29^th September, 2009 Warrington Anglers Association Guardian Notes

I was pleased to be able to contribute my time to the ongoing improvements at Ackers Pits yesterday by joining a small group of volunteers who arrived to plant spring flowers and bulbs, foxgloves and honeysuckle which we were able to purchase with £451 awarded by The Community Foundation for Merseyside in the form of a `Green Machine Fund' grant for the purpose.

The planting began at 11am and we managed to plant the very last bulb by about 3.30 pm with the help of young people from Grappenhall Hall School and their teachers who turned up after lunch to lighten the load, boy were we glad to see them! Hopefully it will provide some extra colour to the site next year

Wide Hole at Poynton is back in the WAA top venues list this week according to Ernie Hutchinson and Dickie Wernham's report today. They had good nets of bream and roach and Ernie said he was taken by surprise when a quality roach grabbed his bait first put in followed by a `big black' bream which took some time to land on 1lb bottoms. They also commented that the place was immaculate and unusually they didn't find any non- members poaching there. This is all due to the efforts of our new local water bailiff who I know has been putting a lot of time in at the water, I was pleased to pass on their thanks and congratulations to him.

Report from member John Weedon ` I have been back to Woodshaw Res today (sat), and had approx 30lb, made up of an unusual slate grey-colored tench about 4lb ( not bad on a 4-6 elastic), roach to 1lb, rudd( lots of them) to 12oz, an 8oz hybrid, a 5oz chub, two perch and a daddy ruffe. All on a seven no7 styl drop rig and 18 hook to 0.10 bottoms at five metres range, constantly drip feeding casters and following them in a lot of fish to be had on the drop. I decided not to fish a foot deep even though a lot of quality fish were rising. A lot of struggling anglers had packed up by 2pm but I had a nice busy days fishing considering most venues – even some commercials are slow, but totally different fishing to the previous Saturday. One of the locals reckons the chub are coming on really well.'

The final match in the John Lavery Memorial series saw a well deserved winner in Alf Seddon get his name on the second plaque on the shield. This series is fiercely contester by our elderly members at least one of whom is well into in his eighties long may they continue

John Dagnall our Monday match series organiser reported good weights throughout the match yesterday with Barry Owen having two good bream on his first two casts and leaving the rest of the field playing `catch up' from the off. However plenty of small roach and skimmers were in evidence all along the canal providing good sport although no one came close to beating Barry's eventual winning weight of 10-0-0.

The Mersey fished reasonably well for Sundays Mersey Champs but not as well as had been expected probably due to the emergency partial de-watering during last week. However 21 anglers who weighed in had a combined weight of over 80lbs. Things should be back to normal now with decent pleasure catches throughout.

We always welcome your catch reports which are really useful to both other members and your management committee in their continuous fishery evaluation. Tel. 01928 716238 FAX 01928713898 or e-mail frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk.

HQ Parker Street will be open on Friday evening as usual between 7 & 9-30pm for subscriptions, new members, etc.

Lynda Lythgoe

Results:

Honorary & OAP's

1) Harry Newton 3-2-0

2) Alf Seddon 2-0-6

3) Ian Mc Lean 1-14-0

4) Bill Stockton 1-8-13

John Lavery Memorial series

Winner Alf Seddon

Mersey Champs

1) Jeff Shaw 6-5-0

2) Dave Hall 5-14-0

3) Brian Johnson 5-9-0

4) Jack Bellis 5-8-3

Disabled & over 6o's

1) Barry Owen 10-0-0

2) Brian Pilkington 6-2-6

3) Lenny Dutton 5-0-0

4) John Sharpe 4-12-6

Coming Events:

SUNDAY

Mersey Series draw 9a m Victoria Park

MONDAY

Disabled & Over 60's Draw 10-30am Stockton Heath British Legion

(Contact John Dagnall 01925 635486)

22nd September, 2009 Warrington Anglers Association Guardian Notes

 

Around the waters Rixton is still fishing really well and still providing good catches of skimmers and tench to maggot and sweetcorn.

