Match Results 2023

Check out all the latest 2023 match results here…

This page will be updated as soon as possible following match reports, which are provided by the match secretary. Further information and full reports will be posted on our Facebook page. Any questions or comments should be directed to the Match Secretary, Tony Welsby.

Report on the Christmas Match held at Whitehouse Farm across both lakes – 17^th December

I had 20 festive fishermen and ladies booked in and I had three big bags full of Christmas goodies in the car to hand out at the end of the match, so that everyone would get a prize. John Dursley also donated a couple of bags of Sonubaits expanders and a bottle of booster pellet soak.

All in all it’s not been an easy days fishing, although there were some decent weights. Pete Watkins has won again on peg 6 (Margaret’s) with 22lbs 10ozs and Jason Pitman has come second with 19lbs on peg 10 (Georges). Steve Dawson has come third with 13lbs 5ozs from peg 13 (Margaret’s). These three have received the top three prizes containing a pork joint and other goodies. All the other 17 anglers also received a festive prize.

Thankfully all went well and the mince pies that Julie and Bruce brought for everyone went down well, whilst I sorted out the pay out and prizes. Time for a rest now until the next winter league match in January. Happy Christmas to everybody and have a prosperous New Year.

Final Result:

Georges:

1st – peg 10 – Jason Pitman – 19 lbs

2nd – peg 13 – Graham Beevor – 5lb 10ozs

3rd – peg 3 – Mike Reid – 3lb 4ozs

Silvers – peg 11 – Kevin Murch – 3lb 9ozs

Margaret’s:

1st – peg 6 – Pete Watkins – 22lbs 10ozs

2nd – peg 13 – Steve Dawson – 13lbs 5ozs

3rd – peg 14 – Bill Knight – 6lbs 14ozs

Silvers – peg 12 – John Dursley – 7lb 13ozs

Report on the second round of the club Winter League fished on Georges Lake on December 3^rd at Whitehouse Farm

I had 13 fishing the match but only 9 of these were in the winter league. The weather was set to be wet all day, but little wind if any at all. I left out a few pegs due to the really boggy ground behind pegs 5 up to 8, However with peg 2 back in action, I was able to put 13 pegs in. I find Georges is quite even so I had no idea which would be the best, but I do like peg 10 as the option to the island regularly gives you the chance of catching a few chub.

I started the weigh-in with Clive on peg 10, he had a couple of nice chub and weighed in just over 4lbs, Kev Murch was next on peg 11 he had a very nice chub and other silvers along with a small carp for just over 10lbs. Next was Dave Manning on peg 13 who weighed in just less than 7lbs, I thought he had more but his skimmers were smaller than the ones I had. I was next and weighed in 13lbs 5ozs the half dozen big skimmers really made a difference.

Noel on the next peg had some nice skimmers too and weighed in just over 9lbs. Steve Dawson had another hard day with just over 3lbs, and Andy Brookman on 17 in the corner never had a bite. The two dam wall pegs produced a couple of decent weights for John Dursley and Pete Watkins with 10lbs and 7lbs 1oz respectively. The 4 anglers on the low numbers had a hard day Bill Knight fairing the best with just short of 5lbs and Andy Gard had just over 4lbs.

Overall the day’s fishing wasn’t too bad although some of the pegs were definitely hard. Thanks again to Clive for giving me a lift to the match, I owe him a beer or two. The platforms are currently treacherous with the algae and being wet, you really do need to take care. The lane isn’t too bad it’s quite muddy but most of it is just surface mud.

Result:

1st – peg 14 – Tony Welsby – 13lbs 5ozs (mainly big skimmers and decent sized Rudd)

2nd – peg 11 – Kevin Murch – 10lbs 1oz (2 chub, small silvers and a carp)

3rd – peg 15 – Noel Fletcher – 9lbs 6ozs

Silvers – peg 18 – John Dursley – 10lbs

Section A – peg 19 – Pete Watkins – 7lb 1oz

Section B – peg 13 – Dave Manning – 6lbs 10ozs

Report on match one of the winter league fished on Margaret’s Lake.

I don’t know why we do it the forecast was not good, strong winds and rain forecast. I took my walk around and frightened off half a dozen cormorants, 5 of which were on Georges, not good. Margaret’s was looking okay, water level at its max and coloured, wind was blowing down to the usual end, straight into pegs 11 to 15. The top end was completely sheltered and pegs 1 to 4 were flat calm.

I had 13 booked in for this match with 9 of them signed up for the league, so decision time on pegs, I usually leave out peg 20 around to 5 in the winter but with 13 booked in and leaving out peg 11, I needed to put in one of those 6 pegs, 5 was a no go as there is a branch hanging down from the island that is swinging about causing a problem and because I had peg 18 in I decided that I would put peg 1 in, leave 20 out and that would give peg 1 and 18 loads of room. I usually leave peg 10 out but this time I left 11 out; John Dursley talking me into it, good decision as 11 would have had a nightmare in the wind.

At the weigh-in in I started at Bill Ferris on peg 10 as Steve Brown and Bruce Taylor on the next two pegs to me did not weigh in, they had struggled facing into that wind. Bill had 15lb which included a 12lb carp, next to weigh was Kev Murch on peg 9 he had just over 5lb of silvers and just short of 50lb of carp, giving him a total of 53lbs 10ozs a terrific weight in the conditions. You know it’s hard when Steve Dawson doesn’t figure in the prizes and he weighed in less than 7lb, next was Dave Manning with just less than 9lb.

Pete Watkins on peg 6 was admitting to about 40lbs or so, however, the scales didn’t agree, he had a magnificent weight of 73lbs 12ozs. Julie was next on peg 1 and she had just over 29lbs. Andy Brookman on 18 had 25lbs 9ozs and Bill Knight had struggled and weighed in just over 2lbs. John Dursley on peg 16 had just over 12lb and I was last to weigh in with just short of 17lbs.

So even with the terrible conditions some great weights were recorded, 73lbs is a great weight in anybody’s book, average weight per angler was nearly 19lbs, a total of just over 244lbs caught by everyone. Quite a lot of those big chub caught again, lots of big skimmers around the 3lb mark and also a lot of carp only the one double but loads around the 8 to 9lb mark.

Result:

1st – peg 6 – Pete Watkins – 73lbs 12ozs

2nd – peg 9 – Kevin Murch – 53lbs 10ozs

3rd – peg 1 – Julie Taylor – 29lbs 6ozs

Silvers – peg 18 – Andy Brookman – 18lbs 13ozs silvers (25lbs 9ozs Total)

Section A – peg 10 – Bill Ferris – 15lbs

Section B – peg 14 – Tony Welsby – 16lbs 14ozs

Report on the Alcove AC Poppy match held at Whitehouse Farm across both lakes on Sunday 5th November 2023

The water level on Margaret’s was up and coloured and there were no problems with any of the pegs as peg 7 had been fixed on the Saturday. Georges was looking good, however on the Northern side of the lake behind the low numbers the bank side was very soft especially after peg 4, so I decided I would leave out the pegs on that side after it. Peg 2 is also out of action until we get the pontoon dismantled which is resting up against it. On the other side peg 12 was left out as the platform has a collapsed plank on it.

