Well done to Mark who just edged out William to win the first Monday Evening Open of 2008.

1st Mark Lyons - 11lb 15oz
2nd William Stewart - 11lb 12oz
3rd James Woodrow - 8lb 0oz
4th Ian Whitson - 7lb 4½oz

1st Colin Hart - 11lb 8oz
2nd Kevin Murphy - 7lb 8oz
3rd James Woodrow - 7lb 1oz

Pairs -
1st Colin Hart & Jim Hillhouse - 11lb 8oz
2nd Kevin Murphy & Dave Richardson - 9lb 10½
3rd Bobby Marshall & Brian Docherty (Snr) - 7lb 12oz

A sharp overnight frost put a stop to the expected good catches and meant that Carp never moved onto the pole line. That suited Chris who planned to commit to feeder and hair-rigged corn and his method was right on the day for a clear win with 7 Carp, a skimmer and an Ide on peg 9.

Ian had the best silver fish catch of Ide caught shallow at 13 metres on peg 6 for a well earned 2nd, but not enough to keep Chris out of the Ayrstrike final.

1st Chris Paton - 7lb 10½oz (3.470kg)
2nd Ian Whitson - 6lb 1oz (2.750kg)
3rd Jim Jones - 4lb 3½oz (1.910kg)
4th James Woodrow - 3lb 9oz (1.620kg)
5th Kevin Murphy - 3lb 7½oz (1.570kg)

A pretty miserable day for the 10 who fished a sweep on the far side of the Main Loch. Rain pretty much stopped play and with no Carp and no roach feeding only a few Ide and Skimmers saved the day.

Chris fished peg 49 and took most of his multi-coloured catch of Ide, Pink Orfe and Blue Orfe on worm in a burst in the middle of the match. Jim worked away with pellet to take 2nd place with a catch of skimmers.

1st Chris Paton - 4lb 7oz
2nd Jim Hillhouse - 3lb 14oz
3rd Davie Corcoran - 3lb 12½oz

A really interesting match with a variety of tactics and fish caught, despite a biting cold wind with occasional snow ! 

Woody fished another tidy match on peg 18 steadily catching Carp on paste and corn at 13 metres to run out the winner. Colin had some nice skimmers in his net, from peg 12, also on paste - while James on 14 relied on pellet and was also rewarded with skimmers.

1st James Woodrow - 15lb 8½oz (7.050kg)
2nd Colin Hart - 12lb 4oz (5.560kg)
3rd James Dornom - 10lb 5oz (4.680kg)
4th Jim Jones - 9lb 12½oz (4.440kg)
5th Stewart Rae - 9lb 1½oz (4.130kg)

A good match fished from 6 to 19 on the cafe bank. George only had 3 to 4lb of roach going into the final hour but a switch to paste fished 8ft deep right under the tree on peg 19 saw him catch 8 carp in the last hour for a clear win. Dave included a lovely tench with 3 carp in his catch for second from peg 16.

1st - George Glen - 18lb 1oz
2nd - Dave Richardson - 10lb 7oz
3rd - Colin Hart - 7lb 13oz
4th - Jim Jones - 6lb 10½oz
5th - Tommy Lauriston - 5lb 13oz

A great performance from young Kevin to win the 14 peg Sunday Open with the second biggest Island Pond match catch, close to the record. After starting on the feeder he then fished from 14 to 15 metres across on peg 5 and took a procession of Carp, mainly on Sweetcorn.

George included some bigger Carp and Ghosties to 5lb+ in his 2nd placed catch from peg 27, also on Corn. Woody had a super catch of Silver fish, mainly Chub on maggot, for 3rd off peg 8.

1st - Kevin Murphy - 57lb 7oz (26.050kg)
2nd - George Glen - 30lb 12oz (13.950kg)
3rd - James Woodrow - 26lb 13oz (12.160kg)
4th - Gary McKay - 20lb ½oz (9.090kg)
5th - Stuart Rae - 19lb 8½oz (8.860kg)

Big Davie is the first angler to earn a coveted place in the Ayrstrike grand final after holding off Ewan Weed to win the first qualifier. Strong winds and a cold day made for miserable fishing conditions and low weights all round. So Davie concentrated on the feeder and took 5 Carp on Corn and maggot on peg 17.

The speculation at the weight-in was that Ewan might have done enough with his catch of mainly skimmers from peg 11 ... but he was just ounces short.

1st - Davie Corcoran - 5lb 4oz (2.380kg)
2nd - Ewan Weed - 4lb 11oz (2.120kg)
3rd - Brian Cochrane - 3lb 15oz (1.780kg)
4th - Tommy Lauriston - 3lb 2oz (1.420kg)
4th - Wiliam Stewart - 2lb 15oz (1.320kg)

See Pictures and discuss on the Magiscroft Forum - here

Chris had a few small fish on the pole but won clearly due to a couple of Carp and a couple of Skimmers on the maggot feeder ... corn for the Carp, maggot for the skimmers.

1st Chris Paton - 4lb 8oz
2nd James Woodrow - 12oz
3rd Stuart Rae - 6½oz

 

Congratulations to Simon Murray for edging through to win Scotland's first ever CIPS rules league.  Simon did enough with a well earned section second while both leaders Colin McKerrell and Colin Hart just fell at the last hurdle.

On a difficult day, with very few bigger fish feeding, Kevin made the best of the fish available for a mixed catch of small Roach, Ide and Skimmers to win using bloodworm and joker.

Full Results and League Table - Here

1st Kevin Murphy - 1.490Kg (3lb 4½oz)
2nd Mark Lyons - 1.350Kg  (2lb 15½oz)
3rd Jim Jones - 1.300Kg (2lb 14oz)

League 1st - Simon Murray - 7 Points
2nd - Colin McKerrell - 8 Points
3rd - Kevin Murphy - 8 Points
 

Small Roach were the target for most of the 22 anglers in this second round match since Bream and Carp were not feeding.  That played into Woody's hands and his bloodworm and joker game plan got him over 100 fish to edge out George by the narrowest margin.

