With the river carrying 10' of flood water and rising the conditions put some of our regular match men off competing. However, the 9 of us that did turn up managed to get onto some good pegs, but yet again were trounced by Ken Arnold who put 4 good barbel on the scales for a winning weight of 26 Lbs 12 Ozs from peg 112 (see the picture below by clicking on the link). Second, from fancied peg 33 in the meadow, was Will Carr with 2 barbel for 10 Lbs 14 Ozs and third with one barbel (caught first chuck!) was Graham Jones from peg 117. There were stories of lost fish and some of us never had a bite, but nobody else managed to bother the scalesman!

IMG_3217.JPG (3.52 mb)

Just 19 match anglers contested the second round of the league on 2nd July 2017 on a low river and a bright sunlit day. Again, this made finding fish (other than bleak!) very hard going. But, once again, that man Dave Leary made it look easy with a winning weight of exactly 32 Lbs taken from peg 9 with varied baits including sweetcorn, pellet and meat resulting in barbel and chub coming to his net. Second was Graham Jones from peg 78 with 16 Lbs 2 Ozs and third was Ken Arnold with 14 Lbs 4 Ozs from peg 76. For the full result, please click on the link. You need to hit the 2017 tab for this year's results!

LEIGHTON RESULTS 2nd MATCH 2017.xlsx (117.13 kb)

Getting bored with no match till the start of the river season? Fear not! Our Match Secretary, Will Carr, has managed to secure the date of 30th April to have a match on any pool at Melverley Fishery. If you would like fish it, please give Will a ring soonest to book a peg on 07903 505123.

The river had been up to its bank top most of the week, but it ran off to just 1.7m above normal winter height for this match. Just 12 anglers competed in lovely warm spring weather - except for the last 30 minutes when some light rain was experienced. Winner was Ken Arnold (again!) with a great weight of 48 Lbs dead, consisting of 7 barbel (biggest 9 Lbs 8 Ozs) taken from peg 18 on meat and pellet. Second, from peg 76, was Graham Jones with 26 Lbs dead consisting of 3 barbel and a chub, taken on meat. Third was Gary Stinton from peg 111 with a weight of 14 Lbs 2 Ozs, taken on meat. The weights then went: 12 Lbs 14 Ozs, 11 Lbs 7 Ozs, 10 Lbs 14 Ozs and 10 Lbs dead. The other 5 anglers either did not bother weighing in, blanked, or went home early!

That's it for the 2016/17 season on the river. See you all in June!

Just 16 anglers turned out for this final match of the Summer League series, our Wines & Spirits match, and saw one old face return, Martin Whittaker, who has been absent for a few years due to health issues. It was also good to see our lady match angler, Lynn Baker, back for another match too. The river looked good, but by midday had changed colour, due to Welsh Compensation Water and this killed sport off. So weights were low, but that man, Graham Jones, opted for a stick float and maggot approach from peg 77 to put another winning weight of 11 Lbs 12 Ozs on the scales to clinch the Angler of the Year trophy once again. Well done Graham. Second, with a weight of 9 Lbs 8 Ozs that included a 9 Lbs barbel, from peg 24 was Colin Morris and third was Craig Cope from peg 80 with a weight of 6 Lbs 6 Ozs. For the full year's result, click on the link.

Match 10 - 23 Oct 16 Sheet1.pdf (45.63 kb)

With about 2m of rain water on the river, the first round of the Summer League was never going to be easy. Although the day kept dry right to the end of the match, the river was highly coloured and going through like an express train, but dropped about a foot during the 5 hour match. Eventual winner was our Match Secretary, Will Carr from Peg 113 on the Buildwas water. Taken on feeder, Will put 5 barbel on the scales for a respectable 29 Lbs 15 Ozs, given the conditions. Second, from peg 13 in Cressage Meadow was Gary Stinton with 17 Lbs 8 Ozs consisting of 3 barbel and a roach taken on similar tackle. Third from peg 114 was Jason Owen with 16 Lbs 15 Ozs also taken on the feeder. Early days yet, but let's hope the rain Gods see fit to let the river drop to nearer normal Summer levels for round 2! For the full resuly, click on the link.