I had 24 booked in for this match with one dropping out in the morning of the match due to ill health, so I had 23 fishing. As usual I took one of the last few pegs left in the bag and it was peg 14 on Georges. This peg was sheltered from the wind, and I was fairly happy with it as there would be every chance of getting a decent weight of skimmers. The guys to beat looked to be Bill Knight on my current favourite peg 18 on Margaret’s, John Dursley on peg 12 Margaret’s and Mike Nicholls on dam wall peg 19 of Georges.

When the skimmers finally arrived I tried double pinkie or 4mm expander with the double pinkie being more effective. I had a few decent skimmers and an F1 on an expander, with a surprise 2lb plus Perch taking a 4mm expander as I lifted the float to drop back in again. At the end I had no real idea of what my weight was but expected close to 10lb. Antony Hole on peg 1 had caught a carp mid match and I could see that Mike Nicholls had been catching steady throughout.

I started the weigh in at peg 17 in the corner of Georges, with Steve Dawson and Norman Ferris doing Margaret’s. Pete on 17 had 4lb 8ozs of silvers, Kev Murch on the next peg had just over 9lbs which included some nice sized skimmers, Wes Western on 15 had struggled a bit on his first time fishing the water. I was next and weighed in just short of 13lbs which I was quite happy with, Steve “Mr Crabtree” Brown was on the next peg and was about a pound behind me. Alan Maggs and Bruce Taylor on pegs 10 and 11 had similar weights not quite making 5lbs.

Julie Taylor on peg 4 weighed in just over 6lbs, Antony Hole on peg 1 had a carp just over 5lbs to go with his silvers for a total just less than 10lb and finally on peg 19 Mike Nicholls weighed in just over 13lbs to win the lake.

Over on Margaret’s lake, Kev Swanston on peg 16 without a chuck to the island decided to use the feeder and tried a combination of different feeders at short range until he got it right, he weighed in just short of 20lbs of skimmers caught on banded hard pellets, the best weight on the day across the both lakes. Second was Norman Ferris on peg 13 with a little over 15lbs and third was Bill Knight with a little under 15lbs, Noel Fletcher taking the silvers on Margaret’s with nearly 13lbs.

Overall a good days fishing for most, surprisingly the Chub didn’t show in any quantity and also very few carp caught although John Dursley had a carp on around the 20lb mark on peg 12 but it threw the hook fairly close in. There were loads of skimmers caught along with several decent F1’s. Julie Taylor had an F1 that must have been close to 4lb and I had that perch that was closer to 3lbs than 2, definitely my PB perch. Mike Nicholls had a cracking goldfish and had a roach chased in by a big perch. It might be worth having a try for some big perch on Georges if anyone is interested.

Thanks to everyone for taking part and contributing towards the Poppy appeal, we raised £230 at the match and the club has boosted that to £300.

Results:

Margaret’s:

1st peg 16 – Kev Swanston – 19lbs 15ozs (Skimmers)

2nd peg 13 – Norman Ferris – 15lbs 4ozs (1 carp and silvers)

3rd peg 18 – Bill Knight – 14lbs 7ozs (1 carp and silvers)

Silvers peg 8 – Noel Fletcher – 12lbs 11ozs

Georges:

1st peg 19 – Mike Nicholls – 13lbs 2ozs (silvers)

2nd peg 14 – Tony Welsby – 12lbs 11ozs (silvers)

3rd peg 1 – Antony Hole – 9lbs 10ozs (1 carp and silvers)

Silvers peg 13 – Steve Brown – 11lbs 10ozs

Report on yesterday’s match at the Lido – October 15th

Matches at the Lido are becoming quite tough and after the previous night’s frost, things were going to be even more difficult. I had 9 booked in, with 14 pegs available, so I was able to leave out some of the tougher pegs on Cyanide straight. The hot pegs were 5 “the pontoon”, 6 “Smithies”, 7 “Tree swim”, and 21 “Concrete slab”.

I ended up with 2lb 5ozs for joint 3rd place with Julie Taylor. The winner, Andy Pritchard, had 17lb, a carp and big tench with some silvers, he had lost quite a few carp fishing double casters on the hook. Bill Knight weighed in 4lbs 5ozs for second place.

The Silvers prize was won by Kevin Murch with 6lb 3ozs including a big tench. It was a hard day’s fishing, so well done to all those that caught.

Full result:

1st peg 11 – Andy Pritchard – 17lb 1oz

2nd peg 21 – Bill Knight – 4lb 5ozs

Silvers – Kev Murch – 6lb 3oz

Jt 3rd – peg 6 – Julie Taylor – 2lb 5ozs

Jt 3rd – peg 5 – Tony Welsby – 2lb 5ozs

Report on Interclub match with Silver Bream – October 1st

As is now the usual thing with these Interclub matches one side or the other, usually the home side has a lot more anglers. In this case, Alcove had 18 and SB had 12, so 30 anglers in all, a great turnout. Both lakes at Whitehouse Farm were in use with 15 anglers on each lake.

At the weigh-in in I had the problem of only one set of scales to do both lakes, hopefully won’t happen again, I have two new ones on order. Most of the weights on Margaret’s were over 10lb, topped by Russ Baker on peg 13 with 30lb 7ozs, second myself with 28lb 14 ozs (just short of 2lb adrift, very close), and Julie Taylor on peg 6 with 20lb 2ozs, section winners were Bill Ferris on 14 with 15lb 4 ozs and Kev Swanston on peg 3 with 12lb 9ozs.

On Georges Lake weights were remarkably similar, top weight was Mike Nicholls with an all silvers catch of 28lb 8ozs, second was Roger Stokes on peg 5 with 22lb 15ozs and third Al Jenner with 20lb 9ozs, Silvers winner by double default was Steve Dawson with 16lb 7ozs and section winners were John Treasure with 15lb 13ozs, and Pete Turner with 18lbs 14ozs.

A pretty good day’s fishing all round a total of 379lb 5ozs of fish caught at an average of just short of 13lb for each angler. Team wise Alcove had 226lb 1oz (average 12lb9ozs a man) and Silver Bream had 153lb 4ozs (average 11lb 14ozs a man), it was very close when you take into account how many were on each side.

Result:

Alcove AC – 226lb 1oz, Silver Bream AC – 153lb 4ozs

Margaret’s:

1st peg 13 – Russ Baker – 30lb 7ozs (several carp) – 1st Overall.