George fished for Skimmers and had a few along with roach on 14m pole with maggot and bloodworm. His last cast resulted in a 2lb Carp which only counted as 1lb.  With the match weighed in kilos some hurried calculations were needed ... ultimately Woody triumphed by just 6 grams ... ¼ of an ounce !

Colin McKerrell and Colin Hart lead the league with 1 round left.

Full Results and League Table - Here

1st James Woodrow - 4lb 8½oz (2.050kg)
2nd George Glen - 4lb 8¼oz (2.044kg)
3rd Colin Hart - 2lb 11½oz (1.234kg)
4th Brian Wallace - 2lb 6oz (1.180kg)
5th Davie Corcoran - 2lb 4½oz (1.130kg)
 

A frozen Main Loch meant that the first in the 3 match series had to be switched to the Island Pond.  The 20 competitors were not deterred though led by Bobby who had a good catch of Carp with 2 Barbel and some Chub for a clear win.

The rules specify no Carp baits, like pellets, corn or fishmeal, and carp over 1lb only count as 1lb.  On the Island Pond though, Carp were always likely to be important and Bobby still managed enough on maggot at 11m and 14m on peg 7. He would normally have weighed around 30lb (instead of 15lb 14oz) including 1 Carp of 7lb!

On the other side of the water the two Colins battled it out for 2nd place on pegs 22 & 23 with great catches of silver fish.  Colin Mc fished pinkie over joker for 152 Roach to pip Colin H who went for a bigger stamp and included some quality Roach by feeding more chopped worm and caster.

Full Results and League Table - Here

1st Bobby Marshall - 15lb 14oz (7.200kg)
2nd Colin McKerrell - 10lb 13½oz (4.920kg)
3rd Colin Hart - 9lb 11oz (4.400kg)
4th Jim Brown - 8lb 3½oz (3.730kg)
5th Simon Murray - 7lb 14½oz (3.590kg)
 

Very late Carp for Davie and Jim thwarted young Stephen's valiant attempt to beat the 12 other hardy competitors on a very hard day. Stephen had a hard earned catch of skimmers and small Carp and was looking good for a win, since Carp had not fed all day, probably due to snow melt chilling the Main Loch down to 3 degrees.

There was always a chance of the odd big fish as the light faded though, and so it turned out with Jim getting his one Carp on Corn with 15 minutes to go, and Davie getting the match winning fish, also on corn, with his last cast !

1st Davie Corcoran - 3lb 9oz (1.610kg)
2nd Jim Jones - 3lb 1oz (1.390kg)
3rd Stephen McLean - 2lb 9½oz (1.170kg)
 

Colin achieved an amazing feat by not only winning the New Year Open for the second year running ... he also broke another Magiscroft record for the second year running at the same time ! Congratulations to Colin who is on top form at the moment.

The Carp changed their minds from the last few weeks and fed only in the shallower pegs which played right in to Colin's hands on end peg 9 and William Stewart too on the other end peg 20. The rest of the 18 competitors were fishing a different match for silver fish .... but Colin could catch Carp regularly on Corn and loose-fed a kilo of pellets to keep them happy enough to build up his new Island Pond record catch.

1st Colin Hart - 64lb 14½oz (29.440kg)
2nd William Stewart - 26lb 12oz (12.140)
3rd James Woodrow - 8lb 6oz (3.800kg)
4th Davie Corcoran - 7lb 13oz (3.550kg)
5th Danny Griffin - 4lb 15oz (2.240kg)
 

Well done to Colin with a nice catch of skimmers from peg 10 for a clear win on a very hard day for the 13 hardy competitors. Colin fished double pinkie over groundbait and leam at 13 metres. Carp didn't feed today, maybe because of cold nights, and only George managed 2 carp which earned him 2nd place.

1st Colin Hart - 7lb 9oz (3.430kg)
2nd George Glen - 3lb 13oz (1.730kg)
3rd Kevin Murphy - 2lb 15oz (1.340kg)
4th Brian Docherty (Jnr) - 2lb 13½oz (1.290kg)
 

Carp were tightly shoaled again leading to a struggle for most of the competitors in the traditional Boxing Day Open on the Top Pond.  Derek was on the fish and followed Big Davie's lead from the last match by fishing corn off the bottom to edge out Chris and Woody.

1st Derek Brady - 16lb 3oz (7.340kg)
2nd Chris Hughes - 15lb 2oz (6.860kg)
3rd James Woodrow - 14lb 12oz (6.690kg)
 

It took a couple of hours to break the ice on a frozen pond so the match was reduced to 3½ hours, which is all Davie needed to stay warm and win by a clear margin with a nice net of Carp.

Davie and Derek mainly caught on corn on pegs 12 and 13 where the Carp were tightly shoaled.  Davie caught best fishing off the bottom.

1st Davie Corcoran - 21lb 5½oz (9.680kg)
2nd Derek Brady - 11lb 5½oz (5.150kg)
3rd James Woodrow - 5lb 14½oz (2.680kg)
 

Corn was the winning bait again, this time for 19 year old Kevin in an interesting match on a bitterly cold December day with ice on the water first thing.  Kevin drew peg 26 and had a mainly carp catch.  He caught most of his fish close to the island but importantly fed further away from the far bank to avoid spooking the fish.

Dave fished a very good match for 2nd place, edging out George's Carp catch with his mixed net with plenty of silver fish on maggot first then corn later from peg 8.

1st Kevin Murphy - 29lb 13oz (13.520kg)
2nd Dave Richardson - 17lb 15½oz (8.150kg)
3rd George Glen - 16lb 3oz (7.760kg)
4th Gary McKay - 12lb 0oz (6.240kg)
5th Colin McKerrell - 9lb 3½oz (4.180kg)

Woody persisted with sweetcorn all day to take a great catch of carp for 42lb 7oz on another cold day after snow on Saturday. He fished against the island at 14 metres on peg 24, feeding corn occasionally and searching along the far bank to steadily pick off fish to 3lb. Colin caught well to start with on peg 2, also on corn, but struggled later to end up well adrift on Woody in 2nd.