Member John Weedon had a visit to Woodshaw on Saturday and reported several anglers had catches of over 20lb roach, perch rudd, skimmers and bream mainly to feeder fished bread while others fishing only a foot deep were catching on maggot or caster.

 

Worthington Lakes are still on form visiting angler Adam Bowen sent in this report on his day on Arley as follows, ` Despite the lake looking like pea soup in the morning with the algae present I had a fantastic day with around 40 bream and skimmers all between 2 and 4lb and caught on feeder with double maggot or worm on the hook'

The Dane although very low gave Gordon Monroe good sport with a good bag of grayling to around a1lb and Mark Hassall grayling and chub to 4lb the trick is to find a deep hole and exploit it.

It is a similar situation on the Wye as Alan Jones our local bailiff reports members were catching barbel to 6lb last weekend; however there have been some nice fish about with several to 13lb caught on the adjacent stretch over the weekend.

 

During summer 2009 newcomers to angling have met with our coaches and volunteer helpers on the Bridgewater canal every week for the `Minnows group' with some excellent results. This year we were very pleased to be financially supported by a grant of £500 awarded by the Warrington Borough Council towards new loan equipment and tackle. The Environment Agency also donated some additional whips which were very much appreciated.

 

Throughout the series of sessions seventy eight young people were introduced to our sport. Not all of them will take it up as a lifelong obsession although a good number will no doubt carry on in the sport and be taking their own kids fishing sometime in the not too distant future or even representing England at International level some of our former juniors still do.  

 

On average around forty `Minnows' regularly attended each week and enjoyed the experience, although the weather on several Tuesdays evenings was far from kind.

To add a little extra excitement the series was run on a point's basis the overall 2009 `Minnows' winner is Morgan Adawee. Well done Morgan and all the young people involved in the series this year. The date to keep free is Saturday 17^th October for our annual prize presentation.

In response to requests made on the session evaluation forms there will be some indoor sessions starting shortly designed for parents who don't fish themselves and their children to attend together.  So enabling them to set up fishing equipment such as elasticting a pole, replacing reel line, how to make rigs, tie hooks how to look after bait, mix ground bait and much more which can be difficult to learn without help.

The full points list for the series are at Cheshire Angling as is the booking sheet for the evening sessions which is on a first come basis as numbers will be limited.

 

 Ending on a very sad note long time member and lifelong angler 67 year old Mike Wetherby passed away at Almere Ferry on Saturday. A local resident found him collapsed on the gravels and called for the ambulance unfortunately their best efforts were unable to save him. Although deeply shocked his family are taking some comfort from knowing that Mike was engaged in a pastime he loved at the time.  For any angling  friends his family are not aware of the funeral will be held next Wednesday 3oth at Dunham Massey please telephone Darren on 07852 108627 for further details.

We always welcome your catch reports which are really useful to both other members and your management committee in their continuous fishery evaluation. Tel. 01928 716238 FAX 01928713898 or e-mail frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk.

HQ Parker Street will be open on Friday evening as usual between 7 & 9-30pm for subscriptions, new members, etc.

 

Frank Lythgoe

 

Results:

 

Minnows Series 2009

Overall Winners  

1) Morgan Adawee 78pts

2) Daniel Burton 80pts

3) Luke Chambers 96pts

4) Ryan Brown 99pts

 

 

 Disabled & over 6o's

1) Barry Owen 3-11-0

2) George Barber 2-13-4

3) John Dagnall 2-13-0

4) Harry Morris 2-11-0

 

Coming Events:

SATURDAY

There is a litter pick arranged by `Friends of the Bridgewater Canal' at Sale for any members who would like to help out. They are meeting at 10am by the Waterside in Sale all equipment will be provided but please wear suitable clothes.

