg 16 pole and paste
On Friday, a group of local anglers decided to have a knock up on the signal pond and ended up breaking the pond record with the top three all fishing pole fished meat shallow: 1st Nick Speed 103lb 9oz peg 32; 2nd Alan Crouch 86lb peg 30 pole; 3rd Alan Tate 59lb 13oz peg 38.
Bill informs us that the top bait and method on the lily pond is pellet fished on the pole at varying depths with match weights going over 50lb and the pellet waggler being the chosen method on long island with bags over 40lb. His top tip for the top pond is pole fished worm and caster for mixed nets of tench, skimmers roach and perch.

DAIWA HALLCROFT ROUND-UP
THIS week has seen some good pleasure fishing bags of up to 100lbs. Carp to double figures have been showing on Moat, Bridge and Reed pools. Pellet is producing nice weights of bream with plenty of sport for anglers of all abilities.
Match weights have remained high, with pellet and meat, shallow fishing starting to produce some big weights, however, paste and catmeat are still producing the larger carp nets in certain areas. Smaller fish can be taken on maggot and caster.
Croft Pool: Pleasure weights to 60lb on pellet on the pole and corn and paste in the margins.
Moat Pool: Big weights of carp on paste or catmeat over pellet. Skimmers and bream to 4lb on meat and pellet.
Bridge Pool: Good mixed weights of bream, silvers and carp to 75lb on pellet and luncheon meat.
Reed Pool: Plenty of silvers taken on pellet and corn, bigger carp on corn, catmeat and paste.
Daiwa Hallcroft Juniors Summer Series (Tuesday), Moat Outer (26 pegs): 1st Luke Baldwin, 19lb 9oz peg 81 feeder and maggot; 2nd Ricky Sambells 18lb 6oz peg 38 pellet over pellet; 3rd Rees Nicholson 13lb 8oz peg 90 maggot.
There are still three more matches left for any juniors who want to partake.

SHERWOOD FOREST FARM PARK
HOLMEDALE Lake, Sunday 5th, 22 fished: 1st Mick Smith 53lb peg 39; 2nd Roy Butterfield 36lb peg 26; 3rd John Elliott 36lb peg 24.
TOFT NEWTON ROUND-UP
THE venue fished very well considering the bright conditions which have kept numbers down. Lots of fish are still in the north west corner and that remains the bank hotspot.
A cool north east breeze has helped afternoon sport but has slowed the evening rise to a certain extent. Floating lines and epoxy buzzers, damsels and diawl bachs best in the day and traditional wets such as dunkeld and silver invicta are best later on.

THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
ON a recent visit to the River Trent at Normanton we came across big fish specialist Stewart Hirst who was fishing the venue for the resident barbel.
Even though the barbel did not feed on this particular evening, the bream and chub were obliging and made an appearance.
Earlier on in the week, he and his brother enjoyed a session at Ness Farm where Stewart tempted two barbel, five bream and two chub on halibut pellet and is looking forward to using his association book to good use on the Holme Marsh stretch this coming week.