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2012/2013 Updates
Durham Invitational The Oaks, Sessay North Yorkshire
The first match of the 2013 season finally took place after one of the longest and coldest winters on record. On Sunday 28th April 2013 Durham Police held their first match of the season at The Oaks Complex, Sessay North Yorkshire.
The match was to be fished on Maple Lake using pegs 48 to 68. After a cold overnight frost anglers arrived to find it dull and overcast wind a gusty westerly breeze blowing. Not exactly ideal conditions for match fishing.
Anglers chose their pegs and then tackled up in anticipation of what was to come. During the first hour Dave Brown (Northumbria) on peg 51 and Roy Mclean (Durham) on peg 66 had a scintillating start both catching around 20lbs of fish each. However conditions deteriorated and the wind got stronger. The fish seemed to stop feeding and everyone began to struggle. Dave continued to catch the odd fish whilst Julian Brown (Durham) on peg 55 had begun to put together a good run of fish and looked odds on to win the match. However Dave Brown hooked a landed a carp of around 6lbs in the last 30 minutes to pip Julian.
Dave Brown weighed in 37lbs 4oz to Julian’s 35lb 8oz, 3rd was Roy Mclean with 20lbs and a creditable 4th was Ray Westgarth (Northumbria) with 18lbs
The next Durham Invitational is at Aldin Grange, Bearpark, Durham on 12th May 2013.
Durham Invitational Aldin Grange, Bearpark, Durham.
On Sunday 12th May, 2013, draw was at 8 am and the anglers agreed to fish from 09:45hrs ending at 14:45hrs, fishing a mixed lake called Blackbird.
As the anglers had the draw and made their way to their allocated pegs the weather was in our favour with the wind travelling down the lake. The sun was shining and fish were seen to be topping. Although the wind was cold and the water temperature still a little cool for this time of year, everyone was ready to go when the ‘all in’ was shouted.
After approx one hour of fishing and not much caught the sun had disappeared and the heavens opened, this was to stay with us for the rest of the match, the wind also made it hard to fish with the pole.
A few fish were being caught but not by everyone. This was to be a cold and slow match with the odd fish being taken.
At the end of the match Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) fishing peg 16, came 1st with 7lb 8oz followed closely by Roy Mclean (Durham) fishing peg 8, with 7lb and joint third was Ray Westgarth (Northumbria) and Boyd Weddle (Northumbria) with 1lb.
Conditions yet again poor, it will take a week to dry the gear out.
Next Durham Invitational will be held at Stonebridge Lakes, North Yorkshire Sunday 9th June.
2012
The first match of the season was held at the picturesque Claude Lake at StoneBridge Fishery, North Yorkshire. The weather forecast on the day had predicted heavy rain and strong winds gusting at up to 50mph with a temperature high of only 6 degrees. Not exactly ideal fishing conditions.
Durham Invitational Stonebridge Lakes, North Yorkshire Sunday 29th April 2012
The draw was made at 8am and the anglers agreed to fish 9.30am til 3.30pm. The rain held off until 10am and then the heavens opened and it continued well after the conclusion of the match.
The fishing was as difficult as everyone thought it would be and it turned into a three horse race between Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) on peg 30, Julian Brown (Durham) on peg 33 and Dave Brown (Northumbria) on peg 34. Paul and Julian sat it out using pellet waiting for the larger carp whilst Dave fished maggot and was targeting the lakes massive population of Gudgeon.
At the end of the match Julian won weighing in 5 carp for 10lb 1oz, Paul was a very creditable 2nd weighing in 4 carp for 9lb 8oz and Dave was third weighing in 1 carp and 60 gudgeon for 7lb.
An excellent performance from Paul Hutchinson considering the awful weather.
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Durham Invitational Oaks Lakes, Sessay ,Sunday 13th May 2012.
This latest match was fished the day after the ‘Fishomania’ qualifier was held at the venue. This meant that the venue had been heavily fished in the days leading up to the match and everyone thought that the fishing would be hard and so it proved to be.
The match was to be fished on Cedar Lake.
A gusty wind made presentation difficult however it was Julian Brown of Durham Constabulary who ran out a worthy winner fishing peg 77, Julian caught mostly carp to weigh 25lb 8ozs.
Second place went to Graham Colclough (Durham) who weighed in 10lb 8oz from peg 68.