1st James Woodrow - 42lb 7oz (19.250kg)
2nd Colin Hart - 26lb 1oz (11.820kg)
3rd Jim Jones - 14lb 14½oz (6.760kg)
4th Brian Docherty - 13lb 12oz (6.240kg)
5th Gary McKay - 9lb 3½oz (4.180kg)

A very close match on a cold day with an exciting weigh-in as Chris took the lead on peg 3, then Brian nicked ahead on peg 25 then finally Colin trumped them both on peg 28. 

All 3 had mainly Carp catches and Chris caught on corn, worm and paste and included a 7lb+ Ghostie.  Brian caught mainly on paste.  Colin caught on corn, loose feeding pellet, but a clever change to caster in the last hour won him the match as Chub and Ide boosted his weight above his rivals.

1st Colin Hart - 23lb 7oz (10.630kg)
2nd Brian Docherty - 22lb 15oz (10.410kg)
3rd Chris Paton - 22lb 7oz (10.180kg)
4th James Woodrow - 15lb 2½oz (6.880kg)
5th Martin Pearson - 12lb 4½oz (5.570kg)

The forecast snow fortunately didn't materialise but the Carp didn't show for most apart from Trevor.  With only natural baits only allowed, many fished for silver fish including George who had mainly skimmers on pole and tip, and Woody with a busy net of small roach.

Trevor had faith in the feeder though and was rewarded with 3 nice Carp to 4lb for a well earned win in the individual and pairs events.

1st Trevor Bond - 9lb 10½oz (4.3800kg)
2nd George Glen - 6lb 2½oz (2.790kg)
3rd James Woodrow - 4lb 12½oz (2.170kg)
4th Ross Clark - 4lb 7oz (2.010kg)

Pairs

1st Trevor Bond & Ross Clark - 14lb 1½oz (6.390kg)
2nd James Woodrow & Barry Lindsay - 7lb 3oz (3.260kg)
3rd George Glen & Dave Richardson - 6lb 7oz (2.920kg)

1st Davie Matthew - 9lb 14oz (4.480kg)
2nd Andy Roberts - 5lb 12oz (2.610kg)
 

Woody waited patiently until the fish came on his 13m paste line in the last hour on peg 13.  When they did he quickly took Carp and a couple of skimmers for a clear win.  Brian stuck to the tip on peg 11 and is rueing a few lost fish.

1st James Woodrow - 11lb 14oz (5.390kg)
2nd Brian Docherty - 8lb 0oz (3.630kg)
3rd George Glen - 6lb 1½oz (2.770kg)
4th Dave Smith - 4lb 14oz (2.210kg)

A cold day but an interesting match with a photo finish where only ounces separated George and Colin.  George took the honours with 8 Carp all on legered corn from peg 18.  At the other end of the cafe bank on peg 6 Colin had a great mixed catch on feeder and the pole close in for second place ahead of Woody who caught best on paste from peg 17.

1st George Glen - 15lb 15½oz (7.250kg)
2nd Colin Hart - 15lb 12oz (7.150kg)
3rd James Woodrow - 12lb 8½oz (5.690kg)
4th Davie Corcoran - 8lb 9½oz (3.900kg)
5th Brian Docherty - 5lb 1½oz (2.310kg)

An overnight drop in temperatures affected backup weights but George picked off 6 Carp and a nice tench for a clear win on peg 9.  He caught on the pole and the tip but corn fished with the bomb was best on the day.

1st George Glen - 14lb 5½oz (6.510kg)
2nd Jim Hillhouse - 5lb 9oz (2.530kg)
3rd Colin Hart - 5lb 1oz (2.300kg)

The tip edged out the pole again an Chris won his second Sunday open in a row with a big feeder and a variety of hook baits from peg 17.

1st Chris Paton - 9lb 1oz (4.110kg)
2nd Davie Corcoran - 8lb 4oz (3.740kg)
3rd George Glen - 7lb 0oz (3.180kg)

A great performance and a big winning margin for Colin who fished the pellet waggler for an all Carp catch from Peg 18. Kevin continued his great run of form in second with a more mixed catch of Carp and Ide on the pole from peg 2.

1st Colin Hart - 40lb 9oz (18.400kg)
2nd Kevin Murphy - 14lb 2oz (6.410kg)
3rd George Glen - 12lb 10½oz (5.740kg)
4th Chris Paton - 9lb 1½oz (4.130kg)
5th James Woodrow - 7lb 4½oz (3.300kg)

Pairs

1st Colin Hart & Ross Clark - 40lb 13oz (18.510kg)
2nd Kevin Murphy (alone, adding ½ his weight!) - 21lb 3oz (9.610kg)
3rd George Glen & Chris Hughes - 18lb 1oz (8.200kg)

Young Kevin is showing great skill and maturity at the moment.  He beat a top quality field of 40 to win the Monklands Open with a good catch of Carp on a tricky day from peg 5 on the Island Pond, just edging Colin into 2nd.

There's been no stopping Gary McDonald from Cumbernauld whose 4 2nds and a 1st (in this match) won him the series by a big margin over 20 others.  The fact that 16 kids contested this final round of 6 matches shows how keen they are, and they have all shown growing skills using different methods on different waters this year.

Thanks to all who contributed prizes and especially Willie and Peter for their organising and coaching efforts.

1st Gary McDonald - 3lb 14oz
2nd Duncan McNaught - 2lb 5½oz
3rd Anthony Vereccia - 1lb 6½oz

Final League Top 3

Gary McDonald - 9 Points Scott McAuley - 34 Points Kyle McLachlan - 35 Points

Though Stewart (Carp 'n Paste again!) and pairs partner Woody won the match, the day belonged to Jim Hillhouse who strolled to victory in the overall individual league.

1st Stewart Rae - 33lb 14oz (15.590kg)
2nd Barry Lindsay - 19lb 14½oz (6.520kg)
3rd Derek Brady - 16lb 9½oz (5.220kg)

Pairs

1st Stewart Rae & James Woodrow - 46lb 4oz (15.590kg)
2nd Barry Lindsay & Jim Hillhouse - 33lb 8½oz (6.520kg)
3rd Derek Brady & Bobby Marshall - 20lb 6½oz (5.220kg)

Final League

1st Jim Hillhouse - 32 pts
2nd Stewart Rae - 24 pts
3rd George Glen - 18 pts
4th James Woodrow - 17 pts
5th Derek Brady - 16 pts

Well done James, who competed in his first ever match - and won !

