This match last year was fished in mild spring-like weather. What a difference this year! A biting East wind gusting to 25 mph that pushed the temperature down well into negative windchill enhanced numbers. This made conditions very challenging for the 17 hardy anglers who contested the match. Eventual winner was Ken Arnold (who I think we need to knick-name Nanook of the North now!) Ken had 4 barbel from Peg 22 (where the winner came from last year) for a weight of 22 Lbs 12 Ozs. Ken used maggot fished under a stick float for half the match, but did not have a bite. So he then switched to a bomb with maggot and had 4 but lost one. Second from Peg F2 on the Buildwas water, was Nick Bastock with two good barbel for 14 Lbs 2 Ozs. Nick used a pellet hookbait and feeder, the second fish coming right on the dot of 3 o'clock. Third from Peg 105, was Craig Cope with another brace of barbel for exactly 12 Lbs, again pellet caught. Between 7 anglers 15 barbel were caught and the other 8 of us blanked. Graham Jones managed to winkle out a good bream of 5 Lbs 9 Ozs from Peg 75 to put with his barbel for 9 Lbs 7 Ozs. For full result, click on the link below.

Roll on the Summer!

SCRAMBLE - 2013.pdf (36.26 kb)

Because Dave Upton had to "retire injured" with a bad back during the first match on 17 June 2012, he only got the result of this match from me at the second match on 1 July. Dave has now produced the usual spreadsheet with both match results (see below).

The first match fished poorly, due to there being 6 feet on the river. It was won by Carl Pavey from peg 22 with just 16 Lbs, second was Mark Carr with 12 Lbs 4 Ozs from peg 103 and third Dave Hopwood with 9 Lbs 13 Ozs from peg 29. The second match produced a better result with a 59 Lbs haul of 11 barbel taken from peg 75 by Gary Stinton, second was Dave Hopwood with 35 Lbs 4 Ozs from peg 80 and third was Adam Barsby with 27 Lbs 1 Oz from peg 104. 

A delighted Dave Hopwood said after the match "I don't care about the result really, I have just had one of the best day's fishing I've ever had!" Well, you can care now Dave as you are leading the Summer League with 17 points, 2 clear of Adam Barsby and Mark Carr on 15. But Adam is in second spot with a 12 Lbs weight advantage.

Summer League - 2.pdf (36.01 kb)

23rd October saw the last of our 10 match Summer League series fished on a slightly coloured river, with just a few inches on. The wind was very strong and made life difficult for those anglers in exposed areas. Eventual winner, from a wind-swept peg 97 was Ken Arnold with a good weight for the conditions of 22 Lbs dead. Second was Steve (I'm only visiting!) Senior from peg 76 with a nag of 20 Lbs 13 Ozs. Third was Nobby Plant, who only started fishing our river this year, since returning from a life in France. Nobby managed to put 16 Lbs 9 Ozs onto the scales, but left at least that much in the river by losing 3 good barbel that would certainly have won him the match. There were bottles of spirits and bottles of wine, plus some "slabs" of beer that were won down to 10th place.

The Club Champion, for the second year running, is Graham Jones with a points tally of 58. Very well done Graham! Runner up is Ken Arnold, who just pipped Reg Ford in this last match, as Reg only managed to find a meagre 9 Ozs from peg 28. Ken finished on 50 points to Reg's 45. The Aggregate Weight Cup also goes to Graham with a total of 116 Lbs 12 Ozs but Reg will be runner-up with a weight of 111 Lbs 13 Ozs, compared with Ken's 98 Lbs 14 Ozs.

For the full result, click on the link below.

The Winter League starts on 6 November with the first match on the river. This will be fished on pegs 71 to 105, so the remainder of the water will be available for pleasure anglers. The next one will also be on these pegs on 13 November then 3  matches will be on various pools and the last one, to be fished on 5 February 2012, will be on the river on the same pegs.

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2011-10.pdf (48.93 kb)

On a very windy, but very mild day, the seventh round of our Summer League was fished on 11 September. The river had seen about 3 feet of fresh water in the week and although it had run off about half of this, there was still a nice colour on the day. Tony Randall put in some unusual pegs for a change and this threw up some reasonable weights from some unexpected places. Tony himself ran out eventual winner with 21 Lbs 10 Ozs from peg 102. His weight was made up of 5 barbel and he lost one. Carl Pavey was second with 20 Lbs 14 Ozs from peg 12, a 3 barbel and one chub haul. Third was Dave Upton with 18 Lbs 4 Ozs from peg 33 and fourth was Simon Marvin from peg 88 with 15 Lbs consisting of 3 barbel.

There are now only 6 points separating the top 5 anglers in the league and with 3 matches remaining, it is anyone's. With the "Big One" now having been fished, the next round sees the Float Only match. Who will win it? Watch this website for details soon after the 25 September.

Click on the link below to see the full result.

