Winter League RD2, Woodside Pool

Saturday 18th October marked the second round of the Woodside winter league series, which was held on Woodside pool for the second consecutive round. Reason being, the fishery management were away on holiday so the match was left on Woodside pool to make running the event easier (pegging, etc) for those standing in to ensure the fixture went ahead as planned.

A SECTION

(pegs 1, 21, 20, 18 & 16)

As was the case in round one, section A proved the more difficult of the two. With the exception of Josh Gaunt, who easily won the section (and the lake) from peg 16, the remainder of the section proved very unproductive for most with back-up weights barely making it into double figures. Josh opted to fish the long pole for the first half of the match offering pellet over fishery micros before switching to his short line late on with maggot to end the day with 74-00-00.

Josh Gaunt with part of his section winning catch, which was also enough to win the lake on the day

Second in section was Dave Bowyer from peg 1. Dave's winter league compaign didn't get off to the best of starts with the normally very consistent Vard's Bait & Tackle rod finishing last in his section from a difficult area. However, despite an equally difficult day on round two, Dave's 15-05-00 effort managed to secure him second in section and a valuable two points. Dave caught down his edge on maggot.

Finishing third in section A on the day was Chris Oakley. Chris drew peg 20 and fished expanders on the long pole to end the day with 14-02-00 to finish with another useful three points in the bag.

ANGLER	PEG	WEIGHT	METHOD	PTS
J. Gaunt	16	74-00-00	Pellet long & maggot short	1
D. Bowyer	1	15-05-00	Maggot in the margins	2
C. Oakley	20	14-02-00	Pellet long	3

B SECTION

(pegs 14, 12, 10, 8 & 3)

Winner of a slightly kinder B section on round two was John Latham. John drew peg 3 close to the point of the island and fished maggot short for most of the match to end proceedings with 38-14-00 and a single point score.

Finishing runner-up in B section was Jason Bird from peg 10 on the opposite point of the island. Fishing maggot short over groundbait, Jason found carp and silvers to offer 26-12-00 to the scales, which was good enough for two points on the day.

Finishing in third place in B section, and scoring three points, was Ken Hayes. Ken drew peg 8 and managed to find a few cruising fish offering maggot up in the water to end the day with 21-00-00.

ANGLER	PEG	WEIGHT	METHOD	PTS
J. Latham	3	38-14-00	Maggot short	1
J. Bird	10	26-12-00	Maggot short	2
K. Hayes	8	21-00-00	Maggot shallow	3

OVERALL LEAGUE STANDINGS (AFTER RD2)

POSITION	ANGLER	POINTS	WEIGHT
1st	Josh Gaunt	2	103-03-00
2nd	John Latham	3	65-03-00
3rd	Chris Oakley	5	35-09-00
4th	Lawrence Connolly	6	80-00-00
5th	Jason Bird	6	36-09-00
6th	Ken Hayes	7	35-00-00
7th	Stan Taylor	7	32-10-00
8th	Dave Bowyer	7	23-15-00
9th	Ryan Walker	8	18-10-00
10th	Rachael Chebsey	9	17-09-00

At the end of round two it's now Josh Gaunt who takes the top spot after securing his second section win in as many rounds. Josh also carries with him into round three a decent weight advantage which, given how difficult the first two rounds have fished, could prove significant as the league progresses.

Unfortunately for Loz who was previously leading the pack, a bit of a disastrous second round saw him pick up maximum points, which sees him fall into fourth place overall. However, like Josh, Loz also boasts a significantly better cumulative weight after two rounds than most so is still one to keep an eye on.

John Latham continues his run of form and climbs a place taking second now alongside Chris Oakley who climbs from fourth to third overall. Other notable movers include Jason Bird who claws back three places climbing from eighth to fifth after a better second round score. Dave Bowyer also climbs a place after a much better second round score saw him gain ground on nearly all of those currently sitting above him - you can never write Dave off!

Congratulations to section winners Josh and John who each picked up £30. Congratulations also to Dave and Jason on finishing runner-up in their sections and picking up £20 each.

Well done to all other competitors on what was another difficult day. Round three will take place on Saturday November 1st and will see anglers move on to Island pool.