Silvers League RD1, Woodside Pool

Saturday 7th February marked the beginning of this year's silverfish only league held exclusively on Woodside pool. Eight (8) anglers go head-to-head in 2 x four-man sections over four rounds in an effort to be crowned 2026 Silverfish League Champion.

This year's field, although only small, is a tantalising spectacle indeed welcoming some top level angling ability with five out of the eight anglers competing having been sponsored at one time or another during their angling careers.

Conditions, however, were less inspiring with the league as a whole seemingly coinciding with what has to be one of the wettest February's on record! Torrential rainfall in the week leading up to the opening round and on the day of the match itself resulted in treacherous bank conditions and higher than normal water levels. Fortunately, however, the conditions had little bearing on the quality of the fishing, with anglers enjoying lots of bites and decent-sized silvers nets.

A SECTION

(pegs 7, 8, 10 & 12)

Winner of A section was Stourport rod, Paul Cook. The ex Maver man drew peg 8 and caught well for most of the match on both casters and pinkie finding quality roach, small skimmers and a few bonus perch on his short line to offer 16-12-00 to scales and score a valuable single point.

Paul Cook with his section-winning catch from peg 8

Finishing close behind Paul in second place and scoring two (2) points was local man Max Galaszewski. The former Maver rod drew neighbouring peg 10 on the point of the island and concentrated on his short line offering caster and maggot hookbaits to weigh in 15-11-00 of mainly roach, skimmers and a loan big stripey.

Third in section A was Jeff Rush. Jeff drew peg 12 and ended the match with 05-00-00 to score three (3) points.

ANGLER	PEG	WEIGHT	METHOD	PTS
P. Cook	8	16-12-00	Caster & pinkie short	1
M. Galaszewski	10	15-11-00	Caster & maggot short	2
J. Rush	12	05-00-00		3
J. Latham	7	02-13-00		4

B SECTION

(pegs 14, 16, 18 & 20)

Winner of B section on the opposite side of the lake was Warren Jennings. Warren drew peg 20 in open water and opted to fish maggot and caster short to find a good stamp of fish to weigh in 18-01-00 of quality roach, small skimmers and odd perch. Not only did Warren pick up the section win, but won the lake overall on the day to boot.

Warren Jennings with his lake & section-winning catch from peg 20

Taking second place on the day behind Warren was Dan Hart. Dan got his 2026 match campaign here at Woodside off to a good start on this opening round of the silvers league with a two point score thanks to a 14-06-00 effort from peg 18. Dan caught on maggot on both the short pole and on the waggler fished shallow at distance to finish narrowly ahead of Dan Bache.

Dan finished third in section from peg 16 weighing in 12-13-00 to score three (3) points.

ANGLER	PEG	WEIGHT	METHOD	PTS
W. Jennings	20	18-01-00	Maggot & caster short	1
D. Hart	18	14-06-00	Maggot short pole & waggler shallow	2
D. Bache	16	12-13-00		3
S. Bagnall	14	07-10-00		4

OVERALL LEAGUE STANDINGS (AFTER RD1)

POSITION	ANGLER	POINTS	WEIGHT
1st	Warren Jennings	1	18-01-00
2nd	Paul Cook	1	16-12-00
3rd	Max Galaszewski	2	15-11-00
4th	Dan Hart	2	14-06-00
5th	Dan Bache	3	12-13-00
6th	Jeff Rush	3	05-00-00
7th	Steve Bagnall	4	07-10-00
8th	John Latham	4	02-13-00

Despite awful conditions, sport on the opening round of the competition was, for most, pretty good with a decent head of quality roach showing as well as small skimmers in numbers and a healthy number of above average perch. Carp, for the most part, stayed away with the only exception being poor John Latham, who endured a bit of a bashing on peg 7 with the resident carp making a bit of a nuisance of themselves.

Congratulations to both Paul and Warren on winning their respective sections and scoring a perfect single point each as well as each picking up £20.

Well done to all other competitors on what was a very wet and pretty miserabel day. Roll on round two, which takes place on Saturday February 14th.