Congratulations to Tommy for his well deserved first open match win!

1st Tommy Lauriston - 18lb 11oz (8.480kg)
2nd William Stewart - 16lb 11oz (7.570kg)
3rd Neil Chapman - 11lb 12oz (5.330kg)

Neil is pretty new to match fishing but is learning fast as seen by his great win in the Barras Open with a nice catch of Ide.  Margaret was so close in second with good carp, only one fish away from winning.

A sell-out for the 5th year running, the Barras Open is still the friendliest match around!  Thanks to all who took part, Frieda for the lovely buffet and especially Derek Brady of the Barras Fruit Co. for continuing his his very generous sponsorship, the prizes presented by Derek's wife Moira. 

3rd Hughie Welsh

Neil Receives 1st Prize from Moira

Margaret with Moira

1st Neil Chapman - 26lb 8oz (12.020kg)
2nd Margaret Rae - 25lb 12oz (11.680kg)
3rd Hughie Welsh - 20lb 1oz (9.100kg)
4th Paul Vernel - 15lb 1oz (6.830kg)
5th Matt Dunn - 12lb 10oz (5.730kg)

Paste did the business for Woody from end peg 1 but Derek fished a good match for 2nd on worm shallow from peg 8.  Jim Hillhouse now has an unassailable lead in the Summer League and has been pronounced 'the champion' !

1st James Woodrow  - 18lb 10oz
2nd Derek Brady - 14lb 3oz
3rd Stuart Rae - 12lb 13oz
4th Lorna Figures - 12lb 12½oz
5th Jim Hillhouse - 9lb 9oz

Pairs

1st James Woodrow & Brian Wallace - 21lb 15oz
2nd Stuart Rae & Chris Hughes - 15lb 8oz
3rd Lorna Figures & Tommy Lauriston - 14lb 5½oz

Magiscroft was honoured to host the second running of the Junior Celtic Cup between Scotland and Wales and it was a superb event that all enjoyed. After terrible weather on the Saturday practice day everyone expected a hard match but the Main Loch fished surprisingly well and the youngsters put on a great display with a very high standard of angling on both sides.

After a very close battle the result went right down to the wire with Scotland just edging the match by 5 section wins to 4.

Thanks to everyone involved for making a great event, especially Scotland sponsors Daiwa Sports Ltd.  Roll on next year in Wales !

Full results and pictures at SFCA website soon.

Both Teams Together

1st Kevin Murphy  - 26lb 11oz
2nd Stuart Rae  - 26lb 7½oz
3rd Jim Hillhouse - 10lb 13oz
4th Jamie McKay - 7lb 2oz
5th Chris Hughes - 6lb 4oz

Heavy rain and unseasonally cold weather made this a difficult match but the competition was still hot with everything to fight for in the last round.

Monklands 'A' made a strong late challenge but Central also fished a good match to retain their lead and run out 2007 team champions. Stef Hunter also held on to his lead with a well earned section 2nd to take the Individual title. Well done to all the competitors and special thanks to sponsors Daiwa and Anglers Emporium. The anglers also wish to thank Mike and Ewan Weed for their great organisation.

1st Gordon Allison - 2lb 9½oz
2nd Darren Gibson - 2lb 9oz
3rd Darren Gibson - 1lb 9oz
4th Wililam Gemmell - 0lb 8½oz
5th Scott McAuley - 0lb 8oz
6th Jordan Dunn - 0lb 4oz

Woody took another good winning catch with Carp on waggler and pellet first then paste close in later on.

1st James Woodrow - 31lb 1½oz
2nd Darren Ferguson - 14lb 13oz
3rd Chris Hughes - 12lb 5oz
4th Colin Hart - 11lb 12oz
5th Ian Whitson - 9lb 11oz

Stuart is definitely the expert on paste for Carp and used it to great effect fishing relatively deep (4 sections) for a good win on a difficult day.  Stephen also fished a good match taking his Carp mainly on the waggler.

1st Stuart Rae - 23lb 12oz
2nd Stephen McCaveny - 15lb 6oz
3rd Kevin Murphy - 10lb 13oz
4th George Glen - 9lb 4oz
5th William Stewart - 9lb 0oz

With the upcoming Celtic Cup friendly International against Wales in mind there was a great turnout and excitement about the latest junior event.  The Main Loch is a challenge for the kids but they are learning fast, none more so than Sean who had a well deserved win including a lovely tench in his catch.

1st Sean McLaughlin - 4lb 6½oz
2nd Gary McDonald - 3lb 1½oz
3rd Ben McGuire - 2lb 8oz
4th Kyle McClackin - 1lb 4oz
5th Conor McLaughlin- 1lb 0oz

Waggler yet again was the winning method and Darren fished it well using a normal waggler instead of a splasher.

1st Darren Ferguson - 37lb 7oz
2nd Paul Joyce - 14lb 6oz
3rd Derek Brady - 13lb 13½oz
4th Kevin Murphy - 10lb 5oz
5th James Woodrow - 9lb 12oz

A difficult match on a bright and flat-calm day looked like heading to a  low weight win until Jim made a great comeback in the last hour to win with Carp on the splasher waggler.

1st Jim Hillhouse  - 20lb 5oz
2nd Colin Hart - 12lb 6½oz
3rd Stuart Rae - 11lb 6oz
4th Paul Joyce - 10lb 5½oz
5th Chris Hughes - 8lb 9½oz

Pairs

1st Jim Hillhouse & Barry Lindsay - 21lb 15oz
2nd Colin Hart & Billy Bateman - 16lb 7½oz

1st Ian Whitson - 33lb 14oz
2nd Derek Brady - 18lb 0oz
3rd James Woodrow - 16lb 2oz
4th Kevin Murphy - 15lb 12oz
5th Steve Spurr - 11lb 3oz

Jim fished a great match for Carp on waggler for a win by a huge margin.  One or two more fish could have helped him break the lake record !

