Monday December 5th 2026.
Yesterday the scheduled 5th round of the Wye Winter League took place on the match length at Belmont and the Tennis Courts sections. During the week leading up to the match the section from the old railway bridge to the Old Wye Bridge had taken a hammering, with pleasure anglers using every peg available on both banks to take some good catches, although sport had slowed on the Friday due to the colder nights of the last few days.Comorants had also been active with between 20 and 30 birds being seen on the water early morning. The river was also low and clear running at around 0.5m at the bridge having risen slightly a couple of days earlier, probably due to some cold snow water. With the temperature hovering around -3C on Sunday morning and with a wind chill making it feel colder along with the cold bright conditions, it was likely that the fish would be tightly shoaled with chub being the main quarry. Based on previous rounds at this time of year those anglers who drew “A” section were likely facing a hard days fishing with very few fish likely to be caught. The same applied to the Tennis Courts section. Those anglers drawing below the old railway bridge were likely to catch some fish but it just depended on where the fish were shoaled up.Would Woodys be able to maintain their perfect score with another win or would one of the chasing teams manage to cut their lead at the top of the table?
It turned out as expected with a complete famine on “A” and “B” sections and an all you can eat feast on the town section with 7 weights in excess of 100lb! Leading the pack was in form Andrew Cranston (Nomads A) who drew peg 87 on the Asda bank. The 27 year old from Wiltshire proceeded to catch almost a chub a cast on bolo and maggot throughout the match to finish with around 145 fish for a match winning 200lb 8oz. Runner up was Chris Jones (Woodys Bait-tech) from Wales who was on the next peg (86)He weighed in 139lb 7oz. Third was Mike Bedding (Cadence Bait-tech) who weighed in 110lb 12oz from peg 90, with Geoff Brierley (Cotswolds) finishing fourth with 109lb 4oz from peg 94.
On the team front, Woodys won the day despite two anglers recording zero points. But thanks to Scott Geens being the only angler to catch in “C”section and collect the 12 points and Hadrian Whittle managing to collect a useful 6 points from the Tennis Courts section, they finished the day on 36 points well clear of the 3 teams who tied for second place with 23 points each. Woodys have now taken the maximum 12 points in each of the 4 rounds that have been fished and have extended their lead to12 points at the top of the table. Wizards moved up from fifth to second place on 36 points ahead of Nomads A who drop to third place.With possibly 2 rounds to go, Woodys lead looks unasailable and they are on course to win the league for a third successive year. The question is who is going to finish runners up? It is all still to play for with several teams in close contention.
Despite the match producing 39 dry nets amongst the 72 competitors, the match fished incredibally well with the total weight of fish caught being better than either of the two previous rounds. Only the first round produced a better weight. It just goes to show though how tightly the fish shoal up once the river becomes cold, low and clear. The next round is scheduled for Sunday 18th January. Fll results below:
