18th Feb 2017 WL9 Hampton Willow

The weather was at last spring like for most of the day although Willow and the fish didn't quite live up to the recent form although there were still some good weights recorded.

Billy Gore drew the in form p26 across the bridge and to the left and made no mistakes catching slowly at first on the tip to the bridge before pulling away from the field in the middle period on the pole and eventually decided to play catch and release for the last half hour with 6 decent fish lost to give the rest of us a chance. To be fair we needed much more than the last half hour as Billy had amassed 80.12lb for an easy win.

The minor placings were looking a close affair until Ian Lloyd started to get one a bung in the last hour off p9 again by the bridge and recorded a respectable 49.02lb result that was probably 9lb for the first 4 hours and 40lb in the last hour. Keith Williamson had been ticking away down on p33 fishing to the sunken weedbed and clocked up 40.08lb that just beat Steve Brew who had 36.04lb off p5.

The Winter League is starting to get interesting as more angles have fished the required 6 matches and its now about dropping points for many. Ian Lloyd improved his points score but Billy closed the gap this week and there are just 3 rounds to go.

Result

1st - Billy Gore - 80.12lb
2nd - Ian Lloyd - 49.02lb
3rd - Keith Williamson - 40.08lb

11th Feb 2017 - WL8 Hampton

After much debate it turns out this was a WL fixture after all so Billy Gore will be well pleased having drawn a right dolly in Long Island p10 with the baltic wind off his back he made no mistakes and recorded a brilliant 48lb winning weight fishing up to 19m on the pole......very impressive performance!

Second and third was a close call with Ian Simpson and Dougie Walsh taking the honours but both were all but blanking with an hour to go but 4 carp, a tench and a few silvers for Ian recorded 30lb with Dougie snaring 5 carp in the same period for 26.5lb. You have to feel for a cold and frustrated Ian Lloyd who went from hero to zero having led the section at hour 1,2,3,4 and was still in the race with 30mins to go but just couldn't buy a bite in the second half of the match.

Lowest weight was 10.5lb which on a bitterly cold day was good as a few fish decided to have a munch late on.

Result
1st - Billy Gore - 48.4lb
2nd - Ian Simpson - 30.0lb
3rd - Dougie Walsh - 26.8lb

Members Update

This will not come as a huge shock but Cheshire Oaks has let Rick down again and is now claiming it will not be ready until April (we assume 2017).......on that basis Rick has managed to secure Hampton (Long, Meadow or Willow) for all the remaining WL fixtures.

Rick has also confirmed the 2017 Match Calendar is nearing completion and I'll let you have the details as soon as I have them and will update the blog.

Apologies the WL has been a little disrupted this year and thanks to Hampton we have not lost any matches. Rick is carefully considering Cheshire Oaks for the summer as if they let us down we will struggle for an alternative at short notice.

4th Feb 2017 WL7 Hampton Willow

Result
1st - Rick Keeley - 64.8lb
2nd - Keith Williamson - 61.4lb
3rd - Barry Davis - 21.0lb

17 for this one and two pegs next to each other dominated with Rick just pipping Keith

28th Jan 2017 WL6 Hampton Long/Meadow

Result
1st - Ian Lloyd 33.8lb
2nd - Barry Davis 27.6lb
3rd - Mike White 17.4lb

An improved turnout with 12 attendees and I believe well drawn Lloydy!!

14th Jan 2017 - WL5 Hampton Willow

Result
1st - Ian Lloyd - 83.6lb
2nd - Kieran Smith 44.0lb
3rd - Billy Gore 28.0lb

Only 6 turned up but a great winning winter weight.