Sunday 18the November 2012 was a very cold day, with a sharp overnight frost and bright sunlight. The river had a couple of feet on, but with a good colour. We fished the Buildwas stretch on pegs A to N. All 17 anglers in this year's Winter League turned out, but only 10 of them caught. Winner was Wirral angler Eric Rimmer with a 2 barbel catch for 12 Lbs 4 Ozs taken from peg E (see photo below), second was Craig Cope with 11 Lbs 8 Ozs from peg J and third was Nick Bastock with 7 Lbs 9 Ozs of mainly a pike from peg M. It was a tough day for the 7 of us that never had a bite and this has certainly made the league table interesting. Gary Stinton now leads with 8 penalty points, just one ahead of second placed man and travelling companion Eric Rimmer on 9 and third is now Nick Bastock just one point back on 10. But with only 4 match results from the 6 match series to count, it's still wide open. For the full result, click on the link.

Next match will be on Tong Mere on 2 December. Read about it here!

DSC00736.jpg (956.10 kb)

Winter_League_2013 - 2 WL 11_12.pdf (37.67 kb)

Sunday 4th November 2012 saw the first frost of the Winter. As the 16 Winter League anglers assembled in the car park at Cressage, Dave Hopwood was heard to say "Bloody Hell, my car temperature gauge is reading just 1.5 degrees C!" It was then that I think we all though this was going to be a grueller. We used the Buildwas stretch pegs A to Q, so there was a long walk for most of us, myself included, as I drew peg N. The river had about 4 feet on and was tanking through in places. As the whistle went, it started drizzling - lovely! However, the sun did manage to put in an appearance about mid-morning and the day generally brightened up. It really brightened up for me, as I had a nice chub second put in! I then realised that the feeder was getting covered in leaves on every cast. These had obviously been nipped off the trees by the frost. The only other rod I had with me was my trusty 7 metre whip, so I set up a pole float and had hook to hand to enable me to reach the fish. I had two more good chub, which really tested the 18 hook to 1.7 Lbs hook length and No 8 elastic, a nice roach of 10 Ozs and few more smaller samples for a winning weight of 12 Lbs 6 Ozs. Second was Adam Barsby from peg J with 7 Lbs 10 Ozs (a barbel and 2 chublets). Adam admitted to losing another barbel and probably a big carp in a snag. Third was Wirral angler Gary Stinton with another barbel of 5 Lbs 12 Ozs from peg C.

For the full result, click on the link.

Winter League 2013 - 1.pdf (37.33 kb)