Avon Valley Winter League 2011

Round 6: Basingstoke Canal Fleet 11th Dec

The final round of he Avon Valley Winter League was fished on the Basingstoke Canal between Barley Mo and Malthouse Bridge. In the run up to the match there had been some heavy rain followed by a couple of hard frosts. In theory the much needed rain would have topped the canal up and put some colour in the water but it was still about 9" down on it's normal level and apart from a few areas the colour had all but dropped out. The signs weren't good and it looked like it was going to be another long hard day scratching for bites. The match started and apart from a few pockets of fish it was a struggle to get a bite. About 30 minutes into the match and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, 45 canoes came racing through the match length. It took about 45 minutes for them pass through the match length, but they coloured the water and within 10 minutes of them passing through the water was starting settle and the fish that were now spread out all along the match length started to feed and all 70 anglers lining the banks weighed in.

Jeff Maye winner of round 6 of the Avon Valley Winter LeagueThe individual winner Jeff Maye, Allans Marine, pictured left, hadn't had a bite before the canoes went through but once the water settled he re-fed his lines and started to catch a few Skimmers and one small Bream for 8-3-0.  Second was Steve Cousins, Shakespear Team Hansfords with 6-4-8. Steve's catch included two good Perch on chopped worm plus bits, third Ollie Tilly with a mixed bag of Roach, Skimmers and Perch for 6-4-0, and fouth was Luke Sheriff, Guildford Angling Centre, 5-15-8 which included 3 big perch Perch on choppd worm plus Roach.


Tubertini South Captain Steve BeebyThe AVWL Team champions 2011 are Tubertini South, apart from the first round which was on a commercial fishery they were very consistent and came either 1st or second in the remaining five rounds. The Picture on the right is the Tubertini South Captain Geoff Beeby (left) receiving the Team Champions trophy from the chairman of the League Steve Cousins (right) .

Christmas came early this year for the Fox Match Arun team, because to qualify for the Angling Times semi final as league runners up, they needed to win the last round, and Browning Crowsports to come last. Guildford and Browning tied on 35 points but this year teams who tie on points no longer share the points. It goes to weight and Browning with the lower team weight where relegated to last on the day.  On paper the odds of all this happening are very very small, but it happened and Fox Match Arun join the AVWL Champions Tubertini South in the semi-finals.



Teams on the day

Peg No. Name A B C D E F G H J K TOTAL Place
1 Allan's Marine Portsmouth 7 6 1 6 3 7 1 1 3 5 40 5
2 Guildford Angling Centre 1 2 3 1 4 4 3 6 7 4 35 6
3 Apollo Colmic 6 4 2 7 5 3 2 5 5 2 41 4
4 Browning Crowsports 2 3 5 2 2 2 7 7 4 1 35 7
5 Shakespeare Team Hansfords 3 1 7 3 1 6 5 2 6 7 41 3
6 Fox Match Arun 5 5 6 4 7 5 4 5 2 3 46 1
7 Tubertini South 4 7 4 5 6 1 6 3 1 6 43 2

Round 6: Individuals

Place Name Team weight Peg
1 Jeff Maye Allan's Marine Portsmouth 8-3-0 A1
2 Steve Cousins Shakespeare Team Hansfords 6-4-8 C5
3 Ollie Tilley Fox Match Arun 6-4-0 C6
4 Luke Sheriff Guildford Angling Centre 5-15-8
J2
5 Tony Woodford Apollo Colmic 5-15-0 D3
6 Richard Hicks Tubertini South 5-5-8 B7
7 John Wright Allan's Marine Portsmouth 4-13-0 D1

Overall League 2011

Team Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Total League Position
Tubertini South 6 1 1 1 2 2 13 1
Fox Match Arun 1 4 6 3 4 1 19 2
Browning Crowsports 4 2 2 4 1 7 20 3
Guildford Angling Centre 3 5 3 2 3 6 22 4
Shakespeare Team Hansfords 5 3 4 5 5 3 25 5
Apollo Colmic 2 7 5 6 6 4 30 6
Allan's Marine Portsmouth 7 6 7 7 7 5 39 7