2nd peg 18 – Tony Welsby – 28lb 14ozs (mostly chub)

3rd peg 6 – Julie Taylor – 20lb 2ozs (mostly carp)

Section A – peg 3 – Kev Swanston – 12lb 9ozs (one carp and skimmers)

Section B – peg 14 – Bill Ferris – 15lb 4ozs (one big carp and silvers)

George’s:

1st peg 10 – Mike Nicholls – 28lb 8ozs (mixed bag of silvers)

2nd peg 5 – Roger Stokes – 22lb 15ozs (mixed bag of carp and silvers)

3rd peg 19 – Al Jenner – 20lb 9ozs (2 big carp and a few silvers)

Silvers – peg 14 – Steve Dawson – 16lb 7ozs

Section C – peg 1 – John Treasure – 15lb 13ozs

Section D – peg 17 – Pete Turner – 18lb 14ozs (14lb 4oz carp and a few silvers)

Report on Ken Davies Memorial match at the Lido September 17th

I had 12 booked in for this one, which meant I could be selective with the pegging. With the way the lake has been fishing recently peg 5 ”the Pontoon” was the hot swim, with peg 6 “Smithies” probably the next best. At the start I offered Bill Knight peg 17 but for some reason he refused, I get the impression he only likes 17 at the Whitehouse lakes. At the draw I’m usually last out of the bag with Steve Dawson, pegs 5 and 6 were the last two, I pulled out 5 (well happy with that) leaving Steve with 6.

At the all in I fed my two long lines and loose-fed the top kit line. I decided to leave the tench line to settle and leave it for an hour, I caught a couple of small Rudd from the skimmer line whilst feeding the short line. After about 20 minutes there were quite a few swirls around the loose feed and some of the fish were of a decent size. I switched to the short line and proceeded to catch Rudd mainly one a chuck, they were really small but occasionally I had a decent one. Nobody else was catching which was surprising, so I stuck to the top kit as anything going in the net was a bonus. After about an hour of this the bites started to slow, so I dropped in on the Tench Line and bingo a good bite on worm first drop in. After a short tussle, I managed to get the fish up to the top at distance, to avoid it burying its head in the weed bed in front, I then slid it into the landing net. A nice addition to the keepnet, a Tench of close to 4lb.

At the weigh in I had just over 12lb, Steve on peg 6 had 3lb. Everyone else had really struggled nobody cracking a pound until I got to Steve “Mr Crabtree” Brown, he had a total just over 24lb all caught on his favourite bait, Prawns, a brilliant weight on the day. For most it was a real grueller, 4 DNWs, 5 under a pound with only 3 of us at the same end of the lake catching. With the new payout system where the Silvers prize money is equal to second place, I took the Silvers pot and Steve Dawson took second place, 3rd place was 9ozs and two anglers had that, so I split 3rd place and the section prizes between them.

Thanks once again to everyone for making my life so easy, their understanding and help at the end of the match.

Final places:

1st peg 21(concrete slab) – Steve “Mr Crabtree” Brown – 24lbs 2ozs

2nd peg 5 (the pontoon) – Tony Welsby – 12lb 2ozs (Silvers pot)

3rd peg 6 (Smithies) – Steve Dawson – 3lb (2ndplace pot)

Jt 4th peg 7 (tree swim) – Bruce Taylor – 9ozs (3rdplace and section A)

Jt 4th peg 17 – Jason Pitman – 9ozs (3rdplace and Section B)

Report on the Jack Pugh Memorial match at the Clamp – Sep 3rd

On arrival at the clamp this morning I was confronted with a lake that looked more like a lawn. On closer inspection the scum on top was quite thin so wasn’t too bad, everyone was going to be in the same boat. I had 13 booked in for the match so I left out pegs 1 & 2 and then peg 3 as Dave Manning wasn’t at the draw. He arrived late so I gave him peg 3. The low numbers always seem to be the toughest pegs although pegs 5 and 6 can be very good. The higher numbers tend to fair better as that side of the lake warms up quicker. So the moment of truth arrived at 08:00 with the draw, three of us drew the same pegs as we had at the last clamp match, so I was on peg 4 again, Jason and Julie on pegs 11 and 12 again.

I started the weigh-in at Dave Manning on peg 3. I set the scales to Kg and gms as this would help the weigh-in to be more accurate, especially when a lot of weights are usually quite close at the Clamp. I converted it back to lbs and ounces when I got home. Dave had Just over 3lb, then I weighed in just over 5lbs with Mike Nicholls weighing just over 5lbs but 3 ounces behind me. Bill Knight had 4lb on peg 6. Jason on peg 11 had a little over 4lb, I was expecting Steve Dawson on peg 13 to have a decent weight but he didn’t quite make 4lbs.

There were 4 DNWs “did not weighs”, but they did catch, 5 carp caught most notably Bill Knight’s of 18lbs 15ozs followed by Dave Mannings of 14lbs 3ozs. Loads of skimmers caught, but mostly the smaller ones. It was also very nice to see the chub putting on weight fast, they seem to be bulking up quicker in Georges than in Margaret’s though.

Thanks once again to everyone that attended and to those who help during the weigh in, it makes it much quicker for me. Well done to Bill Knight on winning from peg 17 and on catching that near 19lber, vindicating my decision to put peg 17 back in.

Full result:

1st peg 17 – Bill Knight – 25lbs 12ozs

2nd peg 15 – Dave Manning – 15lbs 5ozs

3rd peg16 – Kev Swanston – 13lbs 5ozs

Silvers (shared)

Peg 1 – Steve Dawson – 8lbs 3ozs

Peg 2 – Pete Watkins – 8lbs 3ozs

Section A – peg 19 – Bruce Taylor – 10lbs 6ozs

Section B – peg 12 – Bill Ferris – 13lbs 4ozs

Report on Henfield Challenge match at the Clamp – Sunday 13^th August

I had 13 anglers booked in for this one. There are 15 pegs on the lake so the plan was to leave out peg 1 or 15 at the car park end. As both pegs have an easy reach to the floating island, leaving one out would stop any problems with both anglers trying to fish to quite a small feature, after discussing with Steve Dawson we decided on leaving out peg 1. Over the last few days there had been a build up of the surface scum again at the bottom end of the lake and so the other peg left out was peg 8 at the bottom end where the scum was worst. The favoured pegs are usually 5, 6, 11 and 12. With the way the sun comes up behind the trees the higher numbers also usually fair better than the lower numbers. So when I drew peg 4, I wasn’t too pleased as it was out of the usual performing areas.

