Beach Open washout

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

THE eagerly-awaited British Beachcasting Open took place at the weekend with a number of local anglers heading to the Holderness coast to compete for the £25,000 prize money.
The first day (Saturday) saw fair conditions and a promise of good sport, however as expected the exceptionally large spring tides saw blankets of weed making fishing difficult to say the least and many of the 1,000-plus competitors (from as far afield as Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany) finished early and retired to the pub.
For the ones who did stick it out there was the odd good quality cod to be taken with the best effort from the Guardian readership area being made by Colin Roscoe of Treeton with a nice cod of 4.5lb taken from an isolated mark near Tunstall.
When you consider that last year’s match was won by a cod of 4lb you can imagine Colin’s disapointment when his catch did not see him on to the leaderboard on the Saturday night with a number of cod in the 5lb region. The winner being a fine specimen of 10.5lb.
Sunday saw the wind increase with a storm force 10 from the south east whip up the sea in to a virtual maelstrom making fishing difficult and in some cases down right dangerous with white horses from the beach to the horizon.
There were reports of a few cod coming from spurn point but all our contingent drew a blank even with some hardy souls sticking it out in conditions that were near impossible, but the chance of £2,000 for a single fish added a great incentive. The event itself has become a massive draw and tackle giants Shimano are now the main sponsors and we have been led to believe that there are plans to hold a similar international event on the same coast in October.

Readers of April’s edition of Angling Times Advanced will have seen former Worksop and District and England junior Andrew Pickersgill doing a feature at Hayfield Lakes on bagging a net of quality silverfish from a commercial venue.
Andy is now sponsored by Dynamite Baits and is making a name for himself and we wish him all the luck for the future.

Another youngster to come through the cadet/ junior ranks of the Worksop coaching setup is Worksop Angling Supplies-backed Matt Godfrey, with the England international and former junior world champion being featured in the March edition of the Angling Star on the Selby Canal.

Finally on a sad note we have to report the death of George Fowler who many of you will remember as being a leading light at Redlands School in many activities but primarily angling.
He brought many juniors into our sport and ran the Redlands School match on Sandhill Lake for over 30 years. George will be sadly missed by the whole angling community and condolences are sent from Mick Pogson, John Hayward and everyone at the Worksop and District AA and from ourselves here at the column.

CLUB RESULTS
WORKSOP United held their latest permit holders match on their own stretch of the Chesterfield Canal. 1st R. Lamb 13lb peg 26 bronze maggot; 2nd R. Allen 5lb 6oz peg 11 same method; 3rd M. Drage 3lb 13oz peg 24 same method.
Members of the Greyhound AC fished another natural water again last week heading to the Torksey Arm off the River Trent where they also had to contend with high tides and bad weather. 1st Russ Brown peg seven 6lb 14oz pole fished worm; 2nd Jim Hall peg nine 2lb 10oz pole fished maggot; 3rd Dave Robinson peg eight 2lb pole fished maggot or worm.
Thirteen members of the Stanley Street Sports and Social Club visited Woodhouse Grange on Sunday for the first round of their spring league in what can only be described as truly awful conditions. 1st Mick Pogson 14lb 12oz mixed bag on pole fished pellet and maggot; 2nd Pete Scott 13lb 10oz pole fished maggot; 3rd Geoff Mawby 13lb 6oz pole fished maggot. Section winners were Tommy Kirk 8lb 12oz carp on the feeder and Steve Royale 10lb carp on the feeder.

LAKESIDE ROUND-UP
SATURDAY saw round nine of Linda’s Lakeside Winter League with a full compliment of 41 anglers taking part. 1st Pete Tatley 27lb 10oz peg 37 carp on bomb fished meat; 2nd Dave Wright peg 26 pole or bomb fished maggot; 3rd Dave Lawton 23lb 6oz peg 15 silver fish on wag and mag.
Sunday saw the first round of the R&R Spring League taking place on what can only be described as wintery conditions. 1st John Forster 34lb 8oz peg 13 silver fish on pole fished pellet; 2nd Roger Prior 33lb 12oz peg 14; 3rd Chris Day 33lb 4oz peg 37.
On the strip ponds, Paul Todd encountered a red letter day, pole fishing pellet and sweetcorn where he grabbed himself an 80lb+ net of carp, goldfish, skimmers and roach.
Linda and Steve inform us that the carp lake is open for anglers again with John Vardy landing two fish to 22lb from peg one.
Over on the trout lake, Garry Wilkinson netted 12 fish to an impressive 10lb on cats whisker and floating line and fellow fluff chucker Tony Seddow bagged 17 fish to 3lb on buzzers and floating line.

RIVERSIDE ROUND-UP
THE rover format for the open matches at the Scrooby venue has really caught the imagination of local anglers where they can choose their peg from anywhere on the venue, enabling you to pick the best place as conditions dictate.
Tuesday’s rover: 1st Mick Cook 27lb 7oz peg 20 Sandmartin pole and pellet; 2nd Jamie Wild 22lb 10oz peg one Sandmartin pole and pellet; 3rd Peter Ware 20lb 12oz peg 22 main lake pole and pellet.
Friday’s rover: 1st Ian Temple 21lb 14oz peg 16 main lake pole and pellet; 2nd Keith Noble 20lb peg 20 main lake pole and pellet; 3rd Pete Ware 13lb 9oz peg 30 main lake pole and pellet.
Saturday’s rover: 1st Keith Noble 27lb 7oz peg 10 sandmartins pole and pellet; 2nd Ray Abbs 26lb 11oz peg four main lake; 3rd Pete Hodgitts 23lb 1oz peg 10 strip lake.

