'Things settling down in the world of Rotherham fishing' - Martin Read

Things seem to have settled down during the last week perhaps because the weather has been less extreme. Venues everywhere have responded much as they would be expected to, big weight carp venues have recorded just that, silver fisheries have come into their own and generally speaking everyone seems to have been catching a few fish.

Rotherham’s Aged, Blind and Disabled AC had an excellent day fishing Hallcroft’s Moat last week where Trev Fisher led the way with a 224lbs 3ozs net. Mel Milner also landed a three figure net weighing 136lbs 10ozs which left Kevan Jones to pick up the third place with 99lbs 3ozs, The section winners were Dave Mitchell, 84lbs 6ozs, Dave Bennison, 99Lbs 3ozs and Ian Moremont, 58lbs 15ozs.

Ravenfield Ponds’ Bircliffe Pond again produced some decent weights much to the delight of Richard Brookes who seems to have developed a method to win, which he did yet again, with a 19lbs 2ozs net of bream, tench and ide from peg 2. Mark Morris had a similar catch for 16lbs 10ozs for second place leaving Mick Gill, who also had a mixed bag for 15lbs exactly, in third place.

The fourth spot went to Stuart Riley with 14lbs 6ozs and the section winners were Brian Ellis, 11lbs 11ozs, Tony Copnell, 11lbs 10ozs and Les Varley with 10lbs 8ozs.

Elsecar has now settled into summer mode where Mike Risby managed to find one of the venue’s elusive bream which together with some skimmers gave him a winning weight of 9lbs 7ozs and also won him the golden peg of £100. Geoff Askey fished the feeder short to find 7lbs 9ozs which put him second place and the section winners were Paul Yates, 6lbs 13ozs and Trevor Renwick, 4lbs 7ozs.

Doncaster DAA’s mid week match at Southfield Reservoir saw a change of method being successful with Kev Foster opting to fish the short pole in search of the venue’s myriad of small fish, a change which paid off with Kevin winning with a straight 18lbs. Trevor Parkin was second with 14lbs 13ozs edging Neil Stead into third with 13lbs. Mick Axon stuck with his feeder to take a section with 11lbs along with Mick Cameron who weighed 11lbs 12ozs, Steve Richardson, 9lbs 4ozs, Owen Gott, 8lbs 7ozs, Ronnie Benn, 8lbs 14ozs and Carl Dallas, 5lbs 4ozs.

Catcliffe’s Red Lion AC fished the Sandmartin at Lodge Farm with decent results.

John Hughes took the honours with a 114lbs 15ozs net just ounces ahead Derek Oldfield who weighed 114lbs 5ozs for second. Craig Childs was third with 94lbs 11ozs and the section winners were Steve Stafford, 92lbs 15ozs and Bernard Austin, who also won the golden peg, with 87lbs 1oz.

Spring Vale was the venue for Rawmarsh’s Horse and Jockey AC a venue which obviously suits Roy Waites who won the last time the club fished there and did so again on this occasion. Roy fished his favourite method and pellet technique to finished with the best weight of 94lbs 5ozs. Dean Woodhead fished similarly for 85lbs 11ozs and second place leaving Col. Oldfield ‘s pole and corn net of 80lbs 14ozs in third. 76lbs 4ozs gave Geoff Rutter the fourth spot with Graham Turner fifth with 70lbs 13ozs and Dick Hurdiss sixth with 55lbs 15ozs.

Some cracking weights from Bank End last week with Sunday’s open which was fished by 28 anglers recording twelve weights greater than 100lbs. John Smithard led the way with a 181lbs 8ozs net ahead of Keith Dalton who weighed 154lbs 2ozs for second and Kevin Worth who had 150lbs 6ozs for third. A closely fought battle for fourth, fifth and sixth places saw Declan Bailey in fourth place with 146lbs 14ozs, Paul Ferguson in fifth with 141lbs 15ozs and Daryl Newby in sixth with 142lbs 5ozs.

Thursday’s match at the venue saw Steve Rylance in the top spot with 182lbs 8ozs. Dean Foster wasn’t far behind in second place with 181lbs 6ozs with Ryan Stringwell third with 127lbs 5ozs. 118lbs 13ozs gave Pete Smith the fourth place leaving Lee Haigh’s 97lbs 12ozs in fifth and Steve Plant’s 92lbs 6ozs in sixth.

