Ravenfield, Ulley and a week of angling extremes

A cold blast early on last week left many waters with a thin coating of ice, with the result that fish were difficult to find. And then only days later temperatures of up to 15C brought with them a completely new picture and then all changed again with rain and gale force winds making things difficult at the weekend.

But there are continuing signs of improvement. The blackthorn has begun flowering and the robins and blue tits in my garden are showing a serious interest in the nest boxes.

The Doncaster DAA match midweek at Southfield was one of the first to suffer.

A drop in water temperature of 2.5C resulted in only five of the 16 anglers catching a fish and for the first time in 12 months some section prizes had to be drawn from the hat.

Mick Axon was a comfortable winner with 8lbs 9ozs from peg 45 and the section winners were Steve Walker 2lbs 8ozs, Jason Law 8lbs 8ozs, with both Mike Donnison and Mick Cameron drawing from the hat,.

Last Tuesday the Lodgers found the ponds at Lodge Farm frozen but a sliver of clear water down the edge of the Sand Martin Lake persuaded them to have a go. The results speak for themselves with seven anglers failing to catch and those that did caught very little.

Nigel Bolton had the best weight with one carp weighing 7lbs 10ozs. Tony Newell managed three fish, a carp, and ide and a skimmer to take second place with 5lbs 3ozs easing Mel Milner’s 3lbs 8ozs carp and skimmer net into third.

Results from Ravenfield proved the case, with a marked improvement between midweek and Saturday.

Wednesday’s match began with a covering of ice along the dam wall and so pegs further away proved to be the best. Andy Cutts at peg 6 had a net of ide and roach weighing 7lbs 12ozs. Stuart Senior at number 7 was second with 7lbs 6ozs while Mick Gill claimed third with 3lbs 14ozs of skimmers.

Saturday was different, with sunshine and a warm breeze and Stuart Senior at peg 11 demonstrated the difference with a14lbs 4ozs net of ide and roach. Second, on peg 6, was James Fisher’s 10lbs 14ozs of ide and third was Paul Davis’s 7lbs 4ozs, including two tench.

Things were still difficult at Ulley on Saturday where the sheer volume of water no doubt takes longer to feel the benefit of what was described as tee shirt weather.

Keith Ashmore won fishing the feeder at peg 34 to pick up bites throughout the day, concluding with a bonus perch to weigh 7lbs 1oz.

Winning the Tower section by default and on his first visit to the venue was Martyn Long.

Martyn caught small roach throughout the day which together with a skimmer weighed 3lbs exactly. Paul Hardy returned to form by winning the Bridge bank section with 5lbs 14ozs.

Read Martin Read’s full column in this week’s Advertiser