Oakman is a top Factory workerin the driving rain

The latest round on Cock Bank and Factory Bank saw the venues fish relatively well with Factory Bank in particular responding to the rain we had the previous day.

On the team front Sensas Mark One produced a fine performance to take the honours and they are now joint top of the leaderboard with two rounds to go.

Individual winner was Colin Oakman who fished a short and long pole line at Factory Bank catching steadily all day on pinkie over groundbait for 16lb 8oz.

Danny Grimsey was a close second with 16lb 2oz, then came Rob Hewison with 14lb and Dale Stones on 13lb 14oz

Teams on the day: 1 Sensas Mk1 White 22pts; 2 Matrix Image 29pts; 3 Hotrods 32pts (3 section wins); 4 Stanjay Gold, 32pts (2 section wins); 5 Stanjay Silver 43pts; 6 Sensas Mk1 Black 50pts.

League standings: 1 Browning Hotrods and Sensas Mk1 White both 9pts; 3 Stanjay Gold 10pts; 4 Matrix Image 12pts; 5 Stanjay Silver 21pts.

BRITISH PIKE CHAMPIONSHIP

The Angling Trust British Pike Final was held on Saturday on hundreds of pegs spread across the Fenland Drains .

Conditions were far from ideal with competitors greeted by driving, heavy rain and I was told not much more than 50 fish were weighed in.

The finger-numbing conditions were mirrored by the lack of sport in certain areas, and the wet banks were difficult making it an unpleasant day’s fishing for most.

The sections at Glassmoor Bank have been consistent pegs over the past few years and again proved to be the hot spot providing all three winners (overall champion, junior champion and lady champion).

Andrew Muirhead made the trip from Cromer a fruitful one when he slipped the net under an 18lb 1oz specimen two hours into the match and the addition of a small 3lb fish was enough to take the title.

Both fish were taken on small dead baits fished down the middle of the drain.

One of the biggest cheers of the day was for 12-year-old Jack Taylor from Stoke-on-Trent who took the junior title with a superb 14lb fish.

Mansfield piker Jean Lloyd has fished many past finals and this time made the end peg on the section pay dividends. One fish of 3lb 8oz gave her the ‘Top Lady’ trophy.

We had a very strong contingent of local anglers taking part this year and the best result came from Paul Denton from Doddington. He caught two fish for a total of 13lb 2oz which gave him fifth place on the day.

Result:

1 Andrew Muirhead (Cromer): 2 fish for 21lb 1oz (including biggest fish of 18lb 1oz; 3lb) - Glassmoor Bank (total prize money £1470).

2 Wayne Lees (Oxfordshire): 2 fish for 16lb (13lb 4oz and 2lb 12oz) – 20 Foot Drain (total prize money £770).

3 Jack Taylor (Staffordshire) junior 12 years-old): 1 fish for 14lb – Glassmoor Bank (total prizemoney of £500).

4 Denis Rodrigues (Cromer): 1 fish for 13lb 12oz – 20 Foot Drain (total prize money of £395).

5 Paul Lenton (Doddington): 2 fish for 13lb 2oz – Glassmoor Bank (total prizemoney of £295)

Junior: 1 Jack Taylor (Staffordshire).

Lady: 1 Jean Lloyd (Mansfield).

FLOAT FISH FARM

A top quality line-up filled the Two Islands Pool at Float Fish Farm on Saturday for the grand Winter League final.

Anglers had to qualify for this match over several weeks to get through to Saturday’s final and it was Martyn Freeman who came out on top with a modest 24lb 10oz.

Kevin Peacock was runner-up with 16lb 3oz then came Dave Jackson on 5lb 15oz.