Best for Northumbria was Kevin Hood who weighed in an even 8lbs from peg 76. Kevin finished a creditable 4th place.
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The PSNI Invitational Match was held on the 31st May at Woodlands Lakes, Carlton Miniott, North Yorkshire. Teams had travelled from all four corners of the UK to fish. As usual with our matches the weather was to play a big part. After a week of settled weather we had heavy rain for virtually the entire match. To say that the lakes fished poorly was an understatement.
A section was won by Neil Morton of North Yorkshire Police with 72lb 8oz. Neil was also 1st overall.
B Section was won by Julian Griffin of Humberside Police with 47lb 5oz
C Section was won by Phil Creasy of Norfolk Police with 16.10oc
D Section was won by Mick Ellison of London Postal Region with 49lb 10oz
The team event was won by Strathclyde Police with Northumbria coming a creditable 8th.
Team Captain for the day Paul Hutchinson sat fishless up until the last hour but then caught 2 big fish (the biggest weighing 12lbs) to finish with 20lb 1oz. Paul was delighted to have Northumbrias top weight yet again and also at beating Dave Brown who was celebrating his 23rd birthday that day for the 46th time.
The next match is the North East Regional Championships on the 14th June at The Oaks complex.
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North East Regional Freshwater Fishing Championships
This year’s Regional Fishing Championships took place on Thursday 14th June 2012 at The Oaks Lakes, near Thirsk in North Yorkshire. The event was organised and run by Northumbria Police.
The lakes chosen for the match were Ash, Beech and Sycamore . These lakes are only ever match fished and had been fishing well in the run up to the match.
Ten teams of four entered the event and the competition between all teams was intense.
The weather forecast for the day was promising for a change.
When the match took place it was a tale of two lakes as both Ash and Beech lakes fished well whilst those on Sycamore struggled.
The match was won by Neil Beamson of Humberside A who weighed in 78lb 12oz from peg 18 on Ash Lake. Second was Julian Griffin also of Humberside A who weighed in 67lb 4oz from peg 13 on Beech Lake and third was Graham Twoey from West Yorks who weighed in 59lb 5oz from peg 14 on Beech Lake.
The team event was won by Humberside A with 8pts, second was Cleveland with 13pts and third was South Yorks Gold with 19 pts.
Northumbria had two teams entered into the event, the A team finishing 6th with 25pts whilst the B team finished 8th with 28pts.
Top performer for Northumbria was Kevin Hood. Kevin was fishing a difficult section on Sycamore Lake and won his section with 28lb 3oz.
Best weight for Northumbria was Dave Brown with 49lb 1oz for 4th in his section and a creditable 6th overall.
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Durham Police Invitational
The latest invitational match was held on the match lake at Aldin Grange, Bearpark, Durham on the 24th of June 2012. This was a memorial match for Vic Mclean one of Durham’s founder members of their angling section.
The match was a hard affair. Julian Brown (Durham) drew well and walked the match with 33lbs 9ozs of ide from peg 8. Andy Brown was second with a creditable 16lb 4ozs with Graham Colclough of Durham third with 11lbs 8oz.
Everyone caught fish but the strong winds again made presentation difficult if not impossible at times.
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Durham Invitational Oaks Lakes, Sessay , Sunday 22nd July 2012.
The latest match was to be fished on Poplars lake. None of the competitors taking part had ever fished this lake before. The lake was a ‘Snake type’ lake with an island in the centre of the lake which was about 13 ½ metres from the bank making it perfect for the pole angler. Conditions on the day were perfect for a change with the trees and hedges surrounding the lake protecting everyone from the gusting wind.
The match turned into a two horse race between Dave Brown from Northumbria and his son Andy Brown who was guesting for Durham Police. They were pegged alongside each other on pegs 46 and 48 and matched each other fish for fish for the first three hours however experience eventually told and Dave ran out the winner weighing 45lbs to Andy’s 33lbs. In third place was Graham Colclough from Durham with 25lbs 8ozs.
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Durham Invitational The Oaks, North Yorkshire Sunday 16th September 2012
The latest match of the season was held on the prolific Cedar Lake at The Oaks, Sessay, North Yorkshire. The weather forecast on the day had predicted showery rain and winds gusting at up to 40mph with a temperature high of only 16 degrees.
The draw was made at 8am and the anglers agreed to fish 9.30am til 3.30pm.
