1st Bobby Marshall

An excellent start to the 2005 Monday evening opens with lots of fish for all and a photo finish. Bobby edged out George by just one fish with a nice catch of mainly Carp on peg 2. He fed heavily with pellets with corn on the hook to take fish up to 3lb. On peg 5 George took lots of Ide to 1lb on caster before picking up some late Carp on corn.

Plenty of backing weights over 6kg bodes well for the rest of the series - Darren Ferguson's record weight of 29lb 11 ½ oz (see here) must go soon!

1^st Bobby Marshall - 23lb 5oz (10.580 kg)
2^nd George Glen - 22lb 13oz (10.340 kg)
3^rd John Callaghan - 15lb 5oz (6.950 kg)
4^th Paul Joyce - 15lb 2oz (6.850 kg)
5^th James Woodrow - 14lb 7oz (6.550 kg)

2nd George Glen

1st Colin Hart

3rd Andrew Rolinson

Cold wind and rain pushed the fish into deeper pegs so half the field struggled and half caught well, especially Colin on peg 18 in the deepest area.  He caught all of his fish on the pole, a nice mixed catch including Skimmers, Carp and a bonus big hybrid.

Chris fished the tip for most of his 2nd place catch.  Magiscroft juniors took a few scalps to take the rest of the places. Well done to Andrew for a good performance in 3rd.

1^st Colin Hart - 13lb 5oz (6.050 kg)
2^nd Chris Paton - 7lb 6oz (3.340 kg)
3^rd Andrew Rollinson (Junior) - 5lb 5 1/2oz (2.420 kg )
4^th Mark Lyons (Junior) - 3lb 10 1/2oz (1.660 kg)
5^th Kevin Murphy (Junior) - 3lb 8 1/2oz (1.600 kg)

2nd Chris Paton

1st Andrew Rollinson

Conditions must have been cold overnight for this match to fish so poorly, but the juniors worked hard and deserved every fish.  Andrew Rollinson is fishing well at the moment and took 3lb 13oz for a clear win.

1^st Andrew Rollinson - 3lb 13oz (1.730 kg)
2^nd Steven Mann - 2lb 4oz (1.020 kg)
3^rd Chris McPhee - 1lb 13oz (0.820 kg )
4^th Jamie Lavitt - 1lb 9oz (0.710 kg)
5^th Craig Hammond - 1lb 7oz (0.640 kg)

1st Darren Peel

A tricky day with strong winds but Darren made the most of his end peg with a nice mixed catch of Skimmers and Carp for a clear win.  Everyone found the fish down deep after cold nights but all Ewan could get was tiny Carp which he caught steadily on a long pole for second.

1^st Darren Peel - 8lb 14oz (4.020 kg)
2^nd Ewan Weed - 6lb 0oz (2.710 kg)
3^rd Davie Corcoran - 4lb 13oz (2.160 kg )

2nd Ewan Weed

1st Colin McKerrell

Although most struggled to cope with the strong winds Colin and young Kevin contested a close peg to peg battle which Colin won out.  Both took Skimmers and Carp on pole and maggot fished overdepth.

1^st Colin McKerrell - 6lb 15oz (3.150 kg)
2^nd Kevin Murphy - 6lb 3oz (2.810 kg)
3^rd Chris Hughes - 3lb 2oz (1.420 kg )

2nd Kevin Murphy

1st Gus Brindle

Gus Brindle smashed the Magiscroft match record with a great performance in a super match on the Island Pond.  Gus on peg 19 had a great mixed catch with lots of Ide, Orfe and later on Carp for a clear win over Gary's Ide catch from peg 23.

Gary and Gus were paired together and obviously walked the pairs event.  Brian Wallace held on to win the points series overall.  thanks to Chris Hughes for organising an enjoyable and successful series through a long hard winter.