SUNDAY

Mersey Championship draw 9a m Victoria Park

MONDAY

Disabled & Over 60's Draw 10-30am Stockton Heath British Legion

(Contact John Dagnall 01925 635486)

 

 

 

15th September, 2009 Warrington Anglers Association Guardian Notes

 

I had an interesting and informative report from Bailiff Mike Turton from Runcorn this afternoon. He along with the rest of the local bailiffs' team members has been dragging swims out on Phoenix Park Lake in order to keep pegs clear of the fringe lily which threatens to cover the lake. To add to the fringe lily problem another invasive weed which is an alien species identified as azolla filiculoides commonly known as azolla or fairy moss has appeared probably dumped in the lake from a garden pond along with goldfish. This is the same weed which colonized and over ran the Sankey canal for several years.

 

There is currently a link to a survey on the Angling Trust website under the campaigns heading which is being carried out by the charity Plantlife and supported by Angling Trust, National Trust, Royal Horticultural Society and other organisations. It is asking people to identify Azolla and several other alien species of plants which threaten our waterways. The feedback required is location etc and they are also interested in knowing of outlets where these particular plants are being sold.

It is important that weeds such as these and floating pennywort another found locally on the river Weaver and now I understand the Trent & Mersey canal are reported and locations collated so that the size of the problem can be assessed country wide. As with fish diseases and so we are not guilty of adding to any spread the advice is again to clean and dry all nets etc between fisheries.

 See www.anglingtrust.net for further information.

 

It is not all doom and gloom however Mike tells me the lake has been fishing really well to pole tactics all summer with quality roach and tench and some nice crucian carp making an appearance. The best baits at the moment are maggot, caster or corn and better roach on caster or small red worms and bread punch starting to come into play too. There are loads of small roach and rudd which bodes well for future years.

 

Grey Mist has also been giving excellent sport for pleasure anglers, and carp anglers although they don't always appreciate having double figure tench catches when they are targeting carp. One member said recently…. I had to go home before midnight I had had eighteen tench and I couldn't handle it anymore! Some of us would like to be so lucky!

 

A very busy Saturday afternoon of boat traffic on the Bridgewater canal saw the match weights for the Harold Smith Cup plummet for the youngsters who fished. Our disabled and over 60's on the other hand had a very good result at Grappenhall on Monday all twenty one competitors caught with only three not weighing in, catches averaged over 2.5lb.The Mersey is fishing very well with good pleasure catches all along which bodes well for the match this Sunday

We always welcome your catch reports which are really useful to both other members and your management committee in their continuous fishery evaluation. Tel. 01928 716238 FAX 01928713898 or e-mail frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk.

HQ Parker Street will be open on Friday evening as usual between 7 & 9-30pm for subscriptions, new members, etc.

 

Lynda  Lythgoe

 

Results:

Honorary & OAP's

1)   Alan Brown.                8-7-0
2)   Bill Stockton               4-10-0

3)   Harry Newton.            4-0-0
4)   Alf Seddon.                3-13-0

 Juniors Harold Smith Cup

 1) Luke Boden 13-2

 2) Nigel Hankey 6-6

 3) Ryan Brown 4-3

 

 Disabled & over 6o's

1) Barry Owen 5-1-1

2) Bill Pilkington 4-14-4

3) Geoff Brooks 3-13-6

4) Trevor Bainbridge 3-10-11

 

Coming Events:

SUNDAY

Mersey Match draw 9a m Victoria Park

MONDAY

Disabled & Over 60's Draw 10-30am Stockton Heath British Legion

(Contact John Dagnall 01925 635486)

TUESDAY

Honorary & OAP'S

Bridgewater Canal Grappenhall Bridge Draw at 11.00 a.m

8th September, 2009 Warrington Anglers Association Guardian Notes

 

Congratulations to Alan Wand the lucky winner of the August Catch of the Month prize with his stunning 14lb barbel from our Association owned stretch of the River Wye. The fish fell for halibut pellet and was not far off the Welsh record which presently stands at 14lb 9oz. Had this been caught earlier in the season it could well have beaten it. It is an impressive fish by any standard although sadly the photo is not going to win any photography competitions any time soon it will be on our website. Our junior prize winner this month is George Coulton who submitted a tench of 7lbs caught from Grey Mist Mere on legered maggots.

