A hard overnight frost and bright sunshine led to a very slow start for the 90 competitors on the Angling Trust Winter League second Southern Semi Final on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Marlborough on Sunday 1st April 2012.
It took a few boats to stir things up and get the fish moving and for the last three hours of the match it was a fish a chuck for most with some fabulous nets of fish brought to the scales.
The anglers averaged over 7lb a man and the top 22 anglers all had over 10lb, fantastic weights for a small canal. But the day was all about the teams and again the favourites won through with Daiwa Dorking storming through to the final; four section wins and no one finishing below fourth saw them drop only 15 points giving them a 75 point total.
Maver Image were best of the rest with 58 points and joining them in the final are Preston Innovations Thatchers who scraped through with a better total weight after a tie on points with Garbolino Blackmore Vale, both on 56 points.
In the Individual stakes Lee Edwards (Daiwa Dorking) took a very similar weight to that which won him a recent practice match on the venue. Drawn on the end peg of the competition reach he caught skimmers and bream to 3lb on bloodworm and pole to record a storming victory with 37-5-0.
The first peg at Church was good for Preston Innovations Thatcher’s rod, Nick Chedzoy who caught 21-13-0 of skimmers also on pole and bloodworm. Another end peg, this time at Beeches, produced the third place win for Gary Pook (Daiwa Dorking). Gary’s luck had picked up for the semi final after he had all his tackle stolen recently by weighing in with 18-13-0 of skimmers and roach.
Individual Placings: (lb – oz – dr)
1st Lee Edwards (Daiwa Dorking) 37-5-0
2nd Nick Chedzoy (Preston Innovations Thatchers) 21-13-0
3rd Gary Pook (Daiwa Dorking) 18-13-0
4th Matt Herbert (Drennan Banbury Gunsmiths) 15-10-0
5th Barry Chapman (Sensas South East) 15-2-0
6th Simon Willsmore (Daiwa Dorking) 14-13-0
7th Lee Farmer (Sensas Chilterns Bait) 13-5-8
8th Nigel Greenwood (Sensas South East) 13-5-0
Team placings:
1st Daiwa Dorking 75 points
2nd Maver Image 58 points
3rd Preston Innovations Thatchers 56 points (85-2-8)
4th Garbolino Blackmore Vale 56 points (72-10-0)