LODGE FARM ROUND-UP
REGULAR visitors Gateford Angling Supplies held their usual Wednesday open at the Scrooby Top venue, tackling the long island: 1st Roy Lamb 47lb 7oz peg 91 wag and mag; 2nd Mick Hill 37lb 5oz peg 92 mag and wag; 3rd Malc Kirkham 22lb 4oz peg 76 groundbait feeder.
Saturday saw anglers from the Station Hotel at Shireoaks converge on to the lily pond: 1st Paul Mosgrove 47lb 10oz peg 57 mag and wag; 2nd Martin Spencer 41lb 12oz peg 72 mag and wag; 3rd Tommy Davey 27lb 8oz peg 74 waggler and feeder.
Bill informs us that the middle pegs on signal pond are responding to pole fished maggot or pellet on the deck in the cooler days, but on the milder days the fish are responding to light loose feed and are competing up in the water. On the field pond, the favoured pegs are at the north end of the lake where groundbait feeder is accounting for the better quality fish.

DAIWA HALLCROFT ROUND-UP
DAIWA Hallcroft Open (Saturday) Moat Outer (39 pegs): 1st Andy Cordall 66lb peg 81 pole and pellet; 2nd Luke Sears 61lb 12oz peg 31 bomb and corn switching to pole and pellet; 3rd Jamie Masson 51lb 11oz peg 11.
Daiwa Hallcroft Open (Sunday) Moat (52 pegs): 1st M. Payling 72lb 9oz peg island two pellet; 2nd Ian Littlewood 46lb 4oz peg outer 68 pole and pellet to take carp; 3rd A. Newbury 43lb 10oz peg outer 104.
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League (Tuesday) Bridge Outer (14 Pegs): 1st Geoff Bennett 27lb 10oz peg six pole and pellet; 2nd Rich Teigh, 21lb 8oz peg 45 pole and pellet; 3rd K. Walters 19lb 12oz peg 52.
Daiwa Hallcroft (Wednesday) Moat Island (21 Pegs): 1st Arnie Payling 34lb 6oz peg 51 pole at just 8m with pellet and meat; 2nd Jamie Masson 23lb 8oz peg 48 bomb with hair-rigged meat; 3rd Ian Littlewood 20lb 10oz peg 45.
Daiwa Hallcroft Veterans League (Thursday) Bridge (14 Pegs): 1st Nigel Shipman 33lb 2oz peg island 25 alternating pellet and corn on the hook; 2nd Geoff Bennett 30lb peg outer 21 pole and pellet at 12m; 3rd P. Morgan 26lb 6oz peg island 22.
Daiwa Hallcroft (Friday) Bridge/Reed (12 Pegs): 1st Jamie Masson 59lb 2oz peg Bridge island 13 pole at 13m with pellet; 2nd Andy Oldham 45lb peg Reed 12; 3rd D. Newman 39lb 2oz peg Reed 39.

SHERWOOD FOREST FARM PARK
Holmedale Lake, Wednesday Fun League open, 23 fished: 1st Jason Singlehurst 96lb 5oz peg 18; 2nd Fred Bispham 73lb 13oz peg 39.
The strong gusting wind tried its best to spoil the day, breaking two pole in the process.
Jason fished a small ground bait feeder cast to the island with corn for five carp, before a change to the pole fished down the margin towards the bay brought instant success with an 8lb carp on the first put in followed by 14 more the biggest going 11lb on corn for a grand total of 96lb 5oz.
Over 20lb behind, Fred had four fish blown off the hook by the wind which he said could have beat Jason, alternating short pole down the margin and straight lead and corn cast to the island.
Next weeks draw is at 9am at the cabin £14 all in. To book a peg ring the fishery on 07721 316334.
Sherwood Lake, Tuesday 27th February, 16 fished: 1st Lee Payling 29lb 10oz peg 10; 2nd Geoff Crozier 12lb 13oz peg 13.
Lee fished pole and pellet at 14m for skimmers, his biggest being just a pound he cupped six pellets in every put-in to keep the fish interested. Next week’s draw is at 9am at the cabin.

THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
NEW permits for Worksop United are now ready and can be brought from Ken Ward or Worksop Angling Supplies tackle shops, or from the bailiff on the bank. Prices are £10 adult, £5 concessions.
Worksop United members permits are now ready for collection and anyone who hasn’t paid their membership fee, can they contact Rob ASAP.
There will be a meeting for the members of the Worksop Disabled anglers at Manton Atheltic Club on Thursday 15th March at 7.15pm prompt.
Everyone involved with Linda’s Lakeside Winter League would like to wish Mick Donnolly of Dinnington a speedy recovery after his accident.