River Welland Ivan Marks Memorial Match Report

Good day yesterday despite the awful weather & a very clear (gin clear in parts) river, reports John Middleton.

We fished either side of Crowland bridge. 2 sections downstream & 3 upstream. 5 x 20 peg sections.

77 fished. I think the forecast weather conditions limited the final number as we had a few no shows from the expected 90+ reserved tickets.

A bitterly cold east wind & heavy rain later in the day made it hard going. No big weights & bream failed to show along the whole match length.

First & second places coming from pegs either side of the bridge. Match winner Bob Walker from Sheffield fished peg 41 directly upstream of Crowland Bridge. Chopped worm on the pole accounted for a weight of 9lb. 10oz of mainly perch. Several larger fish were lost & Bob reckoned he should have had a weight closer to 20lbs.

Second placed angler David Stratford-Way quiver tipped peg 40 downstream of the bridge to take 7 lbs. exactly of perch, tench & an eel of 2 lbs.+ Lost fish were a feature on these pegs & David lost a large tench estimated at
6/7 lbs. at the net.

The presentation was well attended & Linda Marks presented the winners trophy’s. It was an enjoyable trip down memory lane & numerous requests were made at the after match gathering for the event to be run again next year.

The support appears to be there for this to become an annual event & if that is the case both Trevor Leigh & I are willing to commit to organising next years event.

Results.

1st Bob Walker 9lbs. 10oz.

2nd David Stratford-Way 7lbs. 0oz.

3rd Terry Jackson 3lbs. 10oz

4th Rich Reynolds 3lbs. 1oz

5th Chris Buckingham 2lbs. 11oz

6th Mick Cobb 2lbs. 9oz