Summer League - 1 - 2016 Sheet1.pdf (34.86 kb)

After the pool at Spring Lea Fishery freezing over in the week, which precluded practice, most of the 14 anglers who contested this round were "flying blind" The weather bizzarly warmed up to 15C on match day, but the melted ice went straight to the bottom and put the fish down and made it hard to get them to feed. Quite a few good fish were lost with small hooks pulling out; but bigger hooks did not result in bites. Winner for once was not Ken Arnold, but Nick Bastock. Nick drew the shortest walk to a peg that must get fed more regularly than others to put 18 Lbs 5 Ozs on the scales, which consisted of three good carp and some silvers. Second was yours truly (hooray! In the money for a change) with 3 carp and bits for 12 Lbs 4 Ozs and third was Ken with a couple of carp and some bits weighing in at 9 Lbs 5 Ozs. This makes the league very interesting with Ken way out in front on 38 points, but then four of us tied on 18 points in joint second place. With 3 matches to go now, the next one being at Monkhall Fishery, Swallow Pool on 14 February, it will be interesting to see who can get that runner-up spot. Draw at 0845 Hrs - PLEASE NOTE! For the full result, click on the link.

WINTER LEAGUE 2016 - Match 4 Sheet1.pdf (19.00 kb)

Sunday 13 December 2016 was unusually mild but very wet. A grizzly, drizzly morning met the anglers that fished this third round of our Winter League series and the last before Christmas. Wigmore Lakes was the venue and although practice had been on very windy days previously, this match was fished in comparative calm. Light levels were low; so much so that we really needed floodlights towards the end of the match! Anyway, that well-practised man, Ken Arnold, wiped the floor with the rest of us once again and weighed in an impressive 4 carp net for 26 Lbs 10 Ozs taken on the waggler, to take first place. Second was Gordon Bradley with a 2 carp catch of 15 Lbs 9 Ozs taken on method feeder and third was Pat Atkins with 15 Lbs 6 Ozs of mainly skimmers taken on pole/waggler. This now means that Ken is out in front with a maximum 30 points from 3 matches; second is still Brian Tinman with 18 and third is Bob Smith with 15. There are 4 matches to go and the next one will be on Springlea pools on 24 January 2016 - Draw at 0845 Hrs - please note!

For the full results so far, click on the link below.

WINTER LEAGUE 2016 - Match 3 Sheet1.pdf (19.44 kb)

On a somewhat windy day, 11 society members fished this match. The venue was very new to most of us as we had never been there, but Ken Arnold, Brian Tinman and Clive Biddulph had been down to have a practice the week before. The crack was "don't bother with maggots, as you just get "bits" you need pellet and corn." So after Brian "Golden Arm" Tinman drew the peg Ken had practiced on and bagged up, we all thought it was a done deal. But no way! Nick Bastock fished the long pole from peg 11 to put 55 Lbs 14 Ozs on the scales to win, followed by Colin Morris on peg 5 with 45 Lbs 12 Ozs and third was Graham Jones with 42 Lbs 15 Ozs. Yours Truly finished fastest loser in 4th with 39 Lbs 9 Ozs. The other 7 weights were: Will - 32 Lbs 3 Ozs, Brian - 30 Lbs 6 Ozs, Ken - 28 Lbs 7 Ozs, Clive 25 Lbs 4 Ozs, Dave - 32 Lbs 9 Ozs, Pat - 12 Lbs 6 Ozs and Ray - 12 Lbs 2 Ozs. Most of us found the fish responded well to maggot by the way, so it just goes to show that practice doesn't always make perfect then!

On a cold, dank 9th November, 7 hardy Winter League anglers turned out for the first leg of this year's series of matches on Cressage Meadow. The river was up and rising, which made it really hard to catch. The winner was Ken Arnold from peg 33 with 2 fish for 11 Lbs 4 Ozs. Second was Clive Biddulph from peg 22 with 5 Lbs 12 Ozs, third was Ray Armstrong from peg 32 with just 2 Ozs and last man to catch was Kevin Nicholls with just 1 Oz. A grueller!