1st Jim Jones - 41lb 3oz
2nd Jim Hillhouse - 11lb 2½oz
3rd William Stewart -9lb 10oz
4th James Woodrow - 9lb 5oz
5th Davie Corcoran - 8lb 0oz

1st James Woodrow - 28lb 9oz
2nd Paul Joyce - 27lb 0oz
3rd Tony Lamb - 11lb 2oz
4th Ian Whitson - 8lb 0oz

1st Bobby Marshall - 32lb 15½oz
2nd Ewan Weed - 11lb 11oz
3rd Matt Dunn - 10lb 12oz
4th Ian Whitson - 10lb 5½oz
5th Brian Wallace - 9lb 8oz

 Warrington based Danny Griffin is an established visitor to Magiscroft and showed how to fish the waggler for Carp with a record breaking catch taken all in two hours ! Danny fished a waggler shallow with pellet on peg 18 and his swim only came to life after an hour of the 3 hour match. He then took a succession of Carp, with most around 2lb, to set a new Main Loch record, beating the current 5 hour record !

Woody fished another good match taking mainly skimmers on the pole for second place.

1st Danny Griffin - 43lb 6½oz (19.690kg)
2nd James Woodrow - 22lb 4½oz (10.110kg)
3rd Gus Brindle - 16lb 0oz (7.260kg)
4th Chris Hughes - 15lb 2oz (6.860kg)
5th Ian Whitson - 13lb 2oz (5.960kg)

 1st Gary McKay - 20lb 1oz (9.100kg)
2nd Tommy Lauriston - 18lb 13oz (8.540kg)
3rd Jim Hillhouse - 14lb 6oz (6.520kg)
4th Neil Chapman - 14lb 0oz (6.350kg)

1st Kyle McClackin - 5lb 7½oz (2.480kg)
2nd Gary McDonald - 3lb 1½oz (1.410kg)
3rd Gordon Allison - 2lb 15oz (1.330kg)
4th William Gemmell - 2lb 9oz (1.160kg)
5th Conor McLaughlin - 2lb 3oz (0.990kg)

 Woody's great run continues with a clear win in what was an otherwise close match. Cool conditions put an end to the waggler's success in recent matches and Woody caught mainly Carp on paste to start with on peg 18 before taking a few Carp late on the waggler. Derek fished a nice match for second, with a good mixed catch all up in the water on long pole from peg 10.

1st James Woodrow - 20lb 12oz (9.410kg)
2nd Derek Brady - 14lb 12oz (6.690kg)
3rd Darren Ferguson - 13lb 2oz (5.960kg)
4th Ian Whitson - 12lb 4oz (5.560kg)
5th Paul Joyce - 12lb 2½oz (5.520kg)

A suitably exciting finish to a super series following this great match with a surprise result ! League leaders Magiscroft Juniors and Airdrionians faltered at the final hurdle and Lanarkshire took advantage to overtake them ... but it was Freida's Favourites who swept ahead from 6th place and 15 points behind to win the match and the league with a dominant performance.

Derek Brady with Freida's Favourites

Derek & Gary McKay

Sponsored (with pink T-shirts) by Freida from the Lochview Cafe ... her Favourites had the individual winner on the day in Chris Hughes, and 3 section 2nd places from Lorna Figures, Paul Vernel and Jim Hillhouse. Chris won through on the day with a 28lb catch of Ide and some Carp from peg 5 on the Island pond. Well done also to young Craig McGhee for a great display to come second with a 21lb catch of Carp on the waggler to win the Main Loch. In the Individual league, Gary McKay showed his consistency to win ahead of Jim Hillhouse and David Anderson.

Well done to all who helped and took part, especially to all those who had the best overall results in their teams and won a free day's fishing at Magiscroft. Special thanks to Chris Hughes for his splendid organisation and good humoured presentations, Freida for a lovely final buffet and last (but not least) Derek Brady of the Barras Fruit Co. who's generous sponsorship and encouragement made for such a successful event, enjoyed greatly by all. Roll on the Barras Pleasure Open in September and surely an even bigger and better Pleasure League next year.

Match Top 3

Final League Top 3

Full League And Individual Results and Pictures here soon !

 Two Monday wins in a row for the in form Paul with an outstanding performance to more than double second place weight. Paul took his weight in Carp on the waggler with pellet and with the floating feeder. Woody is also in great form and took his 2nd place catch on the pole but could not compete with Paul.

1st Paul Joyce - 34lb 6oz (15.590kg)
2nd James Woodrow - 14lb 6oz (6.520kg)
3rd Ian Whitson - 11lb 8oz (5.220kg)
4th Darren Ferguson - 10lb 14½oz (4.950kg)
5th Gary McKay - 10lb 11½oz (4.860kg)

 Two wins in a row for Davie with another good performance on his favourite water !  George had a good run of Carp on the waggler and pellet in the middle of the match to take the lead but Davie swept past with a great last hour on pellet shallow on 13m pole.

1st Davie Corcoran - 20lb 6oz (9.240kg)
2nd George Glen - 17lb 13½oz (8.100kg)
3rd Jim Hillhouse - 15lb 1½oz (6.840kg)
4th Davie Matthews - 12lb 4oz (5.560kg)
5th Bobby Marshall - 12lb 0oz (5.440kg)

Pairs

1st Davie Corcoran & Chris Hughes - 21lb 10½oz (9.830kg)
2nd Dave Richardson & Margaret Rae - 20lb 1½oz (9.120kg)
3rd George Glen & Trevor Bond - 19lb 4½oz (8.740kg)

Well done to all of the kids for keeping going through terrible conditions of unseasonal cold wind and rain. Gary worked hard and fished very well for a good win with Ben in 2nd.

1st Gary McDonald - 5lb 1½oz (2.310kg)
2nd Ben McGuire - 2lb 15½oz (1.350kg)
3rd Scott McAuley - 2lb 13oz (1.280kg)
4th Conor McLaughlan - 2lb 10½oz (1.210kg)
5th Nathan Divers - 2lb 4½oz (1.020kg)

After a scorching day the Carp didn't feed, so Paul's hard work catching mainly Ide and Silver fish up in the water was more than enough for a clear win over Woody.