At the weigh in I started at peg 2 with John Treasure who had just over a pound followed by Glynn with a slightly better weight on peg 3. I weighed in a carp of 2lb 10ozs and 5lb 10ozs of silvers giving me a total of just over 8lbs (having weighed in, leaving several small silvers in my keepnet unweighed, probably another 4ozs). Bruce had just over a pound and then Kev Murch on 6 weighed in just over 6lb. this was now in the area where the scum was. Bill Knight on 7 had just short of 5lbs and Steve Dawson on 9 had just over 6lbs as well, the scum had affected him the most as he had the sun shining on the scum and with dotted down floats on the clamp being a real necessity he had difficulties seeing all of his bites. Steve Brown had just short of 3lbs. Jason on 11 weighed in a cracking silvers weight of just short of 10lbs. Julie had less than 3lbs and then Mike weighed in another 6lb net of fish, 1oz more than Steve Dawson and 2ozs more than Kev Murch. Bob Hole did not weigh and John Dursley on 15 had a nice weight from the hard end of the lake of just over 5lbs.

I think most had a nice day, a few very light showers didn’t cause too many problems and there was little to no wind. The weights were typical for the clamp, it fishes really well when there aren’t too many on the lake, but as soon as we have a match they spread out as there is food for them all around the lake. Thanks too everyone that helps when I do the weigh ins, it really helps.

Full result:

1st peg 11 – Jason Pitman – 9lb 13ozs

2nd peg 4 – Tony Welsby – 8lb 4ozs

3rd peg 9 – Steve Dawson – 6lb 7ozs

Silvers peg 13 – Mike Nicholls – 6lb 8ozs

Section 1 – peg 6 – Kevin Murch – 6lb 6ozs

Section 2 – peg 15 – John Dursley – 5lb 5ozs

Report on inter-club match against Kingswood RBL at Whitehouse Farm 6th August

Today was the annual inter-club match against Kingswood RBL at Whitehouse Farm across both lakes. I originally had 22 booked in for this one but ended up with 20 when it came to the draw; so we ended up with 10 on each lake. I used pegs from 5 around to 17 on Margaret’s leaving out 10 and 11, and then left out 7 pegs that don’t usually fare well on Georges.

I started the weigh-in on Margaret’s with John Dursley on peg 5, he weighed in over 44lb of carp including that 13lber and just short of 4lb of silvers giving him over 48lb. Bill Knight was next weighing in 3 carp for just over 26lb and 4lb of silvers for 30lb odd, I was next and weighed in just over 20lb, Kev on the next peg beat me by a pound with a very similar net of fish. Barry on 9 had 15lbs’ish and Bruce Taylor on peg 13 had a nice net of fish, which went over 27lbs.

When I saw the weights on the other sheet on my return to the car it was obvious that the lakes had fished similarly to the previous match, quite a lot of carp caught on Margaret’s and only a few on Georges. There were only a few chub caught, quite a lot of skimmers around the lakes but no individual big bags of them. Bill Ferris probably had the most fish on the day he had just short of 9lbs of very small roach, perch, chublets and skimmers.

Overall some cracking nets of fish caught but those silvers didn’t seem to want to settle and get their heads down. Thanks to everyone that helped with the weighing-in, it is greatly appreciated. Also thanks for further donations received for the cancer charity to add to the money raised last week, total is now £404.00

6 of the first 7 pegs, from 5 to 13 on Margaret’s had over 20lb of fish each. After adding up all the weights just short of 320lbs was caught by 20 anglers giving an average weight of 16lb per man. On the day I think it was pretty close, we outnumbered RBL by 13 to 7, RBL weighed in 119lb 7ozs Alcove weighed in 199lb 7ozs.

Payout was for 1st, 2nd and third on each lake and one for best silvers net across both lakes.

Final placings:

Margaret’s

1^st peg M5 – John Dursley – 48lb 7ozs

2^nd peg M6 – Bill Knight – 30lb 6ozs

3^rd peg M13 – Bruce Taylor – 27lb 8ozs

George’s

1^st peg G11 – Jason Pitman – 21lb 1oz

2^nd peg G1 – Pete Watkins – 14lb 6ozs

3^rd peg G8 – Jon Amato – 12lb 8ozs

Top silvers – peg G12 – Steve Dawson – 13lb 6ozs

Report on Ian Chapple memorial open match 23rd July 2023

I had 28 anglers booked in for this popular annual event fished across both of the lakes at Whitehouse Farm. The weather forecast wasn’t too good, strong wind and rain expected. I made a quick walk around of the lakes with Jason, before everyone started arriving; everything was looking great after the work put in by the Whitehouse bailiffs and the previous weeks work party.

I had a fantastic selection of prizes from the local angling community.

The following prizes had been donated, Alcove Angling Club – 2024 membership tab, Angling Direct – a Preston Innovations double net bag and pack of 4 Advanta square groundbait bowls, Scotts Tackle – 2 tackle vouchers, Bitterwell Lake – 2 day tickets, Well known outdoor sports outlet – Worm Wizzer, Enterprise angling – groundbait bowl & baitboxes, Alcove members – 2 bottles of wine and tackle box. During the booking in and sale of raffle tickets, it soon became apparent that we were going to run out of raffle tickets, my apologies I had even bought a new book of tickets before-hand; I think there were about 4 or 5 of us that missed out.

During the match I could see a few of the bigger carp being caught John Dursley had a couple and Peter Broad on peg 11 had one of 19lbs 8ozs and Dave Starkey in peg had a couple for just short of 16lbs.

Jason Weighed in Margaret’s whilst I weighed in Georges. Weights of note on Georges were, Andy Brookman on peg 3 had an all silvers net going 23lbs 9ozs made up of quite a few big skimmers on corn caught short, Steve Dawson on 15 had a similar net going 21lbs 3ozs and John Dursley on peg 19 had 22lb 13ozs which was mostly made up of 2 carp, Dave Starkey on 8 had 20lb 1oz. As is usual Margaret’s fished quite differently, only one angler didn’t have a carp, whereas only 5 had been caught on Georges. Kev Murch on peg 8 weighed in 45lbs 4ozs (included carp of 17lbs 10ozs, 14lb 10ozs and 10lb 13ozs) backed up with 2lb 3ozs of silvers, Jason on peg 7 had 39lbs 11ozs. All in all some great weights in difficult windy conditions thankfully the rain held off, there were 9 weights over 20lb and about a dozen double figure carp caught including one very close to 20lbs.

With 28 anglers fishing we had £280 for the charity and added to this there was a further £114 from the raffle and other donations, giving us a grand total of £394 for the Cancer Charity. A big thank you to everyone that contributed, including those that couldn’t participate but still added to the pot.