 

If we had a prize for effort it would certainly go to junior member Harry Done who previously missed out in our monthly competition because of a mix up in dates. His entry and first carp from Rixton Claypits is not a huge fish at 12-2-0 but he has persevered all season to catch it. We are awarding a special merit prize of £25 worth of BaitTech products. Another fish worthy of mention is a 6-2-0 chub from the tiny River Wyre, who said they don't go over 4lbs? Captor Dennis Deakin was well pleased with his catch and even more so when he found out that we awarded a consolation prize worth £15.

 

Entries for our September Catch of the Month competition could seriously benefit your fishing by winning you £100 plus of BaitTech products (Seniors) and £50 & £25 (Juniors). Plus each prize winner gets a Korda carp care kit.

 

Former committee member Martin James sent a nice report in on the Macclesfield canal which is now his local water. Needing to make some rigs up for the forthcoming Water Industries National he took himself off for a short session and once his rigs were set up he decided to fish on for a while. Unprepared and with only a couple of slices of bread and a tin of hemp lurking in his net bag it was a punch and hemp day! After catching a dozen or so roach on punch close in he went across on his hemp line where he proceeded to catch roach between 4 and 12oz every chuck for the next two hours.  Martin estimated his catch to be 7-8lbs not bad for three hours on the canal.

 

Member Andrew Gee was happy to report his new personal best carp from Rixton clay pits this week in his words `after having a pretty miserable season and a few unproductive sessions at Rixton of late I had an early morning session and landed my new personal best carp and also my first from this water. It was a mirror of 18lb 6oz which was followed by a succession of tench and small bream. It turned out to be my best session on the water this year!'

 

I always welcome your catch reports which are really useful to both other members and your management committee in their continuous fishery evaluation. Tel. 01928 716238 FAX 01928713898 or e-mail frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk.

HQ Parker Street will be open on Friday evening as usual between 7 & 9-30pm for subscriptions, new members, etc.

 

Frank Lythgoe

 

Results:

Juniors

1) Jack Bellis 2-6-0

2) James Postlethwaite 1-13-4

 

Overall series winners

1^st James Postlethwaite 28 pts

2^nd Nathan Rowles 37pts

3^rd Jack Bellis 43 pts

 

Minnows

1) Daniel Burton      2-14-10

2) Daniel Copsey 2-5-5

3) Lloyd Berry 2-1-5

4) William Oliver 1-11-11

 

Mersey Series (Sunday)

1) Anthony Higham 5-4-0

2) Brian Johnson 5-2-0

3) Ray Boden 5-1-0

 

Disabled & over 6o's

1) Barry Owen 5-7-9

2) Geoff Brooks 4-0-4

3) Alf Seddon 4-0-0

4) Len Dutton 3-2-9

 

Coming Events:

SUNDAY

No Mersey match to avoid clash with Charity Event at Lymm Dam

MONDAY

Disabled & Over 60's Draw 10-30am Stockton Heath British Legion

(Contact John Dagnall 01925 635486)

 

 

 

1^st September, 2009 Warrington Anglers Association Guardian Notes

  

It is with sadness that I report the recent death of Norman Porter who was a lifelong member of Warrington Anglers Association. Norman not only enjoyed his sport but was one of the few who was prepared to put something back to assist other anglers. He was a member of our committee for eight years but had also been instrumental in introducing countless junior members to our sport when along with his wife Win they ran our regular junior and intermediate events and National Teams for many years.

