Winter League RD6, Woodside Pool
- Woodside Fishery
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
Saturday 13th December saw seven (7) anglers brave pretty grim conditions ahead of the final round of this year's Winter League series. Conditions leading up to the final round had been ideal with plenty of sunshine and a mild breeze giving off late September vibes, but that came to a very abrupt and unexpected end come Saturday morning with anglers being greeted with a pretty severe frost and thick fog. Unfortunately, the sudden change in the weather had a massive impact on the fishing with carp showing on just two pegs with the remainder of the field having to rely on silvers to put any sort of weight together. Still, from a neutral perspective, it meant things would remain extremely tight right until the 'final whistle'.
A SECTION
(pegs 21, 20, 18 & 16)
Winner of what would prove to be a very difficult open water A section was Ken Hayes. Like everyone else in A section, Ken struggled for most of the match from peg 16 only managing to find roach, skimmer bream and the odd better stamp perch fishing casters short and long. However, a lone carp graced his net with just a couple of minutes to spare, which the rest of the section were convinced had won him the section. Upon the scales making their way round to Ken, his first weigh saw 10-10-00 of silvers, which in fairness to Ken was enough to win the section on their own, but his second weigh confirmed his single carp at 3lb 12oz giving him an all important section win with 14-06-00 .
Finishing in second place was Stan Taylor from peg 20. Offering live maggot over dead maggot, Stan managed a decent bag of silverfish to tip the scales at 07-08-00, but the lack of any carp hurt his chances of being able to take the section win from Ken.
Taking third place and three points in Section A was Chris Oakley. Chris drew neighbouring peg 21 and really struggled to get into any sort of rhythm managing only odd silvers on multiple lines throughout the day on maggot to scrape together 02-02-00.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
K. Hayes | 16 | 14-06-00 | Caster short & long | 1 |
S. Taylor | 20 | 07-08-00 | Maggot long | 2 |
C. Oakley | 21 | 02-02-00 | Maggot long | 3 |
B SECTION
(pegs 12, 10 & 8)
Section B produced better weights with carp showing on both pegs 12 and 10 once the sun had eventually made an appearance. Winner of the section was league leader, Josh Gaunt, who drew peg 12. Fishing expanders over fishery feed pellet, Josh put together an impressive mixed bag, which included over 11lb of quality roach with the odd skimmer but, most importantly, six carp, which tipped the scales at 25-03-00 giving him a decent total of 36-11-00 and a lake win.
Finishing runner-up in B section was Lawrence Connolly. Loz drew neighbouring peg 10 and, given the pegs run of form in the league coupled with Loz's raw ability, many could forsee a last minute change at the top of the table. However, unfortunately for Loz, it wasn't to be. Despite putting together another fine bag of silverfish on maggot, which went 14-06-00, Loz only managed a couple of small carp, which added just 4lb 5oz to his overall catch for a final 18-11-00.
Finishing in third place in B section was Rachael Chebsey from peg 8. Rachael defintely found her form towards the end of league producing his best two weights of the campaign back to back. The final round was no exception with Rachael saving her best performance until last taking full advantage of the quality roach infront of her weighing in 13-14-00 of silvers all taken on maggot fished short.
ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
J. Gaunt | 12 | 36-11-00 | Expanders over fishery pellet | 1 |
L. Connolly | 10 | 18-11-00 | Maggot shallow & long over groundbait | 2 |
R. Chebsey | 8 | 13-14-00 | Maggot short | 3 |
OVERALL LEAGUE STANDINGS
POS | ANGLER | PTS (1-5) | DROPPED RESULT | PENALTY PTS | FINAL PTS | CUM WEIGHT | PRIZE MONEY |
1st | Josh Gaunt | 8 | 2 | - | 6 | 188-11-00 | £340 |
2nd | Lawrence Connolly | 8 | 5 | - | 8 | 184-06-00 | £280 |
3rd | John Latham | 15 | 4 | - | 11 | 88-00-00 | £240 |
4th | Ken Hayes | 17 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 111-15-00 | £220 |
5th | Stan Taylor | 17 | 6 | 1 | 12 | 101-10-00 | £65 |
6th | Chris Oakley | 17 | 4 | - | 13 | 75-09-00 | £40 |
7th | Jason Bird | 21 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 76-05-00 | £20 |
8th | Rachael Chebsey | 22 | 5 | - | 17 | 53-03-00 | £15 |
9th | Ryan Walker | 24 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 34-09-00 |
Penalty points were issued to those anglers that missed a round and did NOT provide a stand-in.
Ken Hayes incurred a penalty point from round 4; Stan from round 3, Jason from round 6 & Ryan from round 6.
Prize money includes section prizes.
After six closely contested rounds over the best part of three months, Josh Gaunt was confirmed as the 2025 Winter League Champion with a superb six (6) point score. The Golden Maggot AC man dropped just two (2) points to keep his club counter-part Loz at bay, but still had it all to do on the final round. With the two having drawn side-by-side for the final round, it was a case of who could hold their nerve and, ultimately, which one of the two could find the carp for the final five hours.
Unfortunately for Loz, the carp which had been residing on peg 10 for most of the league, decided to set up shop elsewhere for the final round. Despite weighing in another superb silvers catch, he just couldn't find the bonus fish he so desperately needed. It would've played out very differently if Loz could've found literally just a couple more better stamp fish with just 4lb 5oz separating the two when all was said and done! Unbelievably close between the two of them!
Third place was eventually awarded to John Latham. It was very much a league of two halves for John, with the second half of the competition feeling like a lifetime. John managed to get off to a great start dropping just two (2) points from the opening three rounds but then a spate of bad draws, a broken pole and an unfortunate injury picked up on the penultimate round which resulted in some cracked ribs, saw him limp home with eleven (11) points, but it was enough to hold on to a mainframe finish, which he thoroughly deserved. I've often said winter fishing sorts the men from the mice!
Elsewhere in the table, there was a three-horse race between Chris Oakley, Stan Taylor and Ken Hayes. All three anglers were separated by just a single point heading into the final round with Chris top of the pile, but with an inferior weight compared to the other two. Unfortunately for Chris, both Stan and Ken drew in his section and both managed to finish infront of him on the day. Ken's section win on the final day saw him move two places to take the final overall payout place with Stan also moving up the table to leapfrog Chris after his second in section finish.
At the other end of the table, Jason managed to hold firm despite being unable to fish the final round due to injury. Rachael Chebsey finished the league strong adding just three (3) more points to her total to finally distance herself from Ryan Walker.
Congratulations to Ken on winning his section and picking up £20 and to Stan on finishing runner-up in his section picking up £15. Congratulations again to Josh on his overall win on the final day and for winning the league overall. I don't think anyone would argue he didn't deserve it after a series of almost perfect results. Well done to Loz on his second place finish in section B on the day and for finishing runner-up in the league. I don't think he would have too many arguements with the final result despite only just missing out.
Finally, the fishery would just like to say thank you to everyone that took part and for making the league what it was. Over the course of the six rounds, over 900lbs of fish were caught (a good percentage of which were silvers) and a total of £1,220 was awarded in prize money. It has been arguably the closest league series to date! Look out for the 2026 Winter League dates, which will be announced in due course!
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