Final Result

Margaret’s Lake:

1st peg 8 – Kev Murch – 45lbs 4ozs

2nd peg 7 – Jason Pitman – 39lbs 11ozs

3rd peg 1 – Roger Stokes – 24lbs 5ozs

Silvers peg 17 – Ian Brice – 9lbs 10ozs (23lbs 14ozs)

Section A peg 9 – Steve Brown – 14lbs 3ozs

Section B peg 13 – Glynn Sage – 22lbs 2ozs

George’s Lake:

1st peg 3 – Andy Brookman – 23lbs 9ozs

2nd peg 10 – John Dursley – 22lbs 13ozs

3rd peg 15 – Steve Dawson – 21lbs 3ozs

Silvers peg 2 – Bill Knight – 13lbs 5ozs

Section A peg 8 – Dave Starkey – 16lbs 10ozs

Section B peg 11 – Pete Broad – 20lbs 1oz

Report on the Summer match on Margaret’s Lake, Whitehouse Farm 25th June 2023

The Alcove Angling Club’s Summer match held on Margaret’s Lake at Whitehouse Farm. We have 20 pegs on this lake and they were all taken. At the weigh in with the help of Jason we started at peg 1, it turned out that the lower numbers and shallower area did not fish well and a few didn’t stay to weigh in. Graham Beevor on peg 3 weighed in 7lb 10ozs of roach which was a great weight from that end of the lake. Bill Knight on peg 7 weighed in 12lb 6ozs, not as many Chub as he would have hoped though.

I weighed in next with 17lbs 8ozs. Kev on the next peg had fished out at 10m with the pole and a feeder at about 25m as he couldn’t chuck to the island because of the overhanging tree, he weighed in a very good 30lbs 14ozs. The pegs along the bottom edge all had good weights, Antony Hole 34lbs 4ozs, John Dursley with an impressive haul of 77lbs 15ozs and Andy Gard with 29lbs 14ozs (18lb 1oz of silvers). Pegs 18 and 19 Julie Taylor and Kev Murch both returned mid 14 lb weights Julie beating Kev by 6ozs.

The wind over recent days and yesterday looks to have pushed the carp down to that bottom end of the lake. The waves hitting the dam wall was churning up the bank and putting some colour in. John fished pretty close to the edge and I think he caught mostly on worm.

Congratulations to John Dursley with an excellent weigh of 77lbs 15ozs which must be close to or possibly beats the club match record, I will be checking on that over the next couple of days.

Final Result:

1st – peg 13 – John Dursley – 77lbs 15ozs

2nd – peg 12 – Antony Hole – 34lb 4ozs

3rd – peg 9 – Kev Swanston – 30lb 14ozs

Silvers – peg 14 – Andy Gard – 29lbs 14ozs (18lbs 1oz of silvers)

Section A – peg 8 – Tony Welsby – 17lbs 8ozs

section B – peg 18 – Julie Taylor – 14lbs 13ozs

Report on the Charlie Coggins Memorial match on The Lido 25th June 2023

I had 14 booked in for it so it was a tight fit trying to get 14 fair pegs in. The Lido has probably a maximum of 16 pegs available for use in a match, yesterday I was pushing it to make 14 available for those booked in.

The lake has some great pegs which can be a joy to fish, however the well-known cyanide straight is difficult as its average depth is about 16 feet and uneven bottom. I set up the sections so that they were as even as possible, so they ended up being polar opposites. Section A ran along the shallower bank from the pumphouse to peg 11, the deepest being 10 feet but averaging about 7feet and section B was Cyanide straight plus 2 other pegs 13 and 14.

Best on the day was peg 5 again, with Don Searle making a return after 3 years away from match fishing, he caught about 8 Tench for 24lbs 1oz. On peg 13 was Julie Taylor with 18lbs 15ozs and 3rd was Steve Dawson on peg 11 with 16lbs 10ozs. Jason Pitman won the silvers with 5lb 1oz, John Dursley won the Cyanide straight section with 2lb 12 ozs (made up of mainly one fish a 2lb 8oz Crucian) and Bill Knight won the other section with 4lb 8ozs. It was a tough day unless you were on the shallower swims. Well done to Don, Julie and Steve for some great nets of fish.

Lots of nice 3 to 4 pound Tench caught, a few Crucians and one of the F1s were caught. Loads of small Roach and Rudd were caught and no carp.

Result:

1st – Don Searle – peg 5 – 24lbs 1oz

2nd – Julie Taylor – peg 13 – 18lbs 15ozs

3rd – Steve Dawson – peg 11 – 16lbs 10ozs

Silvers – Jason Pitman – peg 14 – 5lb 1oz

Section A – Bill Knight – peg 9 – 4lb 8ozs

Section B – John Dursley – peg 17 – 2lb 12ozs

Report on the President’s Shield match on Margarets Lake 11th June 2023

The President’s Shield match on Margaret’s Lake, proved to be another well attended match with 18 taking part. When it comes to draws, why is it that so many people keep drawing the same pegs? We had 5 yesterday drawing the same pegs, Bill Knight with what seems his resident peg 17, John Treasure once again on his hated peg 15, Charles Holmes returned to peg 16 once again and Steve Dawson and Glynn Sage drew the same pegs as the last match. Weather forecast was for possible thunder storms, fortunately they didn’t arrive.

I had a major problem with my weighing in sheets that all got wet during the match; so I had to use my check in sheet which made it a bit difficult at the end, apologies once again to Bill Ferris for giving his section money to Kevin Swanston by mistake, fortunately Kev pointed out the error. Winning weight on the day with a terrific weight of 58lb 10ozs was John Dursley (the winner on peg 6 once again), second was Kevin Murch with 25lbs 12ozs and 3rd Dave Manning with 20lbs 15ozs. Silvers was won by Mike Nicholls.

Final Result:

1st -peg 6 – John Dursley – 58lb 10ozs

2nd – peg 18 – Kevin Murch – 25lbs 12ozs

3rd – peg 7 – Dave Manning – 20lbs 15ozs

Silvers – peg 13 – Mike Nicholls – 20lb 0ozs

Section A – peg 1 – Bill Ferris – 16lbs 5ozs

Section B – peg 11 – Antony Hole – 10lbs 9ozs

Report on the Taylor Shield match on Margarets Lake 28th May 2023

I had 18 anglers taking part on a venue that was looking great apart from a few pegs at the car park end,that had a lot of pollen and catkins floating on the surface. I left out pegs 1 and 20, if anybody didn’t turn up i was then going to drop peg 2. Peg 2 was clear just about because of the breeze blowing in to it, but if the wind dropped it would get clogged up.

John Dursley had a couple of carp both weighing 12lbs 12ozs, Steve Dawson had one of 20lbs 7ozs and Julie had one weighing 11lbs 14ozs. At the weigh in I had 29lbs 10ozs and 3rd place.

Well done to Julie Taylor for winning with 40lbs 11ozs from peg 6 all from her right hand margin and also to Steve Dawson for his 2nd place with a total of 31lbs 15ozs. Well done to Mike Nicholls as well, he did really well from peg 2. The crud in his swim meant that he had to stop fishing at times, however he still managed to win the silvers with a catch of 15lbs 5ozs which included some of the resident chub.