Even after he had relinquished these roles he continued to present day to give invaluable clerical assistance to maintain the wellbeing of our club.

The service is to be held at Walton Lea Crematorium 1-30pm Thursday 3^rd September. No flowers by request but donations may be made to Cancer Research via Maddocks Funeral Directors, London Road, Stockton Heath.

 

1^st September, 2009 Warrington Anglers Association Guardian Notes

 

The extra Bank Holiday event on the Mersey showed that this rapidly recovering river can stand up to increased match pressure, so much so that the catches actually improved on the second day! Saturdays event saw match regular and Mersey expert Ray Bowden notch up another impressive win with a mixed net for 10-8-0 which left the rest of the field trailing and doubled the weight of Craig Richie who was runner up with 4-9-0.

Monday saw a much closer contest with canal ace Jimmy Byrne showing that he is equally at home on running water when he took joint first with Gary Mannion with an 8-2-0 mixed net. Cheshire Anglings Dave Brooks who also coaches our juniors was only a few fish short of a win with 7-10-0. I must give our match organizer Bob Campbell a mention, for if there was such a thing in angling he would be awarded 'man of the match' as he alone framed in both days events.

 

The dynamic duo of Ernie Hutchinson and Dickie Wernham have been our and about during the past week and report that the canal at Oughtrington is solid with roach and skimmer bream taken on their favourite waggler and caster/maggot tactics. They squeezed in a trip to Worthington Lakes but were only catching very small roach and skimmers in contrast to the previous week when to quote Ernie "my arm was aching" when they both got amongst the bream and quality roach. There is currently an algae bloom which we are closely monitoring that may be responsible for the current low catches.

 

Needing a 1.5oz feeder to hold bottom member Chris Edwards fished a swollen Worthenbury Brook for an amazing catch in the flood conditions of grayling, plenty of dace and small chublets, plus two surprise barbel; of round 4lbs which fell for sweetcorn. Chris reports that another member has been catching barbel regularly from Almere Ferry stretch of the Dee and had six fish last week on halibut pellet.

 

Trevor Gray and Barry Whalsh who head our bailiffs for our Wigan area fisheries with their hand-picked team report that Johnsons Pool is bang on form with good roach, quality perch, chub, and occasional carp featuring in catches. The team has cleared the heavy weed from all the swims which now makes for really comfortable fishing. C & D and the carp pool are all producing, although Woodshaw is either feast or famine with illusive crucian carp to paste and tench the main target fish.

 

Please don't forget to let me have your catch reports and Catch of the Month entries for September because if you are not in it you can't win it!

Also let me have your catch reports which are really useful to both other members and your management committee in their continuous fishery evaluation. Tel. 01928 716238 FAX 01928713898 or e-mail frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk.

HQ Parker Street will be open on Friday evening as usual between 7 & 9-30pm for subscriptions, new members, etc.

 

Frank Lythgoe

 

Results:

 

Mersey Series (Sunday)

1) Ray Bowden  10-8-0

2) Craig Richie    4-9-0

3) Bob Campbell 3-8-0

 

Mersey Bank Holiday Special

1) Jimmy Byrne 

    Gary Mannion    8-2-0

3) Dave Brooks      7-10-0

4) Bob Campbell    6-4-2

 

Minnows

1) Daniel Burton      2-2-0

2) Morgan Adawee  2-1-0

3) Joe Copsey          1-12-0

4) Courtney Wright 1-11-4

 

Honorary & Senior Citizens

1) Alf Seddon        8-9-6

2) Alan Baldwin    1-9-0

3) Stan Charnock   1-3-10

4) Arthur Silvester 1-1-12

 

Coming Events:

SUNDAY

Mersey Series draw 9am Victoria Park

MONDAY

Disabled & Over 60's Draw 10-30am Stockton Heath British Legion (Contact John Dagnall 01925 635486)

TUESDAY

Honorary & OAP series Draw 11am Woodshaw Reservoir