04.02.15

Team Guru win winter league - Andy Bennett

Saturday saw us fishing the last round of the winter league for Team Guru in the Partridge Lakes teams of four event.

Myself, Franek Staniuszko, Mickey Rogerson and Ste Parry were leading the league by 20 points, so a steady last round was all that was needed to see us lift the title.

On the day we managed second overall with 15 points - just one point behind Maver NW, who won the day with 14 points. The chase for second was also close with two teams actually tying on points, but Garbolino Elton just nicked it.

We finished on 112, with 140 points being second so in the end we won quite comfortably - a big well done to all the lads on a really consistent performance throughout.

Personally, I was leading the individual competition with one round to go, so after winning it last year I was keen to try to repeat this, but with two other anglers - Chris Weeder and Paul Coyle - in contention it wasn’t going to be easy.

On the day, to spice things up, we all drew on the same lake, so it could all be decided easily by a few ounces here or there. I drew peg 81, which in the early rounds had been a real flier.

But having drawn there a few week ago and struggled, and having no form as such, I wasn’t as confident as I normally would be, but it can win the lake and match when they’re present in this area.

Chris drew 89 - I was here the other week and again caught a few early but really struggled late. If the fish aren't down to your left it can be a real struggle, so I didn’t fancy that peg.

Then Paul drew peg 96 - probably one of the worst pegs on the lake, being so marrow. But with the cold wind blowing across me and up towards the other end, I had a gut feeling the fish would be down that end again as they have been for two weeks now.

In-fact, Paul won the last round off peg 98, nearly doubling the next best weight. To cut a long boring story short, it was dreadful - the freezing wind hampered me a lot and I only managed six fish for 9lb all day.

Chris had an even worse day to finish with three, two of which were caught in the last five minutes and Paul romped home with 28lb to win the lake, with either side being second and third in the section too, so I don’t think I did too much wrong as the lad to my left blanked and it was clear where the fish were on the day.

I ended eighth in the 11-peg section for my worst result of the series; Chris was ninth, leaving Paul on 11 points, myself on 13 and Chris on 13. But I had a better 'dropper' to take second, so overall it was a good league personally and even better for the team.

I can’t say I love winter fishing when it’s that hard, but it made the effort worthwhile in the end. Well done again to my team mates and Paul on winning the individual event too.

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