Monday 4th December 2023

Yesterday saw the 3rd round of ABC Baits Winter League take place. With temperatures well below freezing on the Friday night, and the river running low and clear, the prospects did not look good for the 72 competitors taking part. Overnight snow Saturday evening made travelling difficult for some although the temperature had risen to around -2C with the river running at 0.6m. The forecast was for heavy rain for most of the day. With the low temperatures and a clear river this was likely to be a feast or famine match with chub likely to feature strongly in any catches.Those drawing “A” or “B” sections probably wished they had stayed at home in the warm.

As expected “A” section fished hard with half of the section recording dry nets. “B” section was even worse with only one of the 12 anglers managing to catch and give his team the 12 points. “C” section fared little better. All these pegs were upstream of the old railway bridge. Below this bridge  and the Old Wye bridge the fish seemed to be tightly shoaled and there were some tremendous catches with 4 catches over 100lb and 16 weights of over 30lb! Individual winner on the day from famous peg 96 was Jason Bean (Cotswolds) who fished sweetcorn or meat to take an incredible weight of 173lb 12oz of chub using a whip or pole to hand. Second  was in form Hadrian Whittle (Woodys Premier) who  weighed in 148lb 5oz of mainly whip caught chub with a few roach and perch. Third was Kev Ellaby who was pegged on the next peg to the winner. He weighed in another fantastic weight of 129lb.

On the team front Cotswolds took 1st place ahead of Woodys Premier in 2nd and DH Angling in third. the next round is scheduled for Sunday 17th December. Full results below

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