West Yorkshire-based Garbolino Ossett stormed to victory with a total of 54 points in the Angling Trust Winter League semi final on the Grand Union Canal, Loughborough on Sunday 24 February with the team recording three section wins and just one blank. Runners up were Drennan North West with a total of 50 points with one section winner and the third and final qualifying spot up for grabs went to Leicester Sensas fishing their home water.
The match was a very difficult one with just small pockets of fish feeding and many anglers struggling for a bite in sub-zero conditions and water temperatures a lowly three degrees. This was in sharp contrast to the form the venue showed in early January when weights of 5lb were common. To illustrate just how difficult the conditions were Leicester Sensas had three blanks, but other good point scores, including three section wins, gave them a total of 49 points.
Tactics for most teams were very similar: fishing bloodworm and joker on very light rigs with caster or worm to target bonus perch. A few anglers also caught some small roach on bread punch early in the match.
The best individual results came from the deeper sections of the canal where a few more roach and perch fed. Most catches consisted of roach of one and two ounces caught on bloodworm although some bonus perch up to a pound in weight were also caught.
Team results
1st Garbolino Ossett 54 points
2nd Drennan North West 50 points
3rd Leicester Sensas 49 points
Individual results
1st T. Hopkins, Garbolino Ossett, 2kg 360g
2nd= Darren Frost, Drennan North West and Bob Greenbury, Leicester Sensas, 1kg 830g
