Just eight days ago Stuart Senior took the field apart with an excellent winter weight of 16lbs 2.5ozs fishing peg 68 initially with the feeder before resorting to the pole to find a series of roach perch and an ide. Trevor Parkin, who was two pegs away at 70 was second with 8lbs 9.5ozs, a catch which included a tench with some roach and perch. Harry Booth had to wait until the lat 90 minutes of the match before contacting the roach and finishing with 6lbs 5ozs for third place. Dave ‘Mel’ Griffiths was fourth with 4lbs 13ozs with Alan Banks and Don Senior fifth and sixth with 3lbs 9ozs and 3lbs 8ozs respectively.

The following day, Sunday, Stick Float Pete from Huddersfield, (I can’t remember his second name), fished peg 10 on the upstream length of the Don at Kilnhurst and caught an estimated 50lbs using his favourite method. A catch which included approximately 20 roach, one large bream, some perch and gudgeon and a load of chub the biggest of which went 3lbs 6ozs.

Just days afterwards I watched an angler fishing the waggler on the Gt. Pond getting a fish a throw with maggots…proper fishing as they say.

But that was last week.

Today it was a different matter, overnight temperatures plummeted, there was a heavy frost, the water went gin clear and the sun shone brightly albeit coldly. And guess what, the fishing was hard….really hard. Ray Hamshaw had just one fish, an ide weighing 2lbs 7ozs to claim his second victory in the series. The Sheffield angler at peg 66 has refused to have his name published but he, weighed 1lb 10.5ozs for second leaving Don Senior’s 1lb 7ozs in third place. Harry Booth and Trevor Parkin tied for fourth with 1lb each and Alan Banks was sixth with 13.5ozs. Well it is a Winter League after all!