News

Big names exit in Northern Semi Finals.
This weekend saw the Northern Semi Finals of the Angling Trust Winter League take place at Dynamite Makins Fishery near Wolvey, and on the Grand Union Canal at Loughborough.  In a real turn up for the books, four of the most fancied teams have failed to qualify for the final – meaning Ultimate Barnsley Blacks, Shakespeare Superteam, Matrix Dynamite Trentmen and Maver Bait Tech won’t be competing in the final on the tidal River Trent later this year.

Maver Midlands took victory at Makins Fishery to earn their place in the grand final. After an extensive campaign of practicing, the team put in a near faultless performance to secure victory with an impressive 77 points out of a possible 90.

The team, consisting of Dave Brown, Craig Ebrell, James Howarth, Sean Barber, Jason Brown, Jon Arthur, Craig Goldstraw, Scott Doodson, Jordon Hall and Dave White made the most of good draws to end up with high scoring section points and no one lower than fourth in  their nine peg section!
Commercial super-team Chambers Champs finished in second spot, thanks to several strong individual performances, and the winners of the North East League, Browning Quaker romped home in third place.

Captain, Wayne Mellings paid tribute to his teams achievement: "Everyone performed brilliantly, but special mention must go to the three youngsters who made their first time appearances in a semi final. James Howarth (23 years) came 3rd in his section off Peg 14 on Avon, which is not a normal flier and up against some strong opposition. Craig Goldstraw (21 years) came 4th off Snake 21, and Jordan Hall (18 years) came 2nd off Peg 2 on Lagoon, a pool that hadn't been included in weekend practice matches - he worked hard to finish with an excellent result."

Top individual on the day was Ultimate Barnsley ace Lee Harrison - who dobbed his way to an impressive 61.6 Kilos from Derwent Pool.

In Sundays match on the Loughborough Canal, it was top Northern canal side Garbolino Ossett who romped to victory, beating local favourites Leicester Sensas on their home water. Ossett, who have qualified in the past from the Loughborough – based their plan around fishing bloodworm and joker.

Captain, Mark Wainwight explained: “With the canal fishing so patchy, we expected the draw to play a big part, and new that every ounce would count.  We have some previous experience on the canal, and a practice match on the week prior to the match confirmed what we already knew. We based our approach around fishing raw joker for roach in the shallow water at the far side of the cut, and bloodworm over leam and joker down the middle for perch.

Fortunately, the plan worked- and we managed three section wins – including the individual winner, Tony Hopkins who weighed in 2kilos 380g.  I was particularly proud of our young anglers, Chris Taylor, Ben Taylor, Chris Riley and Kyle Wainwright who all did really well on the day.”

Runner up side were bloodworm and joker specialists, Drennan Northwest with local side, Leicester Sensas clinching the final qualifying position.

Results:

Saturday 23rd February,

Makins Fishery, 90 Fished.

1 Maver Midlands 77pts
2 Chambers Champs 59pts
3 Browning Quaker 57pts

Individual Winner: Lee Harrison (Ultimate Barnsley) 61 Kilos  600g

Sunday 24th February,

Loughborough Canal, 80 Fished.

1 Garbolino Ossett
2 Drennan Northwest
3 Leicester Sensas

Individual Winner: Tony Hopkins (Garbolino Ossett) 2 kilos 380 grams