Result:

1st – peg 6 – Julie Taylor – 40lbs 11ozs

2nd – peg 4 – Steve Dawson – 31lbs 15ozs

3rd – peg 13 – Tony Welsby – 29lbs 10ozs

Silvers – peg 2 – Mike Nicholls – 15lbs 5ozs

Section A – peg 7 – Kev Murch- 10lbs 6ozs

Section B – peg 16 – John Dursley – 27lbs 2ozs

Report on Pete Polly Memorial match on Georges Lake 14th May 2023.

Today was a club match at Whitehouse Farm, the Pete Polley Memorial match. I had 16 anglers booked in for this one with 17 pegs available out of the 18 pegs on the lake.

Kev Swanston had a 16lb 4oz carp mid-way through the match his biggest so far this year.

I was last to weigh after everyone else had weighed-in, top weight at that point was Bill with 20lb 1oz, and Kev had 17lb 7oz in second. I weighed in 17lb 12oz enough to grab second spot, another chub might have been enough to take first place.

I think I’ll be making sure those parallel sections are back in my rod bag ready for the next match, so much for trying to reduce the weight of my gear .

There were 6 double figure carp caught, biggest just over 16lbs. The usual few goldfish and F1’s were caught and lots of small skimmers, roach and rudd, some of the new small chub were caught too. Steve Dawson had just short of 10lbs of silvers to take the silvers pot and Bill Knight and Julie Taylor took the section pools.

A big thanks to Jason for giving me a hand with the weigh in by taking over whilst I finished packing up my gear.

Result :

1st peg 12 – Bill Ferris – 20lbs 1oz (included an 11lb 9oz carp)

2nd peg 10 – Tony Welsby – 17lbs 12ozs (mostly chub)

3rd peg 5 – Kevin Swanston – 17lbs 7ozs (mostly a carp of 16lbs 4ozs)

Silvers – peg 4 – Steve Dawson – 9lbs 15ozs

Section A – peg 6 – Bill Knight – 14lbs 11ozs (included a carp of 10lbs 13ozs)

Section B – peg 11 – Julie Taylor – 11lbs 11ozs (included a carp of 9lbs 4ozs)

Report on the Saturday Shield fished at Whitehouse farm.

Well first thing to note was that it was a very cold start to the morning, frost on the car to clear after loading her up. On the way to Whitehouse farm I passed through a few spots that were actually below zero at -1 degrees.

The weigh in was a bit prolonged as we only had the one set of digital scales, I started off at Andy Brookman who weighed in with just over 10lbs, mainly made up of 3 chub of around the 3lb mark and a few other silvers. Julie on the next peg had over 7lbs of skimmers and Bruce had a good F1 and some roach for over 3lbs. I was next and weighed in over 17lbs quite a bit more than I expected. Bill on the next peg had 10lb exactly of mixed silvers including lots of small Roach and Rudd. Andy, Kev, and Mike all had similar weights between 5lb and 7lb, Kev having a few big skimmers.

So that was Georges Lake and surprisingly no carp caught. Kev Murch on peg 17 Margaret’s changed that he had two carp for just short of 18lbs along with some chub and other silvers giving him a total of just over 24lb. John T and Steve Tanner had put their fish back and did not weigh in. Barry Summers had a nice net of feeder caught skimmers and chub along with other skimmers caught on the pole, giving him a total of just over 20lbs.

Steve Brown had found it hard going and weighed in just over 4lbs and Glynn Sage had a few nice feeder caught skimmers for a little over 7lbs. Next was Steve Dawson on peg 7 he had a cracking net of silvers which included a load of maggot feeder caught chub, a bream of about 4lb, goldfish and skimmers etc. He had trouble lifting his net out but managed to weigh in just short of 39lb. Finally, I weighed in Noel who had a few smaller Chub and weighed in just over 8lbs.

Final result:

Georges:

1st– peg 19 – Tony Welsby – 17lbs 7ozs

2nd– peg 6 – Andy Brookman – 10lbs 2ozs

3rd– peg 18 – Bill Knight – 10lbs

Silvers – peg 4 – Julie Taylor – 7lbs 3ozs

Margaret’s:

1st– peg 7 – Steve Dawson – 38lbs 12ozs

2nd– peg 17 – Kev Murch – 24lbs 6ozs

3rd– peg 13 – Barry Summers – 20lb 8ozs

Silvers – peg 6 – Noel Fletcher – 8lbs 4ozs

Report on the Ken Davies memorial held at the Lido 16 April 2023

Todays match was the first of the year held to the earlier start time of 08:00 draw and fish 09:30 to 15:30. We had 11 booked in but one late drop out due to ill-health giving us 10 for the day.

At the weigh in, I started at John he had added two roach to his munter of a carp for a total of 20lb 10ozs, he had also lost another carp which had torn off through the bush further along his left margin and into Julie’s swim before letting go. On the next peg was Bruce who had a few silvers for exactly 2lb. Darren was on the peg next to me and he weighed in just over 5lbs, this included one nice Bream along with a number of small roach. I weighed in a few ounces short of 6lbs and Andy Gard weighed in 1 ounce more than me.

John Treasure on the pump house put his silvers back in and didn’t weigh in, he had lost a pike early on. Steve Brown in the pontoon swim had a nice day’s fishing having lost a good carp and a few big Tench, he still had three Tench in his net for just over 10lbs. His new name might be Steve “Prawn” Brown in future, all of his fish caught on them. Next peg was Derek in Smithies, if it had been a points match, he would have won easily. He had been busy with the little Roach and Rudd and must have had at least 100 of them, his weight was just short of 3lbs. Steve Dawson was in the tree swim, his Pike weighed in at just over 4lbs and his mixed bag of silvers went just under 11lbs giving him a total of just shy of 15lbs; he had a cracking old Crucian of about 2lbs in his net.

Last but not least was Julie on the island swim where she had had a hard day and caught 14ozs, I think watching John Dursley playing those big carp must have put her off.

The fishing wasn’t tremendous but there were 3 double figure weights and 3 other weights over 5lbs. The star of the show was the 20lbs 6oz Mirror carp caught by John and then there were several bream around the 3 to 4 pound mark, several tench of similar size and a Perch close to 2lb.

Final Result:

1st Peg 11 – John Dursley – 20lbs 10ozs

2nd Peg 7 (tree) – Steve Dawson – 14lbs 12ozs

3rd Peg 5 (Pontoon) – Steve “Prawn” Brown – 10lbs 4ozs

Silvers Peg 18 – Andy Gard – 5lbs 13ozs

Section A Peg 6 (Smithies) – Derek Smith – 2lbs 14ozs

Section B Peg14 – Tony Welsby – 5lbs 12ozs

Report on the Rover match held at Whitehouse farm 26th March 2023.

I had 17 booked in for this match to be held across both lakes at Whitehouse. The recent rain had put levels up on both lakes and you could hear the run off at the outflows, Margarets was also well coloured.