Individuals -
1^st Gus Brindle - 38lb 12oz (17.570kg)
2^nd Gary McKay - 23lb 5oz (10.570kg)
3^rd George Glen - 18lb 11oz (8.840kg)

Pairs -
1^st Gus Brindle & Gary McKay - 62lb 1oz (28.140kg)
2^nd Colin Hart & Barry Lindsey - 29lb 10oz (13.430kg)
3^rd Bobby Marshall & Derek Brady - 27lb 8oz (12.450kg)

Series 1st Brian Wallace	Series 2nd George Glen
Series 3rd Colin Hart	Man of the Series Derek Brady

2nd Gary McKay

1st Lorna Figures

2nd = Craig McGhee

Well done to Lorna for a fine catch to win the first of the 2005 junior competitions.  Well done also to Alex and Craig who tied for second.

1^st Lorna Figures 11lb 15oz
2^{nd =} Alex Kerr - 8lb 6oz
2^{nd =} Craig McGhee - 8lb 6oz

2nd = Alex Kerr

1st Karl Altdorfer

A disappointing match, after great fishing on Saturday (the same pegs gave up to 40lb) a change to a cold east wind knocked sport on the head.  Karl deserved a hard earned win with a net of 25 very small Carp close in on waggler and pellet to pip Chris's skimmers.

1^st Karl Altdorfer - 1lb 9oz (0.700 kg)
2^nd Chris Paton - 1lb 7oz (0.640 kg)
3^rd Alex Napier - 2lb 2½oz (0.470 kg )

1st Bryan Hewitt

The fish in the Main Loch switched off after a cold night following an encouraging Saturday leaving the competitors scratching their heads as well as scratching around for bites. Bryan fished for Carp close in on peg 3 and was rewarded with a number of small commons on maggot. Drew threatened to win with a late run of Skimmers from peg 13, but he needed more time to catch Bryan up.

1^st Bryan Hewitt - 4lb 12oz (2.150 kg)
2^nd Drew McCluskey - 3lb 7½oz (1.560 kg)
3^rd Karl Altdorfer - 2lb 2½oz (0.970 kg )

1st Kyle McCormack

A good match in fine weather with the rising temperatures giving lots of fish for all 20 anglers. Kyle McCormack led the way with a great catch including lots of good sized Carp. Andy Pickford included a nice Tench in his second placed net.

1^st Kyle McCormack - 21lb 12½oz (9.870 kg)
2^nd Andy Pickford - 13lb 15oz (6.320 kg)
3^rd Gus Brindle - 13lb 3oz (2.490 kg)
4^th Paddy Smylie - 9lb 12½oz (4.230 kg)
5^th Stu Crossland - 8lb 1oz (3.660 kg)

2nd Andy Pickford

1st Dougie Garmory

Dougie fished very positively with chopped worm and took all his fish on it. He had 7 Tench, including 3 big ones, along with a number of big Ide on peg 25 for a narrow victory. Brian had the end peg 18 in shallower water and had more fish, mainly Ide but also 8 Carp, only one fish away from Dougie.

1^st Dougie Garmory - 11lb 3oz (5.070 kg)
2^nd Brian Wallace - 10b 14oz (4.910 kg)
3^rd Colin Hart - 5lb 8oz (2.490kg )
4^th George Glen - 5lb 3oz (2.350kg)
5^th Bobby Marshall - 3lb 13oz (1.730kg)

2nd Brian Wallace

1st 
George Glen

Earthmoving works the day before, depositing tons of soil in part of the Main Loch, had a great impact along with the ice covering much of the loch.  Perhaps because of unnatural colour on the bottom everyone struggled and most of the fish caught were Roach between 6 and 9 ft deep.

George missed loads of bites from small fish on a fixed waggler with loose feed maggot but managed to hit enough small Roach and Ide to scrape a pound together for another win. 

1^st George Glen - 1lb 1oz (0.470 kg)
2^nd Brian Wallace - 9oz (0.260 kg)
3^rd Bobby Marshall - 8oz (0.240 kg)

1st 
George Glen

A 1lb Carp 3 minutes from time helped George make it two in a row in another tough, cold match.  He caught most of his fish, small Roach and Skimmers, on the slider by loose feeding maggots with maggot hookbait.  Though the fishing was hard, there were plenty of bites to be had from silver fish, but hitting them wasn't so easy. 

