Angling roundup: Ogilvie marches to Open victory on the Old Nene
Tydd Gote winner Andy Greenwood. Photo supplied
Leading up to last weekend the weather did take a turn for the worst and by Saturday and Sunday winter arrived with a vengeance.
Some anglers even had to break ice before they could settle down to a day’s fishing.
The weather saw quite a lot of our local anglers deciding to put the tackle away over the weekend.
With very few matches on in the area I suspect a touch of last-minute Christmas shopping was instead the order of the day.
I am sorry to say that on the whole those that did give fishing a rest did not miss out on too much action.
Even the usually productive Old Nene through March failed to produce the top quality roach weights we have come to expect from the venue at this time of year.
True to form though the Christmas March Open match again attracted a wonderful turn-out with anglers from across the Midlands and the South drawn to this usually fantastic winter water.
This in turn usually means a string of double-figure weights but once match organiser Bob Fitzjohn saw there was absolutely no colour or flow to the venue he told everyone there would not be a double-figure weight recorded and to expect a tough time in most sections.
Many felt they had never seen the venue in such a state, a little exaggeration I am sure but with all our local waters having the same sort of conditions it’s no surprise weights are not great right now.
Unfortunately Fitzjohn was almost spot on with his prediction. Many had never seen the venue so clear, and only matchwinner Alistair Ogilvie made it into double figures, finishing top with 11lb 4oz.
The Maver Bait Tech rod drew on peg 18 three above Wigstons Bridge and caught good quality roach on a six-metre line with bread punch.
Runner-up was Bob Nudd, the Browning superstar now living just outside March. He weighed in 205 small roach taken close in on bread punch for 9lb 2oz.
Result: 1 A. Ogilvie, Maver Bait Tech, 11lb 4oz; 2 B. Nudd, Browning, 9lb 2oz; 3 J. Foreman, JP Tackle, 8lb 12oz; 4 S. Clark, Maver Image, 8lb 2oz; 5 D. Page, Garbolino Peterborough, 7lb 11oz; 6 T. Marshall, Quorn VDE, 7lb 4oz.
n The small backwater just off the main River Nene at Oundle saw the local club fish their Fur and Feather on Sunday which turned out to be one of the better results of the weekend.
Top rod with 8lb 6oz was Malc Cunnington. He fished the pole with caster bagging 42 roach.
Runner-up on 7lb 15oz of small fish on the pinkie and groundbait approach was Mark Cunnington followed by Alan Smith with 5lb 14oz.
n It turned out to be a real struggle for most of those fishing the JVAC match on the Six Island and Elm Pools on the Decoy Complex.
Will Hadley took the honours with a modest 28lb 9oz of carp from the Elm Pool. Drawn on peg eight, the Huntingdon rod fished the pole with red maggot.
Lee Kendal came in second with a level 27lb.
It was a little better for some on Six Islands. Dave Parsons ran out a comfortable winner putting 45lb to the scales from fancied peg 18 with maggot. Second on this pool was Jim Regan with 24lb 12oz.
Club match secretary Barry Gilson tells me he will be running the club’s Fur and Feather event on Thursday December 29 with the draw down at Decoy Lakes at 8.30am. The venue will be decided closer to the date.
He would like anglers to get booked in so that he can sort out the pegs and prizes for all those wishing to fish. So give him a call as soon as possible.
n Whittlesey anglers had feared the fish had gone from the usually productive pegs just above Ponders Bridge after an awful result a couple of weeks ago.
Thankfully though that was not the case on Saturday. Weights were not great but more than enough to encourage a few more to get along and give it a try.
In first place from the end peg was John Taylor with an all small fish catch of 5lb 5oz all taken on the pole with pinkie over groundbait.
In second place from the far end was Paul Wright, again a small fish catch of 4lb 9oz taken on the pole with pinkie and hook maggot over groundbait.
Frank Bevilacqua with 4lb 6oz came in third.
n There are very few clubs around the area now that have persevered with the River Nene, but Deeping St James have bucked the trend by sticking to their small piece of the river up at Wansford.
The club have done a great job with the pegs, refurbishing the platforms and indeed creating a few more on the end of the match length.
On Sunday they were back on the river for the second round of the Deepings Individual League Series.
Fishing their stretch of the River Nene at Wansford it was a match of two halves. The anglers in the low numbers struggled for a bite but it was a different story from those drawn on the high numbers.
Top rod from peg 17 was Andy Wilson with an 8lb 1oz net of quality roach. He fished the pole at eight metres with maggot over groundbait.
Runner-up using his favourite whip and maggot approach was Stuart Redman with 5lb13oz from peg 12.
