Following a long period of bitterly cold easterly winds, the first of the Angling Trust Winter League semi finals took place at Dynamite Baits’ Makin’s Fishery in Warwickshire on Saturday 23 February, and it was a struggle for many.
Fish in these conditions are often tightly shoaled and usually disinterested in feeding, but although there were a handful of blanks, anglers generally found some bites and weights in many sections were impressive; 14kg was required to make the top 15 individuals and 12kg was the lowest section winning weight.
Individually, it was a one horse race with Ultimate Barnsley Blacks’ Lee Harrison putting 61kg 600g on the scales from Derwent peg 25. Lee caught carp to 3kg steadily throughout the match, mostly fishing tight across. Runner up from Severn peg 11 was Sean Balber of Maver Midlands, who weighed in 36kg 940g; again the bulk of his catch were carp to 3kg caught ‘up the channel’ on waggler. In third place was James Dent of Ultimate Barnsley Blacks, who caught 25kg 40g on the feeder at in-form Lagoon peg 13.
Team-wise it was a similar result with Maver Midlands recording a brilliant 77 points from a possible 90 with no angler lower than third in their section. In the month lead up to the semi final Maver Midlands had put in an immense amount of time at the venue and this clearly paid dividends. Second with 59 points were Chamber’s Champs and in third place were Browning Quaker with 57 points.
The top three teams qualify for the final on 06 July on the Tidal Trent.
Team Results
1st Maver Midlands 77 points
2nd Chamber’s Champs 59 points
3rd Browning Quaker 57 points
Individual Results
1st Lee Harrison, Ultimate Barnsley Blacks, 61kg 600g
2nd Sean Barber, Maver Midlands, 36kg 940g
3rd James Dent, Ultimate Barnsley Blacks, 25kg 40g