1^st George Glen - 2lb 10 1/2oz (1.200 kg)
2^nd Chris Paton - 1lb 10oz (0.730 kg)
3^rd Frank Smith - 1lb 7oz (0.640)

1st 
George Glen

The freeze continues and the fish in the main loch switched off for this match.  George's 2 bonus larger F1 carp to 1lb made the difference along with some small ones from deep water on peg 19.  He fished double maggot on feeder and bomb.

1^st George Glen - 2lb 10 1/2oz
2^nd Brian Wallace - 2lb 1oz
3^rd Kevin Murphy - 2lb 1/2 oz

1st 
Jim Hillhouse

Jim nets another Carp

Magiscroft pulled off a memorable result by overturning the odds to beat a much more experienced Central team in the first round of this super UK wide national knock-out competition.

The two teams of 10 faced difficult conditions with a brutal overnight freeze and strong gusting winds.  Though Central are the stronger team on paper, the conditions played to Magiscroft's team plan with small Chub being the key fish on the day.  Magiscroft had 6 section wins to win by 16 points to 13. 

Section winners for Magiscroft were Derek Brady, Mark Lyons, James Woodrow, Brian Wallace, Gary McKay and Jim Hillhouse - Central section winners were John Callaghan, George Yardley, Tony Ball and Brian Cochrane.

Individual Winner Jim Hillhouse seemed to be fishing a different match to everyone else and took full advantage of his end peg (no. 27).  He took a string Carp to 1lb on Magiscroft Jelly Pellet 3ft from the Island for a superb weight of 24lb 6oz.  He fed green swimstim pellets regularly and found fishing 1ft off the bottom was most successful.

Thanks to both teams for making such a sporting event and especially Central who were very gracious and will surely look forward to next year for their revenge ! 

Magiscroft 16 pts
Central 13 pts

1^st Jim Hillhouse - 24lb 6oz
2^nd Stef Hunter - 6lb 8oz
3^rd Gay McKay - 5lb 10oz

2nd 
Stef Hunter

1st Barry Morgan

Barry made it two in a row with a confident performance on the feeder again for a more than comfortable win.  The match was fished on the far side and pegs in the 30s fished the best with Barry on 32.  He fished maggot bait with a groundbait feeder, switching to bomb occasionally, for a mainly carp catch with a few skimmers.

Chris Paton, and Bryan Hewitt on pegs 31 and 30 also had a good start but fell way behind after heavy feeding.  So the lesson is clear - feed carefully at the moment, too much can spoil the peg.

1^st Barry Morgan - 9lb 10oz (4.350kg)
2^nd Chris Paton - 2lb 14oz (1.300kg)
3^rd = Brian Wallace - 1lb 9oz (0.720kg)
3^rd = Bobby Marshall - 1lb 9oz (0.720kg)

1st Barry Morgan

Many of the pegs on the Main Loch were flooded over after days of heavy rain that continued through the match and drenched the competitors.  That put the fish off somewhat, but not Barry who worked patiently away on feeder and bomb to take a mixed catch including a number of skimmers on double white maggot or 3 pinkies.

1^st Barry Morgan - 4lb 7oz (2.000kg)
2^nd Ewan Weed - 2lb 6oz (1.080kg)
3^rd Ian Whitson - 2lb 2oz (0.970kg)

Here comes the flood !

Barry in
Action

1st Derek Brady

3rd Dave Smith

What a miserable day with more cold gales but Derek fought through for a well deserved win despite the hypothermia!  He found that regular feeding with small amounts Magiscroft Jelly Pellets every cast kept the F1s coming in bursts, just enough to hold off Tony and Davie.