Jason Wilmer was third with 4lb 7oz from peg 11 also using a whip and maggot approach.
The next match for the Deeping St James club will be a sweepstake on New Years Day with the venue to be agreed.
League table after two rounds:
Andy Wilson 15pts
Stuart Redman 14pts
Fozzy Foster 14pts
Jason Wilner 14pts
Rob Allen 12pts
Mark Horsley 11pts
n One of the best results of the weekend came from the tiny Factory Bank at Ramsey which was the venue chosen by Ramsey AS for the club’s annual Fur and Feather match.
Ice covered the first few pegs at the town end so the match moved a little further down and saw Paul Kilby keep his fine run of form going with a match-winning 9lb 11oz of roach and perch.
Andrew Kilby came in second with 7lb 2½oz followed by Frank Bevilacqua with 6lb 3oz.
n The first really hard frost saw anglers breaking ice to fish the latest Button-Hole Qualifier match on Sunday but thankfully the carp decided it was not too cold to feed.
The venue has been attracting quite a few city anglers keen to make the final later next year.
This match saw King’s Lynn fishing tackle dealer Lester Pratt put a very respectable 63lb 13oz net of carp to the scales to top the field.
After breaking the ice and a slow start on the pole, Pratt decided to switch tactics to a small feeder with red maggot and it worked out well as he took carp to 7lb.
A straight lead and sweetcorn approach saw Robert Walton into second place with 49lb 1oz followed by Peterborough rod John Preedy with a level 30lb.
Fishery owner Richard Button was on the whole very pleased with the result and will be running another qualifier for his annual big money final and should see a cracking turnout on January 8.
n In the midweek Tydd Gote AC match held at Clough Bridge on the North Level Drain, Andy Greenwood took the honours with a modest 4lb 6oz of small roach and skimmers taken on the pole with pinkies.
Mick Asker put a level 4lb to the scales to take the runner-up spot followed by Dave Sippitts on 3lb 7oz.
With the cold, frosty weather hitting home on Sunday, Ray Groom ran out a comfortable winner with a net of small fish taken on the whip, finishing on 3lb 1oz.
Colin Gibbons took the runner-up spot with 1lb 13oz followed by Mick Gamble with 11oz.
Tydd Gote will be running a Wednesday match draw at Clough at 9am with fishing from 10am until 3pm.
The next match will be on New Year’s Day. It’s an open match, with the draw again at 9am at Clough with fishing from 10am until 3pm.
n It was tough going in the two weekend opens on the Beastie Pool at Decoy Lakes, although the Sunday open did fish a little better than expected.
On Saturday, Shaun Coton took the honours with 30lb 6oz while on Sunday it was venue regular Nigel Baxter that came out on top.
The Bag Em Baits rod fished the tip for most of the day catching carp to 6lb on maggot from peg 21 with a few bonus fish coming late on using a big waggler out into open water finishing with 45lb 14oz
Decoy Lakes Opens
Beastie Lake, Saturday: 1 S. Coton, JVAC, 30lb 6oz; 2 J. Whincup, Maver Bait Tech, 17lb 14oz; 3 D. Carlton, Decoy, 16lb 14oz.
Beastie Lake, Sunday: 1 N. Baxter, Bag Em, 45lb 14oz; 2 A. Leathers, Browning Hotrods, 45lb 9oz; 3 S. Dow, Decoy, 42lb 13oz; 4 A. West, Decoy, 27lb 14oz.
n I have just had confirmation of a few matches taking place over the holiday period, although there could also be a few extra ones to be finalised in a few days time
Rookery Waters Open matches: Fri Dec 23 , Fri Dec 30, Jan 6.
Stanjay Xmas Series: Tues Dec 27, Mon Jan 2, Raveley Drain/Factory Bank, draw 8.15 am, George Inn, Ramsey Forty Foot.
Bookings for all these to Roy Whincup on 07817 694359.
n The annual trout Fur and Feather match at Grafham Water saw most anglers fish Deep Water Point and Pylon Point.
It was a fantastic match with an average fish weight of 3½lb and the rod average was 2.9.
The top eight anglers each took six fish to the scales, with season ticket holder Richard Cooper of Empingham landing the best fish at 5lb 1oz. He won the match with six fish for 21lb 7oz.
Result: 1 Richard Cooper 6 fish for 21lb 7oz; 2 Lee Henfrey 6 fish for 19lb 10oz; 3 Chris Lane 6 fish for 18lb 5oz; 4 Steve Ellerbeck 6 fish for 18lb 0oz
≈~≈The Daily Catch Team≈~≈
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