15th March - Conway WL10

All calm at Conway and the whole lake was ours after John the owner took heed of our moans having let all the day ticketers on last time.....and god can we moan......we have Captain Moanamaximus in our ranks (alias JG/Bagpuss)!! On the league front there were still 3 possible winners and lots of the places still up for grabs with only the best 5 to count and lots to drop (nightmare working it out afterwards on the day though!!!).

Having not fished well all winter we left the first two pegs past the tree out and you guessed it the winner came from the next peg with Steve Brew fishing 17.5m long back towards the white buoy for a real mixed bag that included no less that 17lb of goldfish in his 44.6lb net all taken on pellet either shallow or on the sunken island at 4ft. Jeff Granthan drew 1 passed the rock and caught shallow a couple of carp, a few F1's and some big roach for 42.4lb and enough to take the winter league title with 8pts. Ian Simpson needed to beat Jeff but fell just short with 35.3lb with a few bigger carp up in the water but no F1's and only a smattering of roach making all the difference. Ian's third spot though crucially gained him one point to tie with Rob Dickenson for second in the league and on count back it went 3lb in Ian's favour.

After the match John the owner laid on a buffet and some beers whilst we presented the payouts for the leagues top 14, as always paying out everyone who supported at least 5 matches and there were lots of close battles from Sonny pipping H and John Heald for 12th to Rick pipping Keith by a point and Dave Grimes doing the same to Dougie for 5th having only fished 5 as well.

Conway was not at its best this winter but we managed 2096lb at an average of 16lb per angler slightly down on last years 19lb per angler.......the challenge now is to find a local venue that will still produce those averages next winter, thats not going to be easy.......Rick over to you, my votes to alternate Conway and a.n.other more local venue for 10 matches with best 5 to count as we still fish it in the bad weather!!

Result
1st - Steve Brew - 44.6lb
2nd - Jeff Grantham - 42.4lb
3rd - Ian Simpson - 35.3lb

Winter League Champion = Jeff Grantham with 8pts (3 wins, 1 second, 1 third)

10th March - Brookside (Kingfisher)

A great turnout with 21 despite three or four regulars being away on Spring League duty but the fishing did not match the turnout. Kenny Stuart showed his class on his first outing for a while and took the win with 22.5lb. Rob Dickinson secured some late fish to snatch 2nd with 15.2lb from Kenny Pickup in third with 14.8lb.......two Kenny's both picking up, now there's a first (privately Kenny told me he was fed up carrying his partner!!!)

Result
1st - Kenny Stuart - 22.5lb
2nd - Rob Dickinson - 15.2lb
3rd - Kenny Pickup - 14.8lb
Sec A - Keith Williamson - 10.6lb
Sec B - John Heald - 11.7lb
Sec C -Colin Cook - 7.9lb

3rd March - WL9 Conway

Before I start a big thank you from Rick and Steve Brew to Trevor who arrived after the match, suited up and managed to sink this time (and we thought he was a floater not a diver!!).He returned to the surface excaliber like 3 times in different pegs with sections in hand!! - Well Done Trev!!

Last but one match and the top 3 in the league drew in a line on the bottom end so it was going to be interesting. With the water surface having what can only be described as that 'nervous' look of fish just under the surface Ian S started shallow with meat and pellet and snared 3 big carp and a decent F1 to take an early lead but then it rained and with Rob and Billy also going shallow the carp were gone......

Jeff Grantham did his usual 'moan for England' and went round begging and borrowing maggots saying there's no carp we he had drawn and he was gonna roach it!! Anyway to cut a long story short, we want our maggots back, Jeff found the carp and F1's shallow late on and won with 56.9lb and was absolutely flying at the end.

Steve Brew drawn opposite the point had picked up carp after they clearly had backed off the bottom 3 pegs and by fishing long and with space around him, he kept a few coming to weigh 54.2lb for second. Ian Simpson's early carp gave him enough of a lead to hold on to 3rd with 42.1lb with Billy and Rob Dickinson about 10-12lb adrift.

With one match to go Jeff has jumped to top spot on weight only from Rob with Ian S and Billy a further 1 and 2 points back but its virtually all come down to the last match. If Jeff, Rob or Ian win, they win the league, if Billy wins it depends what the places are. Even 5th and 6th is close with Dougie, Steve B, Dave Grimes, Rick, Keith, Ian L all still in the mix given the points you can drop.

After the final match, John the owner at Conway will be sorting a buffet and beer and we will payout everyone who has fished/supported 5 matches as per previous years!

Result
1st - Jeff Grantham - 56.9lb
2nd - Steve Brew - 54.2lb
3rd - Ian Simpson - 42.1lb

25th February - Mouldsworth Mere

Not much of an update on this one as I wasn't there but I hear Jeff spawned a few right lumps late on, two fish for 25lb that sort of moved him out of sight rather than just ahead. Dobbing bread and resting it from time to time using pellet on another line seems to have been the tactic.

Rob Dickinson continued his good form with second and 24.4lb which included a fair few silvers and skimmers. Billy Gore took third with 21.5lb after another island draw and no doubt hauling them over the top of the lilies.

Result
1st - Jeff Grantham - 58.8lb
2nd - Rob Dickinson - 24.4lb
3rd - Billy Gore - 21.5lb