The fishing was more difficult than everyone thought it would be and it turned into a three horse race between Julian Brown (Durham), Paul Heston (Durham) and Carl Fairest (Durham).
Paul and Julian had been practising earlier in the week and this paid off for them . Both used maggot whilst those around them used the traditional pellet tactics.
At the end of the match Julian Brown won weighing in a mostly carp weight of 38lb 1oz, Paul Heston was a very creditable 2nd weighing in 33lb 4oz and Carl Fairest was third 28lb.
Best performer for Northumbria was Ray Westgarth with 14lb 8oz
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Westwood Lakes Festival 2012
Seven anglers qualified to fish the 2012 Festival at Westwood Lakes, Boston, Lincolnshire on Tuesday 25th – Thursday 27th September 2012. The matches were to be fished over 3 days and on three different lakes namely Hawk, Skylark and Kestrel. Numerous other anglers were also fishing at the complex, some from the armed services and also two teams of club anglers from Lancashire.
As usual the weather was to play a part in things and those travelling to the complex on Monday had to endure torrential rain and strong almost gale force winds.
Tuesday 25th September
Hawk Lake (20 pegs)
Hawk Lake was different to the other lakes on the complex as the anglers had to walk to a central island on the lake and fish back towards the main bank. The lake was open to the elements and the wind was strong and gusting from the side making presentation extremely difficult.
Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) made the most of a good draw from peg 1 mainly fishing the method feeder with hair rigged hard pellet to catch mainly barbel with a few carp for 41lb 6oz and a day one win.
Dave Brown (Northumbria) on peg 9 and Gordon Parkin (Northumbria) on peg 10 battled it out fish for fish with Dave eventually taking second with 34lb and Gordon third with 24lb 12 oz.
Wednesday 26th September
Skylark Lake (40 pegs)
Skylark Lake is the premier match water at the complex and is a large oval shaped lake with a central island at 13 metres running almost the entire length of the lake. The weather gods had smiled on us at last and the winds had dropped to a more manageable level.
A view of Skylark Lake from peg 1 on left.
Everyone caught fish from the off with Dave Brown (Northumbria) in particular doing well on peg 5. Dave fished pellet across for carp and the odd barbel whilst Gordon Parkin (Northumbria) on peg 10, Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) on peg 9 and Rob Smith on peg 8 were matching each other fish for fish.
However a devastating run of fish in the last hour clinched it for Dave with a weight of 54lb 8oz. Included in his catch were Bream to almost 8lbs, Chub to 4lbs and Tench to 3lbs as well as good quality Carp. In second was Gordon Parkin with 42lb, third was Rob Smith with 39lb 12oz and 4th was Paul Hutchinson with 38lbs.
Paul Hutchinson with part of his catch
Thursday 27th September
Kestrel Lake (30 pegs)
Kestrel Lake is notoriously peggy and all those fishing were hoping that the draw bag would be kind to them. Dave Brown (Northumbria) was the lucky angler being the last to draw and picked out peg 25, a peg which gave him the opportunity to fish out into open water rather than up to the islands. Dave chose to pole fish at 11 1/2 metres into open water and was quickly into good quality carp fishing pellet. After 2 hrs Dave had caught around 30lbs of carp.
Steve Holmes (Northumbria) on peg 23 was also catching well however after two hours the fish stopped feeding and all the anglers on the lake had to work hard for their fish.
Winner was Dave Brown with 62lbs, including a pristine barbel of 7lbs. Second was Rob Smith with 24lbs 14oz and third was Gordon Parkin (Northumbria) with 19lbs.
Dave Brown with his 7lb Barbel
A special mention must go to Paul Hutchinson who had lost some big fish at the net during the course of the week’s matches but who landed a pristine conditioned Ghost Carp weighing exactly 10lbs.
Paul Hutchinson with his Ghost Carp
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Durham Invitational Stonebridge Lakes, North Yorkshire , Sunday 14th October 2012.
The latest match was to be fished on Stonebridge Lake. Conditions on the day were perfect for a change, very autumnal bright with little wind.
Winner on the day was Carl Fairest (Durham)with 22lb 8oz that included carp up to 5lbs. Second was Matty Kitchmen (Durham)with 13lb 6oz and third was Ray Westgarth (Northumbria) with 10lb 14oz.
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