Seaside tides dictate festive angling fixture

REGULAR readers will recall that a couple of weeks ago we reported that the beach-casting season had begun in earnest with significant catches of winter species starting to show.
Since then there has been a mini-explosion of quality specimens all down the Holderness coast with whiting running to 2.5lb and codling to 4lb, falling to Worksop rods fishing this stretch of coastline over the last couple of weeks.
Friday and Saturday saw Kieth Espin and the Shireoaks/Rhodesia crew taking some quality catches from Bridlington and Ulrome with the best quality specimens mostly falling just after darkness. With the British Open being held at the beginning of March with prizes of over £25,000 up for grabs, the Worksop Guardian has joined forces with Alan Staves of Pickwicks bar and restaurant on Central Avenue to hold a match based on the guidelines of the open.
It will be a rover from Brid to Spurn Lifeboat Station with the single biggest fish taking the main prize of a meal at Pickwicks with a further prize for the greatest overall weight.
Historically, the Christmas matches have always been held after Boxing Day, but prior to New Year’s Eve unfortunately the tides this year are completely wrong for this period. So the match will be held on Saturday 6th January when the time for the high water at Bridlington is 6.20pm, which will allow for at least a couple of hours fishing in darkness.
Worksop has always had a strong contingency of shore anglers and this is an ideal opportunity for all of you who may have hung up your gear for the last few years to dust it off and get yourselves back on to the beach (the Crown and Anchor at Kilnsea). Even if you are relatively new to the sport, this will be the opportunity to pick up some tips before the big one in March. Entry costs £2 which will be paid back in pools, match details on registration.
Finally, apologies to Mark Pressley for last week’s caption. It read that he had come third in his section when in fact he had won it convincingly. Sorry to all, especially Mark.

CLUB RESULTS
THE fourth round of the Hatfield Arms/Peg 31 Canal Winter League took place opposite the boats at Clayworth on the Chesterfield Canal on Sunday 26th November in bright blustery conditions. 1st J. Evason 5lb 13oz peg 17 small roach on bloodworm and joker; 2nd A. Simpson 5lb 9oz peg 24 small roach same method as winner; 3rd R. Marsh 4lb 10oz peg 15 roach on caster.
The league standings with two matches to go are 1st J. Evason 19 points; 2nd Craig Crosby 18; 3rd Andy Simpson, Chris Crosby and Jeff Clarke 16.
Worksop United permit holders held two matches. Wednesday 29th November: 1st R. Allen 10lb 3oz peg 19 carp and chub caught on bronze maggot; 2nd S. Moore 6lb 6oz peg 12; 3rd C. Barker 2lb 15oz peg two. Saturday 2nd December: 1st G. Barlow 4lb 7oz peg 21 chub caught on maggot; 2nd M. Rushton 4lb 3oz peg 16 skimmers caught on maggot; 3rd M. Allen 4lb peg 20 carp caught tight up to the far reeds with bronze maggot.
Results of the Saturday Open match on Wales and Kiveton Park Colliery AC’s stretch of the Chesterfield Canal last Saturday saw 22 anglers take part. 1st Gary Dodworth 4lb 15oz peg 30 blood worm for perch and roach; 2nd Alex Mitchell 4lb 02oz blood worm; 3rd Alan Thompson 3lb 8.5oz worm and castors.
Wales and Kiveton Park Colliery Angling Club have just put another 1,500 roach and bream in the canal. Next week’s draw is at 8am in the Station car park. Call John Smith after 6.30pm 01909 772657.

RIVERSIDE ROUND-UP
MAVER-sponsored Jamie Masson put 81lb 14oz on the scales to win Tuesday’s match on the main lake at the Scrooby venue, fishing pole and pellet on peg 36 edging Jeff Bennett into second place from peg 14 with 50lb 9oz using the same method.
On Friday, Jamie was only a couple of fish from breaking the 100lb barrier, landing 93lb 4oz off peg 20 on the main lake caught on the pellet in the margins. Mick Hall took 53lb 12oz from peg 30 again using pellet presented on the pole.
The best match weight to fall on the Sandmartins was by Ian Temple in last Monday’s open with 41lb 7oz off peg five using pole fished pellet.

SHERWOOD FOREST FARM PARK
CAVENDISH Lake Tuesday 28th November, 17 fished. 1st Rob Ward 41lb 12oz peg eight pole and pellet out at 13m for 30lb of skimmers; 2nd John Holmes 27lb 7oz peg 17 pole and pellet, skimmers.
Winter League Round Eight, Maunside and Cavendish Lakes, Saturday, 27 fished. 1st Dean Richmond 59lb 6oz peg two Maunside fishing pole at 12m and corn on the far bank shelf; 2nd Ian Boyd 51lb 6oz peg one Maunside pole and pellet to the far bank. Maunside peg two again dominated the match but in the last two hours the fish moved into peg one.
Holmedale Lake, Sunday, 20 fished: 1st Jason Thomas 87lb 5oz peg 17 pole and meat in gale force winds potting pellets in on a regular basis to keep the fish interested, he had 30 carp; 2nd Jason Singlehurst 63lb 8oz peg one pole and pellet at the side of the lily pad, he too had to feed pellets regularly to keep the fish interested having well over 30 carp; Glenn Greasley 62lb peg 33 fishing bomb and pellet for a net of small carp (4lb).

LAKESIDE ROUND-UP
THE best match weight to fall on the main lake at the Ranskill venue last week fell to Pete Taylor in Wickersley Angling’s match last Saturday. Pete fished the maggot feeder on peg 38 to bag a mixed net of 37lb 2oz; 2nd Dave Wright 28lb 2oz.
On Sunday, DJ Angling held a match on the second strip where Dave Lakin took the honours off peg two with 26lb 10oz of carp and goldfish taken on pole fished pellet.
Pleasure angler Steve Johnson fished the first strip pond using bomb fished maggot and caster to land a 40lb+ net of carp roach and skimmers.
The largest fish landed from the carp lake was Garry Croft’s 24lb 6oz mirror caught off peg five.
The trout lake is still producing the goods with Peter Simpson netting an 8.5lb rainbow in his 12-fish haul on segmented bloodworm with fellow fluff chucker Garry Wilson banking 15 fish to 5lb on pink and orange fritz with intermediate line.

LODGE FARM ROUND-UP
THE latest round of the Gateford Angling Supplies Winter League was fished on the Lily Pond where Stuart Brumpton used the maggot feeder to tempt a winning weight of 36lb 4oz off peg 68.
Mick Simpson claimed the runner-up position using the same method as the winner from peg 49 putting 26lb 2oz in his net with Richard Hardy making up the frame with 25lb 12oz using the wag and mag on peg 59.
Sunday also saw the third round of the Lodge Farm Winter League taking place on the top pond where the in-form Adam Wake led the way off peg 33 employing the groundbait feeder or pole fished maggot to net 12lb 2oz of skimmers, roach and perch, just squeezing out Carl Urry in to second place with 11lb 8oz using pole fished pellet from peg 46; 3rd Paul Martin 10lb 15oz peg 21.
Bill informs us that on Long Island, 50lb is generally required to win the matches with 30lb needed to frame. His top tips are to fish pellet on the short or fish the maggot feeder or the wag and mag over to the island. Field and signal pellet fished hard on the deck is Bill’s chosen method with maggot also a good back-up.