Ray lights up HAJAC angling league to defy poor weather at March, Twenty Foot Drain and Exhibition Bridge
We had just about every kind of winter weather thrown at us over the weekend.
High winds, heavy rain, a big frost or two, snow, sleet, pouring rain – and, to round it all off, the wind and rain returned with a vengeance on Sunday afternoon.
I was surprised anglers even ventured out let alone catch fish. But they did and in the big HAJAC Winter League there were some tremendous leading weights. Round two of the event saw the match fished on the Old Nene at March, the Twenty Foot Drain and Exhibition Bridge.
Leading the way on the individual front was Ray Malle, who drew close to the old footbridge on the Twenty Foot and caught well all day on the pole with maggot, catching a good stamp of roach for 32lb 3oz. Runner-up from the same area was Alex Bates, who weighed in 25lb 1oz, followed by Anthony Watling on 23lb 12oz.
On the team front a strong Sensas Mark One side came out on top with 21 points, followed closely by PI Black Horse on 25 and Tackle and Bates A with 28. After two rounds Sensas Mark One lead the way on three points with Tackle and Bates A close on 4. A long way to go though, winter fishing can be cruel and one or two bad draws and result could see teams tumbling down the league and others making a move for the top spot.
Full result:
1 Ray Malle, Sensas Mark One, 32lb 3oz; 2 Alex Bates,Tackle & Bates A, 25lb 1oz; 3 A Watling, Stanjay Gold, 23lb 12oz; 4 D Stones, Stanjay Posh, 17lb 3oz; 5 M Pollard, Stanjay Gold, 16lb 2oz.
Teams: 1 Sensas Mark One White 21pts; 2 Preston Innovation Black Horse, 25; 3 Tackle & Bates A, 28; 4 Tackle & Bates Select, 29; 5 Stanjay Gold, 31.
League: 1 Sensas Mark One White, 3pts; 2 Tackle & Bates, 4; 3 Preston Innovation Black Horse, 5; 4 Tackle & Bates Select, 9; 5 Stanjay Silver, 10.
In the Rookery Waters open match the weather really made a mess of the action, anglers with a few ounces even making the main frame.
The match was spread over two lakes, Jay and Raven. On Jay Mark Cross drew peg 47 next to the bridge and took one small carp for 2lb 7oz and a lake win. In second place was Anthony Lee on peg 38 weighing in a single roach of 2oz. Ricky Ashwell continued his good form on Raven. Drawn on peg 2, he caught on the long pole, with bread and maggot on the hook to win the lake with a very respectable 45lb 15oz. The runner-up spot went to Tony McGregor on peg 6, who got amongst the recently stocked F1’s to put 42lb 3oz on the scales.
As two lakes were used the Continental pay-out was used:
Result: 1 Ricky Ashwell, 45lb 15oz; 2 Mark Cross 2lb 7oz; 3 T McGreggor 42lb 3oz; Jt 4 Anthony Lee, 2oz, Dave McLennan 2oz.
On Sunday Townsend Lakes organised a birthday “Bash” for fishery boss Colin Begbie and, despite the snow and rain, it looks like he had a great time, topping the field with 27lb 14oz from the Kingfisher Lake. Colin fished the long pole, catching on maggot over ground bait.
Runner-up was Steven Hillman, who put 22lb 7oz to the scales taking his fish on maggot over micro pellet. Then came John Whitcombe on 16lb 2oz. To round off a cracking birthday Colin also took the mystery pairs prize. He was drawn with Rob Blackbourne, taking the honours with a combined weight of 36lb 8oz.
I have been told the carp are still feeding at Buttonhole Fishery despite the cold weather, which by the way is said to be much improved for this coming weekend. Highlight here was a fine 10lb 8oz grass carp taken by local rod Neil Hyde along with several other carp to double figures. This coming Saturday sees the open matches return to Buttonhole Lake. To book in call Chris on 07928 222462.
