Tuesday 25th February 2025.

The final match of the 2024/25series took place on Sunday, With the league winners, Woody’s already having secured the title, the race was on to see who would finish in the next two spots. The 72 anglers were met with a different river today after recent matches. Following rain in Wales during the middle part of the week, the river had risen and coloured up but was now dropping slowly to a height of  1.35m at the start of the match with still plenty of colour. With strong winds throughout the day and heavy showers forecast it was going to be  a difficult match. With milder temperatures of around 13C over the last few days, it was likely that the fish had spread out more and with the added colour, species such as barbel and roach would likely figure in the weights making it a more evenly contested match with more pegs capable of recording the top weight.

As was forecast the fish had spread throughout the match length, with those on “A” section catching well, with 12 double figure weights. All sections fished well but Matt Derry (Woodys) showed his class by taking the top spot from peg 93 with a roach catch of 54lb. Runner up was Nigel Evans (DH Angling) with 50lb 4oz from peg 89, with Dave Foxall (DH Angling)  finishing third with 41lb 10oz from the bottom of the Tennis Courts section.

On the team front, DH angling took the honours on the day with 62 points ahead of Cadence Bait-Tech who finished with 61 points, with Woodys finishing 3rd with 60 Points. The final league table  showed champions Woodys maintain their unasailable 13 point gap at the top of the table with Cadence Superteam finishing runners up with 56 points. DH Angling  edged into 3rd place ahead of Nomads A  due to a match wins countback with both teams finishing on 55 points.

In addition to the main trophy, the Milo Trophy is awarded to the individual who scores the most points over the series of matches. This years winner was Kevin Dicks with 67 points out of a possible 72  across the 6 rounds that were fished. Runner up was Matt Derry with 65 points  followed by Hadrian Whittle on 60 points

All in all an exciting finish to the series with  some good catches throughout. Woodys retained the title they won last year and will now look to make oit a hat trick of titles when the next  league series kicks off in October. Many thanks must go to match organise Dave Roberts and his team of helpers for running a faultless series of matches and also to Hereford Rugby Football Club for hosting the events.  However the day was tinged with sadness when organiser Dave Roberts announced that Denzil Thorpe had passed away  following his battle with cancer. Denzil was highly regarded on the local match scene as well as further afield  and his company  ABC Baits had sponsord the Winter League for many years. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts and condolences go out to his many friends and family. A toast was made in memory of Denzil and an announcement made that next year, teams will fish for a new trophy called the Denzil Thorpe Trophy. Full results below :