1st Paul Joyce - 13lb 10oz (6.180kg)
2nd James Woodrow - 8lb 13½oz (4.010kg)
3rd Chris Paton - 7lb 12½oz (3.530kg)
4th Gus Brindle - 7lb 10oz (3.460kg)
5th Stuart Rae - 6lb 4½oz (2.850kg)

1st Davie Corcoran - 39lb 11½oz (18.020kg)
2nd Chris Hughes - 30lb ½oz (13.620kg)
3rd John Callaghan 29lb 15oz (13.580kg)
4th Bobby Marshall - 29lb 8oz (13.380kg)
5th Gus Brindle - 25lb 6½oz (11.520kg)

1st Andrew Rollinson - 16lb 15oz (7.680kg)
2nd David Anderson - 15lb 3½oz (6.910kg)
3rd James Dornom - 14lb 6oz (6.520kg)

Under 15s

1st Andrew Fernie - 6lb 14½oz (3.130kg)
2nd Jamie McKay - 4lb 2oz (1.870kg)
3rd Curtis Craig - 3lb 6oz (1.530kg)

The first Monday evening open on the Main Loch was a great match, a really close affair with an exiting finish and a nail-biting weigh-in. All the leading anglers fished it differently but Dave placed his faith in Paste and was rewarded with a nice net of Carp to just edge out Paul.

1st Dave Smith - 20lb 14oz (9.470kg)
2nd Paul Joyce - 20lb 11oz (9.390kg)
3rd Gary McKay - 19lb 7½oz (8.830kg)
4th Davie Corcoran - 18lb 11oz (8.480kg)
5th Ian Whitson - 16lb 11oz (7.570kg)

The Barras Pleasure League continued with an exciting round 2.  Though conditions were tricky with cool rain, the weights were better than the first match with good catches on all of the waters. 

The Airdrionians put on a great show for a clear team win and the individual winner in Gary McKay.  Gary had a great catch, mainly carp, on the Top Pond of around 200 fish. Airdrionans also closed right up on Magiscroft Juniors who still lead the league with one match to go, but only by 3 points.  Should be a very tense but exciting final match on 24th June !

Full League And Individual Results here

Individuals
1st Gary McKay - 33lb 9oz (15.220kg)
2nd Stef Hunter - 22lb 4½oz (10.100kg)
3rd James Dornam - 17lb 13½oz (8.100kg)
4th Barry Gibb - 16lb 6oz (7.430kg)

Top Teams
Magiscroft Juniors 52
Old Farts 40
Strathclyde Police 40
Lanarkshire 40
Airdrie 39
Magpies 39

Woody is on top form at the moment and powered to a clear win over a 'sell out' field of 28 with a great all silver fish catch on a tricky night when the fish, especially Carp, were playing hard to get.

Woody drew peg 9 and as expected he had a good start with Ide on worm, but he built his win in the last half of the match by working hard to eke out Chub, Orfe and the odd Ide on caster. Kevin completed the 1-2 for Magiscroft yongsters with a nice mixed catch.

1st James Woodrow - 29lb 0oz (13.160kg)
2nd Kevin Murphy - 22lb 4oz (10.090kg)
3rd Gary McKay - 18lb 15½oz (8.610kg)
4th Davie Corcoran - 17lb 10½oz (8.010kg)
5th Ewan Weed - 17lb 7oz (7.910kg)

Jim was both a winner and a loser, after fighting titantic battles with big Carp in the latest Magiscroft Club match. Fishing peg 33 Jim had a relatively quiet match until late on when he hooked into a 6lb Carp that he played for nearly 10 minutes and netted with 6 sections of pole in the air.

That fish helped him to the win, but shortly after a bigger 7lb+ fish gave him the same kind of long fight ... this time the fish came out on top by smashing Jim's No.6 section and escaping (pole and fish rescued later). Jim won the match, and the Golden Peg, which unfortunately was only 1 match old and £21, so his combined winnings were not enough to pay for an expensive new pole section.

Margaret Rae tops the league standing after 2 matches with 12 points.

1st Jim Hillhouse - 13lb 8oz (6.130kg)
2nd George Glen - 12lb 7oz (5.640kg)
3rd Davie Corcoran - 9lb 9oz (4.340kg)
4th Margaret Rae - 9lb 2oz (4.140kg)

Pairs

1st Jim Hillhouse & Jim Jones - 21lb 12oz (9.870kg)
2nd Margaret Rae & Barry Lindsay - 15lb 6oz (6.980kg)
3rd Davie Corcoran (solo) - 15lb 4½oz (6.930kg)

The biggest match catch by a junior at Magiscroft is also the new 3 hour Island Pond record after young William dominated the best ever Monday Open.  His all Carp catch came mainly on Paste from peg 17 for a clear win, what a great performance.

Ian was well behind the pack with half an hour to go but a switch to paste led to a string of big Carp to take 2nd from peg 4.

1st William Stewart - 41lb 3½oz (18.700kg)
2nd Ian Whitson - 32lb 1½oz (14.560kg)
3rd George Glen - 29lb 14oz (13.550kg)
4th James Woodrow - 29lb 2½oz (13.230kg)
5th Colin Hart - 28lb 11½oz (13.030kg)

1st Ian Whitson - 32lb 8oz (14.740kg)
2nd Gary McKay - 24lb 1oz (10.920kg)
3rd Jim Hillhouse - 23lb 10oz (10.720kg)
4th William Stewart - 22lb 3oz (10.070kg)

Well done to Scott for a clear win in the latest Junior Competition.

1st Scott McAuley - 6lb 11½oz (3.050kg)
2nd Gordon Allison - 4lb 15oz (2.240kg)
3rd Nathan Divers - 4lb 12oz (2.160kg)
4th Ben McGuire - 3lb 0oz
5th William Gemmell - 2lb 13oz

Even though cold rain made conditions difficult for the 26 competitors but this was still a great match, every bit as good as the record breaking match last Monday. Woody put in yet another great performance to win with a mainly Carp catch tight across on peg 7. A late run of Carp on paste from peg 15 saw Stewart nearly catch up, but he was just short.