With it being a rover everyone was hopeful for a low number so they could get one of those preferred pegs. I was hoping for a choice from pegs 11 around to 17 on Margaret’s or 1, 19 and 18 on Georges. At the draw I was very lucky and ended up with 17, so I was last one to pick a peg, fortunately my go to peg on Margaret’s was still available peg 12, happy with that.

Notable draws were Bill Knight getting his favourite swim 17 on Margaret’s, Jason had first pick and chose 14 Margaret’s. Of the 17 anglers only 5 chose to fish on Georges.

At the weigh in I did Margarets and John Dursley did Georges. Starting at Rich, who weighed in just short of 10lbs, Steve Dawson on 5 had his usual nice net of fish, mostly roach going just over 15lbs.

Andy Gard on peg 18 had a little short of 9lbs which included 1 small carp. Bill on his favourite peg had managed to get quite a few of its resident chub and weigh in just short of 18lbs. Jason on peg 14 had just over 14lbs and Glynn had managed a few silvers backed up by 3 carp giving him over 21lb, I weighed in 16lbs 9ozs.

Only one good weight caught on Georges and that was by John Dursley on peg 18, he had 2 double figure carp (10lbs 14ozs and 11lbs) along with just short of 8lbs of silvers giving him just over 29lbs and the win. So quite a few double figure nets of silvers caught on the day along with several carp including 2 doubles. I think most had a good days fishing and the weather wasn’t too bad.

Result:

1st peg G18 – John Dursley – 29lbs 3ozs

2nd peg M13 – Glynn Sage – 21lbs 9ozs

3rd peg M17 – Bill Knight – 17lbs 12ozs

Silvers peg M12 – Tony Welsby – 16lbs 9ozs

Section A – peg M5 – Steve Dawson – 15lbs 2ozs

Section B – peg M14 – Jason Pitman – 14lbs 4ozs

Report on the 6th and final match of the winter league.

Well, the winter league is finally over, the last match was held today at the Clamp. We had 14 anglers fishing today with only 15 pegs on the lake, I left out peg 1. The lake hadn’t been fishing well the last couple of days, most of the fish that had been caught were from the deeper water from the island pegs up to the top end, basically in the top basin area, although pegs 5, 6 and 11 always do well.

As was expected the top end of the lake had fished much better than the car park end, where 6 of us had caught 3 fish between us totalling just over 3ozs. At least it had been a dry day, but it didn’t half get cold later on. Needless to say the weigh in didn’t take too long.

So the final points scored in the winter league were as follows, Andy Brookman and Steve Dawson both 10pts and John Treasure 16pts, I ended up on 18pts. Andy and Steve were separated by weight caught and Andy came out on top by 29lbs. Well done to Andy who had some cracking catches in the early matches gaining 3 wins in the first 4 matches, he was followed closely by Steve Dawson who had a win and 3 seconds.

Winter League:

1st Andy Brookman 10 pts (76lbs 8ozs)

2nd Steve Dawson 10 pts (47lbs 7ozs)

3rd John Treasure 16pts (21lbs 4ozs)

Match Result:

1st peg 5 – John Treasure – 6lbs 2ozs

2nd peg 9 – John Dursley – 5lb 11.5ozs

3rd peg 7 – Derek Smith – 2lb 15ozs

Silvers – peg 10 – Bill Knight – 2lb 13ozs

Section A – peg 6 – Bruce Taylor – 12.5ozs

Section B – peg 11 – Jason Pitman – 2lb 8.5ozs

Report on Match #5 of the Winter League.

So here we are with the penultimate round of this year’s winter league on Margaret’s Lake at Whitehouse Farm. We had 14 for the match which in hindsight should probably have been my limit for the match anyway; 9 of those fishing were in the winter league.

I started the weigh in at peg 18 and Julie Taylor and weighed in one very nice common carp, caught from the middle at just over 5lbs, next was Kev on 17, he had struggled and only had one chub and a few bits for just over 2lbs.

Bill was on 16 and had a really hard day of it weighing a little over 1lb, Rich Payne was on the next peg and had 1lb. Peg 14 was Glynn Sage who had one bream which went 1lb 10ozs and next was Kev Swanston who had 2 carp and 2 chub for 14lb exactly. Mike Reid was next on peg 12 with just short of 3lb and Andy Brookman on peg 11 had cracked 4lb (I was now wondering whether I had done enough to beat Andy and at least pull a possible point back on him).

Derek was next up on peg 10 and he weighed in exactly 3lb. On peg 9 was Steve Dawson, who had been very quiet and told us that he had caught a few but it had been hard going. Needless to say he had his usual net of mixed silvers which went over 15lb; a cracking net of fish on a difficult day caught on the pole and waggler, I wish I new how he did it. The next two pegs were Noel and Bruce both of whom had not cracked the 1lb. I was next on peg 6 and my two fish and a few mini roach weighed in just short of 5lb, JT on the last peg weighed in two chub for just over 2lbs.

Another frost assisted hard days fishing, but everyone had caught, thanks to everyone for turning up and making it a pleasurable day’s fishing once again.

League wise at the end of the day (after taking out worst score), Steve has consolidated his position alongside Andy fighting over first place, 1 point separating them (and they can’t be caught). I am half a dozen points further back but with a strengthened grip on 3rd place, although I have 3 others breathing down my neck 4 pts separating me, Bill Knight, John Treasure and Julie Taylor.

Result:

1st Steve Dawson – peg 9 – 15lbs 10ozs

2nd Kevin Swanston – peg 13 – 14lbs

3rd Julie Taylor – peg 18 – 5lbs 8ozs

Silvers – Tony Welsby – peg 6 – 4lb 14ozs
Section A Andy Brookman– peg 11 – 4lb 3ozs

Section B Mike Reid – peg 12 – 2lbs 14ozs

Current League top 3 (Worst pt scorer removed):

1st Andy Brookman – 6pts – 1, 1, 3, 1

2nd Steve Dawson – 7pts – 2, 2, 2, 1

3rd Tony Welsby – 13pts – 4, 3, 3, 3,

John Treasure 15pts, Bill Knight 17pts, Julie Taylor 17pts

Report on Match #4 of the Winter League.

This one was to be fished on George’s lake at Whitehouse, one thing was for certain, we would do better than the previous match at the Lido. With 14 anglers booked in 10 of which were the winter league competitors.

I started the weigh in at peg 10 and Andy Brookman who had been conspicuous by his quietness, I had seen the end of his pole occasionally during the match fishing at 16m to the overhanging tree on the island. This had produced 7 chub for him and a cracking weight close to 20lbs, once again this was going to be hard to beat.

Julie was on the next peg and weighed in just short of 2 lbs. Next was Bill on 12 who had just less than 4lb, Clive had struggled on 13 and weighed in 7 ozs. John T, on peg 14 had sat it out on the feeder across to the pontoon and had 2 F1’s for just over 5lbs. I was next and was surprised my blades and an F1 added up to over 3lbs beating Noels 3lb on the next peg.

