March rod McGregor takes Rookery Waters midweek open
The result of the Rookery Waters midweek open, which was the last before the two-day event, saw a big line-up eager to grab a place in the final, writes Ken Wade.
Once again the Magpie Lake fished consistently well with nine weights into three figures.
March-based rod Tony McGregor was the eventual winner with a margin caught 133lb 12oz. Second place went to Tony Evans on 122lb 12oz, followed by Andy Leathers with 120lb 10oz.
The full results of the Rookery Waters two-day festival have yet to be officially released, but I do know that Gavin Butler and Jimmy Brooks tied for first place, both anglers winning their sections each day. In third place was rising star Tom Edwards. The match was fished on the Jay and Magpie Pools and as expected the Jay Lake was very difficult while Magpie produced huge weights on both days. Overall the festival received nothing but praise for the fishery and match organiser Alex Bates and I am sure the winter event will be popular and next year’s festival will see much bigger numbers entering.
In the Chatteris Workingmen’s Club match on the Forty Foot Drain at Bulls Mill once again it was small fish making up the weights with no bream or tench showing up. Out in front with a respectable 6lb 2oz was Mark Dunham. Steve Newell came second, he did manage to find a small tench to finish on 5lb 3oz, followed by John Roper with 1lb 5oz.
There were some very big weights taken from the in-form Kingsland Large Carp Lake in the Spratts AC match. Top rod with a level 150lb was Steve Engledow, he fished pellet close to the surface from peg 11, netting fish to 8lb. The ever consistent Trevor Cousins came second, just short of the top spot on 145lb 5oz, he also fished pellet but on a longer pole line. Third place went to Peter Spriggs on 112lb 14oz fishing with paste.
Fenland Rods were back on the Decoy complex on Saturday fishing the Day Ticket Lake which has recently been renamed and spruced up. It’s now the Damson Pool which saw Kevin Lee back in form topping the field with 78lb 14oz, fishing cat meat on a short pole line. Runner-up was Mac Campbell fishing similar tactics to the winner, followed by Tony Nesbitt on 67lb 8oz.
This week’s club match will be on the Oak Pool at Decoy.
There are still plenty of small fish weights coming out of the North Level Drain for those fishing the regular Tydd Gote club matches. The big fish are there but not showing up on match days.
Top rod in the Wednesday club match was John Taylor with 11lb 12oz, Dick Paul took second place on 4lb 10oz then came Andy Greenwood with 4lb 9oz. Andy did much better in the Thursday match taking first place with a tench and some perch taken on worm for 9lb 13oz. Runner-up was Colin Tenounce with 7lb 2oz followed by Danny McSpadden with 4lb 14oz. Sunday’s club match was back on the Main Drain which saw Dick Paul out in front, he had a tench and lots of small fish for 10lb 12oz. Runner-up was John Bates with 5lb 5oz then Alan Lemmon with 2lb 6oz.
