Winter League Round 5, Fur and Feather - Sunday 16th December:
Expectations that the results would all be on the draw proved correct with the top 10 places all coming from pegs 11 to 20, and only two fish being weighed in (well sort of weighed in) from 25 to 35.
Adrian Hill (peg 15) bagged a 3lb 15oz Bream to boost his net to a winning 4lb 11ozs and also claim the biggest fish of the contest prize, beating Dave Allen's slab by 1oz. Dave (Peg 14) was pushed back into third as an 8oz skimmer in the last 5 seconds took Paul Braund's total weight to 4lbs 1oz, notably a proper bag of four skimmers and thirty roach from peg 16.
Simon Allen also found the small roach in numbers but could not attract the larger skimmers and ended the day an ounce over 3lbs, denying Jean Bowden, who did find a few skimmers for 2lb 6ozs, the section win. Although Jean had the consolation of finishing 5th overall and the best Lady Angler. Dick Turner won the section 11-16 with 7ozs of bits, eventually finishing 7th overall.
It was bleak in the Second Basin but there were two section winners to everyone's surprise. Len Hancock managed to bag a single fish the size of which is commonly referred to as 'eyes'. Mark Gratton left it to the last 5 minutes but managed to land another specimen of similar size. After visual comparison (the fish would not register on the scales) it was declared a draw, each winning their respective sections and a bonus bottle of beer for the least weighed in.
I bet everyone can't wait for the next match on the 13th January. If you turn up to fish I hope the gods of the draw are with you.
| Pos: | Angler | Lbs | ozs | Peg No. | Pts | |
| 1 | Adrian Hill | 4lbs | 11oz | 15 | 22 | |
| 2 | Paul Braund | 4lbs | 1oz | 16 | 21 | |
| 3 | Dave Allen | 3lbs | 14oz | 14 | 20 | |
| 4 | Simon Allen | 3lbs | 1oz | 18 | 19 | |
| 5 | Jean Bowden | 2lbs | 6oz | 17 | 18 | |
| 6 | Mike Bowden | 1lb | 1oz | 19 | 17 | |
| 7 | Dick Turner | 7oz | 13 | 16 | ||
| 8 | Rob Fuller | 4oz | 20 | 15 | ||
| 9 | Kevin Hill | 0.5oz | 11 | 14 | ||
| 10 | Simon Hockaday | 0.4oz | 12 | 13 | ||
| =11 | Len Hancock | 0.125oz | 27 | 11.5 | ||
| =11 | Mark Gratton | 0.125oz | 35 | 11.5 | ||
| =13 | Tony Hillas | 34 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Colin Abbott | 33 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Ady Larkins | 32 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Wayne Burnard | 31 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Steve Whitehouse | 30 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Derek Foster | 29 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Matthew Sampson | 28 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Nathan Underwood | 26 | 1 | |||
| =13 | Jack Crystal | 25 | 1 | |||
| Winter League Table | ||||||
| Pos: | Angler | No. Matches Fished | Pts | |||
| 1 | Adrian Hill | 5 | 60 | |||
| 2 | Steve Whitehouse | 5 | 56 | |||
| 3 | Dave Allen | 5 | 55 | |||
| 4 | Paul Braund | 4 | 54 | |||
| 5 | Rob Fuller | 4 | 49 | |||
| 6 | Mike Bowden | 5 | 42.5 | |||
| 7 | Jean Bowden | 5 | 40 | |||
| 8 | Simon Hockaday | 5 | 40 | |||
| 9 | Simon Allen | 5 | 38 | |||
| 10 | Len Hancock | 5 | 37.5 | |||
| 11 | Tony Hillas | 5 | 34 | |||
| 12 | Mark Gratton | 2 | 22.5 | |||
| =13 | Ady Larkins | 3 | 17 | |||
| =13 | Matt Sampson | 3 | 17 | |||
| 15 | Dick Turner | 1 | 16 | |||
| 16 | Trevor Vernalls | 1 | 14 | |||
| 17 | Wayne Burnard | 2 | 4 | |||
| 18 | Derek Foster | 2 | 2 | |||
| 19 | Jack Crystal | 2 | 2 | |||
| =20 | Peter Giles | 1 | 1 | |||
| =20 | Nathan Underwood | 1 | 1 | |||
| =20 | Colin Abbott | 1 | 1 |