Bernie

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2011-7.pdf (45.41 kb)

Sunday 14 August saw yet another very dry day with the river lower than I have ever seen it. Consequently, match weights were poor. But Dave Wilton made the best of the conditions to put 5 barbel for 19 Lbs on the scales to win from peg 88, with Graham Jones second with 14 Lbs 2 Ozs from peg 76 and third was Gary Stinton with 9 Lbs 7 Ozs from peg 103. Graham Jones now leads the league with 27 points, with Reg Ford second on 26 and Carl Duckett third on 24. So we are now half way through the Summer League matches and it is wide open for anyone to win. Let's just hope we get some rain before the next round! For the full result, just click on the link.

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2011-5.pdf (43.64 kb)

With the river still out of sorts and running low and clear, it was always going to be a tough match. But, Tony Randall came prepared and set his stall out to catch "bits" on the whip from peg 27 to put an impressive 16 Lbs 4 Ozs on the scales to win! Second was Reg Ford with two barbel from peg 88 for 12 Lbs 8 Ozs and third was Nick Bastock with 7 Lbs 8 Ozs. Carl Duckett now leads the table with 24 points, just one point ahead of Reg Ford and Ken Arnold on 23. For the complete result click on the link below.

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2011-4 Leighton 2011.pdf (41.78 kb)

Sunday 17 July 2011 was a damp, windy day that was more like autumn than summer. The river was still very low, but with a slight tinge of colour. After almost running to fancied peg 48, Ken Arnold could only manage second place in the end with 5 barbel for 25 Lbs 10 Ozs, as he was just pipped to the post by Graham Jones from peg 88 with an all barbel catch of 26 Lbs dead. Third was Carl (I know where the bream are) Duckett from peg 76 with 19 Lbs 12 Ozs, which consisted of 3 bream (again!) and one barbel. Final man to frame was Paul Harrison with 3 barbel and some "bits" from peg 14 which totalled 14 Lbs 5 Ozs, narrowly beating young new-comer, Adam Barsby into 5th place with 14 Lbs 4 Ozs. Ken Arnold now leads the league with 23 points. Carl Duckett is second one point behind on 22 and Adam Barsby is third on 20. For the full result and a weight by peg breakdown, click on the links below.

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2011-3.pdf (40.77 kb)

Results by peg 3 - 2011.pdf (27.62 kb)

Ken Arnold won the first match of the season on 19th June by winkling out 5 chub for 14 Lbs 2 Ozs on a stick float with maggot on the hook from peg 72, during a bright, sunny day with the river still very low and clear. Second was new member Keith Eccles with 2 barbel from peg 102 for 13 Lbs 14 Ozs; but Keith was broken twice on 15 Lbs main line to 10 Lbs hook lengths! Could it have been another 25 Lbs Grass Carp? Third was yours truly with 12 Lbs 10 Ozs from peg 29, but again I lost a good fish that snagged me in the far bank tree roots, which would have won me the match. For the full result, click on the link below.

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2011-1 Leighton 2007.pdf (43.97 kb)

The second round of the Winter League was fished on the river on a cold, dank 21 November. Ten of the 15 anglers in the league turned out on a river which was carrying about a metre of extra water. This, coupled with an east wind, made for hard going, with four of the field blanking. Winner was Ken Arnold from peg 18 with a barbel for 3 Lbs dead, caught on a ledgered worm. Second, from next door peg 16, was Tony Randall with 13 Ozs, made up of about 80 small dace, roach and minnows taken on a whip close to the bank, using a pinkie on the hook under a 1 gram rig. It was really good to see these "silvers" again. Third equal were Gordon Bradley and Gary Stinton who each had 1½ Ozs from pegs 13 and 1 respectively. So, after two of the six rounds fished, jointly in the lead are Dave Upton and Ken Arnold on 6 penalty points, but Dave has more weight. Third is Tony Randall with 8 penalty points. Fourth equal are Keith Williams and Bernie Jones on 10 points, but again, Keith is ahead on weight. The next round, on 5 December, will be fished on Bayliss Pools (if the water is not frozen over or it will be back on the river). It is hoped that the larger carp pool will be bookable, to enable the large head of bream there to figure in the result. Watch this website for an update!

This year's Summer League was one of the closest finishes for many years. The winner of this final Wines & Spirits match was Graham Jones with 11 Lbs 9 Ozs from peg 6, which gave him the 10 points needed to take the league with a total of 55 points. Nick Bastock unfortunately blanked from peg 83, so remained on 45 points for runner-up spot and Dave Upton, who also blanked from peg 102, finished third. There was a very hard frost overnight and the bright sunshine, combined with low and clear river conditions, made this a very hard match. Graham Jones fished the waggler and maggot for most of the match and had four chub for his winning weight. Ken Arnold used stick float and maggot for a 10 Lbs 9 Ozs weight and 2nd place, from peg 76, which again consisted of four chub. Third was the only man to make contact with a barbel, Keith Williams, from fancied peg 95. Keith (once he had found peg 95, as he had not been to this part of the river before!) had to use "stand-by" tackle, as his was with mate Tony Poolton, in Cressage Meadow, who had taken the wrong holdall from Keith's car! Despite this his 5 Lbs weight was good enough for a useful third place. Well done Graham. We'll all have to try harder next year!