1st James Woodrow - 34lb 9oz (15.680kg)
2nd Stewart Rae - 34lb 4oz (15.540kg)
3rd Ian Whitson - 30lb 11oz (13.920kg)
4th Darren Ferguson - 26lb 6½oz (11.980kg)
5th David Anderson - 25lb 3oz (11.430kg)

The first Barras Pleasure League got off to an exciting start with a fantastic turnout. The 16 teams of 4 made for one of the biggest matches in Scotland in years and generated a tremendous big match atmosphere, but in a friendly setting. The build up to this series has been very enthusiastic and everybody enjoyed the tension of the draw then the banter during the competition, weigh-in and results presentation.

The team event was a very close fought match generally, with 2nd to 6th places only separated by 1 point. However Magiscroft Juniors broke the mould, winning by a big margin with 52 points, a brilliant performance from the youngsters.

A change of weather, for the worse, led to some tricky fishing in places but Paul Vernel showed the way with a great catch of Carp mainly on paste for a clear individual win ahead of Stef who was standing in to help out Scott's CAC. Roll on the next match in the series - in only 2 weeks time on 3rd June !

Full League And Individual Results here

Individuals
1st Paul Vernel - 33lb 9oz (15.220kg)
2nd Stef Hunter - 22lb 4½oz (10.100kg)
3rd James Dornam - 17lb 13½oz (8.100kg)
4th Barry Gibb - 16lb 6oz (7.430kg)

Top Teams
Magiscroft Juniors 52
Old Farts 40
Strathclyde Police 40
Lanarkshire 40
Airdrie 39
Magpies 39

The first Monday evening match on the Island Pond was the best ever with many 20lb and 25lb weights coming nowhere.  Ian fished a great match, steadily picking up Ide, Carp and Tench on worm to win with a new Island Pond 3 hour record.

1st Ian Whitson - 35lb 6oz (16.050kg)
2nd Tony Ball - 32lb 6oz (14.690kg)
3rd Darren Ferguson - 30lb 7½oz (13.820kg)
4th Colin Hart - 28lb 1oz (12.750kg)
5th Stef Hunter - 27lb 2oz (12.310kg)

A very good match with fish all along the far bank for the 23 competitors.  Paul had a nice catch of mainly Carp and, like Stewart in 2nd, paste was the best bait.

1st Paul Joyce - 21lb 6oz (9.700kg)
2nd Stewart Rae - 18lb 4½oz (8.290kg)
3rd Kevin Murphy- 18lb 4oz (8.280kg)
4th James Woodrow - 16lb 5oz (7.400kg)
5th William Stewart - 15lb 6oz (6.980kg)

The first Junior competition of 2007 was split into 2 sections with the 14 beginners fishing the Top Pond.  Everyone had fun and had plenty of bites from small Carp and Chub and in a close finish Andrew just edged out Gordon.  Well done to everyone and we all look forward to the next event on 19 May.

1st Andrew Fernie - 4lb 12½oz (2.170kg)
2nd Gordon Allison - 4lb 10½oz (2.110kg)
3rd Nathan Divers - 3lb 2oz (1.420kg)
4th Kyle McLachlan - 2lb 13oz (1.280kg)
5th Ryan Gray - 2lb 2½oz (0.980kg)

The 8 'Intermediate' or more experienced Juniors contested a close match on the Main Loch. James had Carp and Kevin Silvers, but their weight was the same so they shared the win.

A clear win for Darren on the last Monday night match on the Top Pond before they move to the Island Pond.  Darren picked out the bigger Carp on peg 6 to stay clear of George who had mainly Chub from peg 2.

1st Darren Ferguson - 23lb 10½oz (6.680kg)
2nd George Glen - 19lb 2oz (4.850kg)
3rd Colin Hart - 19lb 0oz (4.800kg)
4th Ian Whitson - 16lb 12oz (3.820kg)
5th Derek Brady - 14lb 8oz (3.140kg)

Kevin won his second Magiscroft Club Golden Peg pool in 6 months with a great catch silver fish of Ide, Skimmers and small fish to beat Margaret who has some nice Carp.

1st Kevin Murphy - 13lb 13½oz (6.680kg)
2nd Margaret Rae - 10lb 2oz (4.850kg)
3rd James Woodrow - 9lb 9oz (4.800kg)
4th Colin Hart - 8lb 3½oz (3.820kg)

Pairs

1st Kevin Murphy & Paul Joyce - 16lb 2oz (6.680kg)
2nd Chris Hughes & Bobby Marshall - 13lb 1oz (4.850kg)
3rd Margaret Rae & Judith Richardson - 12lb 8oz (4.800kg)

Another close Monday night on the Top Pond, so close that Colin and Drew could not be separated for first.  Small Carp and Chub are feeding ravenously and everyone caught plenty of fish.

1st = Colin Hart - 18lb 1oz (8.200kg)
1st = Drew McCluskey - 18lb 1oz (8.200kg)
3rd Darren Ferguson - 17lb 2oz  (7.770kg)
4th George Glen - 16lb 5oz  (7.400kg)
5th Colin McKerrell - 14lb 14½oz  (6.760kg)

Young William showed his more experienced opponents the way with a nice catch of Carp in tricky cool conditions.

1st William Stewart - 14lb 1½oz (6.390kg)
2nd Bobby Marshall - 11lb 3½oz  (5.090kg)
3rd Stewart Rae - 6lb 3oz  (2.810kg)
4th Gary McKay - 5lb 14½oz  (2.680kg)
 

The first Monday evening open of 2007 got the series off with a bang as Woody broke the Top Pond 3 hour record with a cracking catch of small Carp and Chub, mainly taken on sweetcorn close in.

1st James Woodrow - 33lb 1oz (15.000kg)
2nd Kevin Murphy - 25lb 7½oz  (11.550kg)
3rd Gary McKay - 19lb 12oz  (8.960kg)
4th Derek Brady - 19lb 7oz  (8.820kg)
5th Colin McKerrell - 18lb ½oz  (8.180kg)

With Carp not feeding, small silver fish made the weights and Gary picked out a few skimmers as well to win ahead of Gus.