Derek and Kev both on the Dam wall 18 and 19 both struggled for weights around a 1lb. Rich on peg1 had fished the waggler throughout the match and weighed in a little over a pound with Glynn on the next peg not weighing in. Graham on peg 3 had caught steadily through the match and had quite a lot of small skimmers for just over 9lbs, Bruce next to him had a few of the small roach for the same weight as Rich.

Finally, Steve Dawson weighed in a nice net of mixed silvers on peg 5 with just less than 13lbs. It was nice to be out fishing again in reasonable conditions, very little wind, some nice sunshine, although it was quite chilly at times. Thanks to everyone for turning up and to Noel for assistance in weighing in.

League wise at the end of the day, Andy had consolidated his grip on the league with his 3rd win out of 4 matches, and Steve securing his second place with a third second out of 4 matches. 3rdplace is up for grabs and it’s pretty close between Bill Knight, John Treasure and myself.

Result:

1st Andy Brookman – peg 10 – 19lbs 5ozs

2nd Steve Dawson – peg 5 – 12lbs 14ozs

3rd Graham Beevor – peg 3 – 9lbs 4ozs

Silvers – John Treasure – peg 14 – 5lb 5ozs

Section A (shared)

Rich Payne – peg 1 – 1lb 5ozs

Bruce Taylor – peg 4 – 1lb 5ozs

Section B

Bill Knight – peg 12 – 3lbs 15ozs

Current League top 3:

1st Andy Brookman – 6pts

2nd Steve Dawson – 9pts

3rd Tony Welsby – 15pts

Report on #3 winter league match fished at the Lido – January 22nd

To say we weren’t looking forward to this one is an understatement, following the freezing temperatures in the week. The lake had a thin coating of ice when i arrived. When it came to the draw we had 12 anglers that couldn’t wait….. to go home.

When it gets this cold the pegs that usually do well are Smithies peg 6, Tree swim peg 7 and the island peg 9 & 10. These were pulled out by Bruce, Kev and Derek. I managed to get one of the prime pegs on Cyanide straight, peg 16.

After clearing the ice, it took quite a while to find a clear and flat spot in my cleared area, the bottom in front of peg 16 just keeps on getting deeper and is not even at all. Anyway, I settled for a spot at 9m in about 10 feet of water, two rigs, one with a 20 to 0.9 for pinkies and breadpunch and the other with an 18 to 0.10 for worm.

Well the match started off as it finished completely biteless. All but two of the rest also went biteless. Kev and Bruce were the only two of us to actually catch, Bruce had about a dozen small rudd and roach for 9ozs, and Kev had about 30 of the same for 1lb 14ozs.

Well done to everyone that turned up, you must be as mad as me, thanks for making the effort.

Result:

1st Kev Murch – peg 7 (Tree swim) – 1lb 14ozs

2nd Bruce Taylor – peg 6 (Smithies swim) – 9ozs

3rd – everyone else

Report on the re-arranged Xmas match 15th January 2023
This match was originally due to be fished before Christmas, but due to the frozen lakes and treacherous conditions I postponed it to yesterday 15th January. I had 25 names booked in with a few late changes to original bookings and Julie and Bruce unable to make it due to ill health, let’s hope they get better soon. We still ended up with 23 anglers on the day, a great turnout.

As is usual for the Xmas match, there were prizes at the end for all anglers, I decided that instead of the usual Xmas fare as prizes I would get a load of fishing bits and pieces. Ranging from the new Preston Innovations punch kit, hooklength storage boxes, groundbait, expander pellets, a few other bits and pieces and packs of hooks to nylon.The conditions were expected to be windy with the possibility of some showers. I took my usual walk around and noted a few platforms were not entirely safe and so those pegs were left out, most notably peg 6 on Georges, which is unstable. Both of the lakes are full, with Margaret’s running off steadily at the outflow.

Thanks must be given to Mike Reid for the work he has put in to improve the access to more of the platforms and for adding more non slip strips to them. I split the pegging so that we had 12 on Georges and 11 on Margaret’s. With the water levels up and the improvements that have been made it was difficult to know which pegs to leave out, in the end the decision was made. In hindsight I could have put in some more of the low numbers on Margaret’s as they were more sheltered and left out some of the pegs that have been fishing well but facing into the wind.

At the weigh in Jason and Steve did Georges while I did Margaret’s. I started at Peg 17 and its usual resident Mr Bill Knight. Bill had tried across to the island, which usually produces some nice fish but he hadn’t had a bite across there, he weighed in 9oz. Noel on the next peg had managed 1 skimmer and some roach, fortunately for me his skimmer was one of the smaller ones, he weighed in 1lb 10ozs. Al on 15 had 5ozs. Andy Gard had 1lb 9ozs and Clive on 13 did not weigh, Andy Brookman on peg 12 had 1lb, followed by Glynn on 11 with an F1 of 1lb 10ozs. Derek on 8 had 9ozs and I was next weighing 2lb 10ozs. John Dursley had 12ozs. John Treasures 3 chub on peg 5 turned out to be 1 chub weighing 2lb 7ozs. Georges lake had fished much better, 8 of the 12 anglers had weights above the best on Margaret’s, the best of those going 12lb 3ozs.

In summary it was a story of two lakes fishing completely differently, providing further support for the new pay-out system when we use both lakes. Tony Cook on peg 14(Georges) had a good day winning Georges lake and the match overall with just over 12lbs he had a carp of 10lb 7ozs in that weight. He also had a huge double, possibly 20lbs, which was entangled in a load of braid that had managed to wrap itself around it. Tony was more concerned with removing all the braid than landing the fish. He managed to remove a huge amount of braid and the fish swam away with all of the nasty stuff removed; this is one of the reasons Braid is banned on our waters.

Kev Murch on peg 10 Georges had that sinking feeling whilst his platform very slowly sank and went out of the level during the match; so that platform joins peg 6 on Georges that need some repair work. Thanks to everyone that helped with the weigh in at the end and to everyone that took part.

Our next winter league match is at the Lido this coming weekend.Result:Georges Lake:1st – Tony Cook – peg 14 – 12lbs 3ozs2nd – Mike Reid – peg 4 – 6lbs 10ozs3rd – Graham Beevor – peg 1 – 6lbs 7ozsSilvers – Steve Brown – peg 19 – 6lbs 6ozsMargaret’s Lake:1st – Tony Welsby – peg 7 – 2lbs 10ozs2nd – John Treasure – peg 5 – 2lbs 7ozsJt 3rd – Glynn Sage – peg 11 – 1lb 10ozsJt 3rd – Noel Fletcher – peg 16 – 1lb 10ozs

Match Results 2022 – More Match Results