Deeping were back for another visit to Phoenix Lake at Float Fish Farm on a very cool and blustery day.
Fourteen anglers were in for the draw to fish for the Newman cup with the pegs well spaced from peg 7 through to peg 33, although if you were drawn between 18 and 29 then the weather would prove to make things very difficult with a facing wind and driving rain.
It was a very tight finish for the top two with only 2ozs in it. It was Ray Torrington on peg 28 who just clinched it with 107lbs 4ozs, Ray had a very slow start and was unable to catch on the feeder due to strong winds and overhanging reeds on the opposite Island making accurate casting too difficult. A change to paste at 2 plus 2 produced a few fish but too many lost fish saw a change to banded pellet which produced a few more but still very slow. It wasn’t until the last 90 minutes that saw the majority of fish taken on red maggots from near the margin in 18 ins of water.
Second place went to Guest angler Jack Barron fishing peg 9 with a back wind, taking fish steadily throughout the match mainly on pellet at full depth and up in the water, with his margins showing fish from early in the match, Jack finished with 107lbs 2ozs, he should have took the match but unfortunately he went 4ozs over in one one net and was knocked back to 50lb.
Third place went to Nathan Grech on peg 26 who started off fishing the feeder to the Island with pin point accuracy in a 3ft gap between reeds tight up against the Island on wafters, a steady stream of fish came in the first hour then a switch to paste at 2 plus two show Nathan continue his catch rate and he was on course for a convincing win, but the last hour saw his margin not produce and he finished with 85lb 13 ozs.
Section wins went to Mike Moseley in section A and Kevin Crompton in section B.
Thanks to Joe Price for draw duties and Mick Wright with the weigh in.
Full Result
1. Ray Torrington. 107lbs 4ozs. Peg 28
2. Jack Barron. 107lbs 2ozs. Peg 9
3. Nathan Grech. 85lb 13ozs. Peg 26
4. Mike Moseley. 81lb 4ozs. Peg 18.
5. Phil Price. 73lb 2ozs. Peg 11.
6. Joe Price. 66lb 11ozs. Peg 16
7. Paul Barron. 59lb 15ozs. Peg 20
8. Mick Wright. 59lb 4ozs. Peg 7
9. Kevin Crompton. 56lb 2ozs. Peg 29
10. Pau Wild. 50lb 13ozs. Peg 31
11. David Marzell. 48lb 1ozs. Peg33
12. Steve Borrett. 40lb 6ozs. peg 22
13. Trevor Walker. 38lb 0ozs. Peg 14
14. Ron Needham. 36lb 13ozs. Peg 24