1st Gary McKay - 7lb 10½oz (3.470kg)
2nd Gus Brindle - 6lb 0oz  (2.720kg)
3rd Bryan Hewitt - 5lb 13oz  (2.640kg)
4th William Stewart - 5lb 4½oz  (2.400kg)

Two wins in a row for Jim with a nice catch of Carp all taken on sweetcorn on a short pole line on peg 4.  Corn was the best bait of the day all round and worked for Bryan too next to Jim on peg 5.

A full house for Jim ... by winning the individual match he also won the pairs event and the overall Winter League trophy !  He kept faith with paste bait on a difficult day to win with an all Carp catch.  Jim Jones went close with a mixed catch including Skimmers and Carp but fell behind late in the match.  24 fished.

1st Jim Hillhouse  -  9lb 3oz (4.170kg)
2nd Jim Jones - 8lb 5oz  (3.780kg)
3rd Davie Corcoran - 5lb 3oz  (2.350kg)
4th Colin Hart - 2lb 8oz  (1.120kg)

Pairs
1st Jim Hillhouse & James Woodrow - 10lb 14oz  (4.920kg)
2nd Jim Jones & Margaret Rae - 8lb 6oz  (3.785kg)
 3rd Davie Corcoran & Rab Crossan - 6lb 4oz  (2.820kg)

Final Winter League Placings

1st Jim Hillhouse  -  20 points
2nd Kevin Murphy - 14 points
3rd Margaret Rae - 12 points
 

Paul was way out on his own with a great catch on a really hard day when everyone else struggled.  Drawn on end peg 19 Paul cleverly fished close in to his right in about 6ft of water.  That was where he quickly caught 3 big Carp to 6lb on paste before picking off a number of smaller Carp to win by a big margin. 

The rest of the 19 competitors couldn't catch Carp, perhaps due to the cold east wind, and Big Davie's hard earned catch of skimmers was a distant second.

1st Paul Joyce -  22lb 6oz (10.150kg)
2nd Davie Corcoran - 3lb 14oz (1.760kg)
3rd Stewart Rae - 3lb 4oz (1.470kg)
4th Dave McAuley - 3lb 2oz (1.400kg)

A really interesting match even though a strong and bitterly cold wind with snow made things very uncomfortable for the 15 competitors. Drew left it late to pick up a collection of decent Carp mainly in the last hour on paste from peg 16 for a good win.

Brian just edged out Bryan for second with a nice mixed catch including skimmers and Carp on feeder and double red maggot.

1st Drew McCluskey - 14lb 12oz (6.680kg)
2nd Brian Docherty - 10lb 11oz (4.850kg)
3rd Bryan Hewitt - 10lb 8½oz (4.800kg)
4th Paul Joyce - 8lb 7oz (3.820kg)
5th Tommy Lauriston - 6lb 15oz (3.140kg)

1st Dave Horban - 27lb 5oz (12.400kg)
2nd Andy Smith - 17lb 13oz (8.070kg)
 

1st Davie Corcoran - 8lb 2oz (3.680kg)
2nd Paul Joyce - 8lb 0oz (3.630kg)
3rd Davie McAuley - 6lb 9oz (2.980kg)
4th Kevin Murphy - 5lb 3oz (2.350kg)
 

1st Stewart Rae - 7lb 4oz (3.300kg)
2nd Jim Jones - 5lb 0oz (2.270kg)
3rd Davie Matthews - 4lb 5oz (1.950kg)
4th Kevin Murphy - 3lb 10oz (1.650kg)

Bobby set a new Island Pond match record with a super all Carp catch of 49lb 2½oz from peg 24.  He and Jim on the next peg drew where the Carp were tightly shoaled after an icy night.  Both were plagued with line bites and foul hooked fish. 

It was Bobby who came out well on top of the 20 anglers by fishing sweetcorn hookbait over pellet on 13m pole. He found that fishing well away from his baited area produced better bites and more fish.

On the low numbered pegs all of the weights came on feeder and bomb to the far bank.  That's how Margaret fished and she put in a great performance for well earned 3rd place with a nice net of Carp.

 Stewart's confidence in paste bait paid off even in cold conditions (with water temperature 4 degrees) for a clear win on peg 17.  He switched to paste 2 hours into the match after Brian took the lead with two decent Carp on the next peg.  Stewart caught straight away at 13 metres after he changed then picked up 6 Carp.  15 fished.

1st Stewart Rae - 11lb 6oz (5.150kg)
2nd Brian Wallace - 8lb 3oz (3.700kg)
3rd Jim Jones - 3lb 7oz (1.560kg)
4th James Woodrow - 3lb 5oz (1.500kg)
5th Kevin Murphy - 3lb 4oz (1.480kg)

1st Chris Paton - 7lb 11oz (3.490kg)
2nd Bryan Hewitt - 7lb 0oz (3.170kg)
3rd James Woodrow - 4lb 8oz (2.040kg)
4th Colin Hart - 3lb 10oz (1.640kg)

Ide made the difference for Drew who caught bigger fish late on to overtake Tony's busy catch of small Roach.

1st Drew McCluskey - 11lb 10½oz (5.290kg)
2nd Tony Ball - 7lb 13 oz (3.550kg)
3rd Paul Joyce - 4lb 7oz (2.010kg)

A bonus bream swung the result for Kevin on a very difficult day. Even thought conditions were not ideal, that fact that most competitors were trying out bloodworm and joker baits made for an interesting match that everyone enjoyed.

1st Kevin Murphy - 3lb 11½oz (1.690 kg)
2nd James Woodrow - 2lb 8oz (1.130 kg)
3rd Bryan Hewitt - 2lb 7oz (1.110 kg)
4th George Glen - 2lb 0oz (0.910 kg)

The competitors voted the first ever Magiscroft silver fish only match a popular success after an unusual and interesting event on a cold, blustery and rainy day.  No carp or tench counted and carp baits like pellets, corn and fishmeal were not allowed.

Gary was the clear winner with a nice catch of Ide on caster from peg 24.  He could have had more Ide if carp hadn't kept getting in the way ... he had to put back 30-40lb of carp to 4lb ! 

Woody didn't have any Ide from peg 26 but had a very busy net of small roach with a few chub for a well deserved 2nd place.

4 Carp gave Chris a clear win from peg 20 on a poor day.