Only ounces separated the top anglers fishing Saturday’s Kilnhurst and District AA’s match on Baker’s Pond which saw a popular winner in Chris Bradley who put 6lbs 9ozs on the scales for victory. Stuart Senior was second with 6lbs 5ozs just one ounce ahead of Richard Brookes who had 6lbs 4ozs for third and Mick Gill who had 6lbs 3ozs for fourth. Scott Bufton was fifth with 5lbs 6ozs and Brian Ellis sixth with 5lbs 4ozs. The section winners were Brian, Scott, and Trevor Parkin who weighed 4lbs 14ozs.

Round 14 of the Walkley Summer League descended on Candy Corner for their last fixture and fished AJ’s lake where Paul Burton was the winner with 80lbs from peg 19. Graham Martin at peg 5 was second with 79lbs7ozs and the section winners were Phil Murphy, 79lbs 7ozs, John Stone, 42lbs 3ozs and John Dawson, 57lbs 14ozs.

Danny Buxton was the winner of the Wednesday evening match on the Riverside Lake at Lowfield Lakes with a weight of 35lbs 11ozs. Chris Birch took the second place with 28lbs leaving Ben Fox in third with 21lbs 13ozs.

Shaun Daykin won Sunday’s match on the Main Lake at the venue with 72lbs 2ozs from peg 11. Jamie Lovitt was second with 54lbs 11ozs just ounces ahead of Garry Weekes who weighed 54lbs 4ozs for third. The section winners were Chris Nardoni, 50lbs 8ozs, and Dave Briggs, 36lbs 2ozs.

Massive weights as usual at Barnburgh Lakes. Tuesday’s open match held on the Bottom Pond saw Paul Nash claim victory with 239lbs 13ozs ahead of Tom Hill who weighed 184lbs 8ozs for second and Tyler Turton who had 153lbs 13ozs for third.

Gavin Dean was fourth with 149lbs 10ozs, Les Peace fifth with 145lbs 6ozs and Graham Sykes sixth with 143lbs 7ozs.

Friday’s open fished on the Top Lake saw Steve South land 212lbs 1oz to win ahead of Graham Sykes who had 203lbs 1oz for second and Simon Hill who finished with 192lbs 3ozs for third. Les Peace moved up into fourth place with 186lbs beating Gavin Dean’s 172lbs 7ozs into fifth place and Cal Cornwall’s 171lbs 13ozs into sixth.

Kiveton Hall Farm is up and running again following its refurbishment with matches on both ponds. Steve Gill won Thursday’s open fished on the Island Lake with 94lbs 10ozs. Roy Childs took the second place with 56lbs 13ozs with Tony Wilson third with 37lbs 8ozs and Steve Ogden fourth with 25lbs 8ozs.

Sunday’s match was held on the Long Lake where Steve Hurt weighed 53lbs 13ozs for victory ahead of Gary Smith who finished second with 50lbs 8ozs. The section winners were Paul Todd, 49lbs 13ozs and Dave Usher, 40lbs 2ozs.

Rotherham UAF’s latest match held on the River Don at Sprotborough found the river low and clear and desperately in need of rain and as a result weights suffered. Kev Vickers however found a few fish with the pole and feeder taking a mixed net of roach, perch and skimmers for a winning net weighing of 14lbs 6ozs. Paul Holmes was second with 5lbs 6ozs of perch on the feeder which pushed Ben Rowbottom’s 4lbs 6ozs into third. The section winners were John Hands, 3lbs 10ozs, Ian Turner, 1lb 6ozs, Alan Gregory and Andy Starkey tied with 3lbs 14ozs each.

More excellent results from Wentworth in Monday's match. John Tollerfield fished the pole to land a winning 28lbs 8ozs from downstream peg 22. Paul Wilkinsonat the other end of the match on peg 5 was second with 20lbs 15ozs leaving Ian Douglas' 20lbs in third place. The section winners were Graeme Herbert with 18lbs 3ozs and Darren Coxx with 19lbs 2ozs.