1^st Derek Brady - 12lb 12oz (5.770kg)
2^nd Tony Ball - 10lb 7oz (4.720kg)
3^rd Dave Smith - 10lb 4oz (4.660kg)

Derek with  the Winners Envelope from Karl

2nd

1st Alan Taylor

Alan broke the Top Pond record with a great catch of F1 carp just 4 ounces ahead of Gary in a photo finish on a terrible day of cold, gale force winds.  Alan fished Strawberry Jelly pellet for a string of carp slightly bigger than Gary's.  Perhaps the key was the fact that he fed hardly anything and relied on the fact the the fish were already happy in the peg.

1^st Alan Taylor - 22lb 14oz (10.390kg)
2^nd Gary McKay - 22lb 10oz (10.290kg)
3^rd Chris Hughes - 13lb 13oz (6.830kg)
4^th Karl Altdorfer - 13lb 10oz (6.760kg)

2nd Gary McKay

Chris in Action

A super winning weight for Chris given overnight temperatures of -6C and the fact that everyone had to break the ice before the 4 hour match could start.  Chris tempted a steady succession of mainly F1 Carp to nearly 1lb on maggot to start then later on Magiscroft Jelly Pellets.

1^st Chris Paton - 19lb 1oz (8.650kg)
2^nd Chris Hughes - 13lb 2oz (5.950kg)
3^rd Karl Altdorfer - 6lb 10oz (3.000kg)
4^th Dave Smith - 4lb 8 1/2 oz (2.050kg)

  Match in the Ice & Snow

1st Bobby Marshall

With temperature not rising above -2C it was surprising how everyone got just enough bites to keep them going  through the freezing conditions.  Gary set the pace with the most small carp and roach but Bobby pipped him with a couple of slightly bigger fish despite fighting the line freezing in his rod rings.

1^st Bobby Marshall - 14oz (0.400kg)
2^nd Gary McKay - 13oz (0.370kg)
3^rd Brian Wallace - 10 1/2 oz (0.290kg)

1st Colin Hart

Jim Hillhouse and Bream

A tough Winter day but the hardy souls had the pairs element of the match keep them going for 4 hours with every fish vital for points.  Colin took individual honours with a late run of skimmers on the slider and that helped his partner Bobby Marshall to first in the pairs too.  

Derek Brady has held onto the lead in the series with 14 points after 3 matches.

Individuals -
1^st Colin Hart - 2lb 5oz (1.050kg)
2^nd Brian Wallace - 2lb 2oz (0.960kg)
3^rd Jim Hillhouse- 1lb 12oz (1.960kg)

Pairs -
1^st Colin Hart & Bobby Marshall - 3lb 9oz (1.620kg)
2^nd Brian Wallace & Gary McKay - 3lb 0oz (1.360kg)
3^rd Colin Ryan (Scoob) & Jim Hillhouse - 2lb 2oz (0.960kg)

2nd Brian Wallace

1st Alex Napier

It's definitely December now and the Island Pond Carp just did not want to feed so Alex did well to work out a mixed catch to beat Stef on the day. 

1^st Alex Napier - 3lb 8oz (1.590kg)
2^nd Stef Hunter - 3lb 2oz (1.420kg)
3^rd Bryan Hewitt - 1lb 7oz (0.650kg)

1st Gary McKay

There's no stopping Gary at the moment (as recognised in his Angler's Mail article this week). Though Stef made a useful lead in the early stages, Gary built up his swim with small amounts of maggot feed in a number of spots.  He patiently picked off quality Ide throughout the match, mainly on maggot on the long pole, for another impressive win.

1^st Gary McKay - 10lb 4oz (4.640kg)
2^nd Stef Hunter - 9lb 2oz (4.140kg)
3^rd Drew McCluskey - 5lb 14oz (2.660kg)

Darren only set up the slider and his single-mindedness paid off with a decent catch of small Carp on the slider in a hard day due to cold water.

1^st Darren Ferguson - 3lb 13oz (1.710kg)
2^nd Barry Morgan - 2lb 7oz (1.100kg)
3^rd James Woodrow - 2lb 6 oz (1.090kg)