Leathers leads the way in a super series

Top rod on the day and indeed the overall winner of the series was Andy Leathers, who put a fine 175lb 4oz net of big carp to the scales from Yew peg 24 catching all his fish from the margins on maggot.

Second on the day and runner-up in the series was Josh Pace with 150lb 9oz from peg 20 on Yew, then came Leon Darler with149lb 15oz from Damson 15.

OVER 55s

Spring-like conditions greeted those fishing the Decoy Over 55s match on the Beastie Lake, but unfortunately it deceived quite a few of the anglers into thinking the carp would be feeding in numbers.

It still proved to be a very good match though and it provided a narrow win for John Savage off peg 12 at the back of the spit. He caught carp, F1s and skimmers on corn and maggot on the pole towards vacant peg 11 to finish with 60lb 1oz.

Runner-up was venue newcomer Dave Lewis, who also caught on maggot on the long pole for silvers and F1s to total 60lb 9oz from peg 29.

Third from peg seven was Denis Sambridge with 60lb 7oz.

With just four rounds to go in the winter league Gordon Parker has been so consistent he has all but wrapped the series up.

JVAC

JVAC were back on the Decoy complex fishing the Beastie Lake and Chris Saunders topped a strong field with a very respectable 72lb 10oz taken on the pole close in with maggot.

Second from peg six was Steve Dorks, who fished a small feeder to the island for 63lb 8oz, then came Nick Carlton on a level 62lb from peg 20.

COCK INN

The Cock Inn winter league series got under way on the Four Islands lake at Decoy again after a break of nearly six weeks.

Top rod in this one was Chris Shortland, who drew peg seven and caught on the pole with maggot for 38lb 8oz.

Bob Mills came in second with 27lb 8oz on peg eight catching on sweetcorn over micro pellet, followed by Pete Howson with 24lb 5oz.

TUESDAY CLUB

The Tuesday Club fished the Ramsey Narrows section of the Forty Foot Drain and leading the way was the in-form Mel Saggers. He fished the pole with pinkie over groundbait for 9lb 12oz.

Runner-up was Danny Needham with 8lb 11oz, followed by Mike Mohan on 7lb 11oz.

CASTAWAYS

The Sunday Castaways match on Ramsey Narrows was won by Steve Stones on peg one with 8lb of roach and perch caught on pinkie over groundbait.

Second was Mike Smith with 7lb 4oz followed by Gareth Mansfield on 6lb 3oz and Rob Allan with 3lb.

WHITTLESEY AA

The Whittlesey AA Saturday open match was fished on the Carrot Wash where I think we all expected tench to show due to the mild weather we have had over the past week.

Several did put in an appearance but they were spread around and no one was able to put a winning net of them together.

Matchwinner was Richard Linnell with a great catch of perch weighing 8lb 14oz.

Runner-up was Andy Lawrence with 8lb 13oz, then came Don Garrett with a couple of tench for 7lb 14oz.

HAJAC OPEN

After the big final it was back onto the Twenty Foot Drain at March for those fishing the HAJAC Open and the match produced some extraordinary catches.

Out in front from the peg just above the bridge was Graham Welton, who caught well over 1000 small rudd on a short whip line with pinkie to put 32lb 14oz on the scales.

Second was Phil McFadden with 27lb 11oz, followed by Bob Nudd (26lb 10oz) and Stan Binge (24lb 14oz).

ROOKERY WATERS

The Saturday Winter Qualifier at Rookery Waters was on the Raven and Magpie lakes.

On Magpie it was Mark Cross out in front on peg 34 with 111lb 5oz. Will Hadley was second with 97lb 8oz.

On the Raven, Richard Bond took the honours with 76lb from peg four. Runner-up with 66lb 2oz was Ben Gardener.

TYDD GOTE

The midweek Tydd Gote match was won by John Taylor with 8lb 8oz from Archie Greenwood with 8lb 3oz.

Honours in the Sunday club match went to Andrew Kilby with 2lb 5oz followed by Pete Emery (1lb 14oz).

FENLAND RODS

The Fenland Rods AGM is at the Black Bull, Whittlesey, on Monday March 4 (7.30pm).