Division 2 National
Winning tactics
ANGLING TRUST DIVISION 2 NATIONAL (SAT) New Junction & Aire & Calder Canals (25 teams of 10)
BEING favourites on a venue you fish regularly is not always a passport to winning a match.
But Browning Ossett showed that local knowledge is still hard to beat nine times out of 10 as they secured the Division Two National on these two shipping canals with a 215-point tally.
Scoring two section wins, a second and two thirds along the way, the former Winter League champs finished a rain-lashed day six points in front of Preston Innovations Black Horse.
Ossett also had the individual winner in Mick Lodge, with 22-560 off fancied peg 25 at Pollington on the Aire & Calder.
Another local side, Sensas North, took the bronze medals with 179 points.
“The venues are well-known to us as we’ve been fishing Paul Caygill’s Summer League on them. Our only fear, especially on the Aire & Calder, was that the roach might have moved, as they are migratory and water levels were down,” Mick Lodge said.
“As it turned out they hadn’t, and I think both canals fished very well. This was perfect for us, as it meant little had changed from fishing the league matches.
“We still went into the match with a softly-softly approach, just in case the roach weren’t playing ball, but looking at the results it was pretty much a dream result for us.”
Ossett’s plan revolved around catching roach, aiming for 5lb per man – but, as they predicted, if the fish fed well their approach could mean that 5lb became nearer 10lb. That’s precisely what the scoresheet showed.
“Although there were lots of skimmers on certain pegs, we were happy to go for roach, get beaten by those two or three pegs in each section and come back with a top five finish for the good of the team,” Mick continued. “If the roach didn’t feed we had a back-up line of the feeder fished across to nick the odd skimmer or perch, but they weren’t really needed.”
On the New Junction, Ossett fished squatts as they thought the fishing would be a little harder, firing in half-a-dozen regularly to keep a column of bait falling through the water to catch just as the rig settled. On the Aire & Calder, that changed to pinkie with hemp as feed, as sport was more consistent.
“We got back, totted our points up and thought that we’d got the match but a few of the Black Horse lads reckoned they’d scored over 200 points as well,” Mick said. “Our skipper said that if they did beat us then hats off, they deserved it, but we got it in the end although the winning margin was a bit narrower than we’d have liked.
“Our attacking anglers were fishing where they could get a weight from, while our scratchers were drawn where it was a bit harder. Paul Caygill pegged the match to make sure everyone had plenty of room, especially on the harder areas.
That meant everyone got a few bites,” Mick added.
Team result: 1 Browning Ossett, 215pts; 2 Preston Innovations Black Horse, 209; 3 Sensas North, 179; 4 Mirfield AC Willy Worms, 176; 5 Wigan MG, 175; 6 Maver NE, 171; 7 Hull DAA, 166; 8 Mosella Quaker, 152; 9 Slaithwaite DAC, 141; 10 Scunthorpe Dynamite Baits, 140; 11 Listerhills Old Boys AA, 139; 12 Browning Northants, 137; 13 Maver Matchpack, 135; 14 Canal & River Trust AC, 133; 15 Notts AA, 130; 16 Stoke-on-Trent AS, 114; 17 Colin Barlow AC Sale Man, 107; 18 Tubertini Ludlow, 99; jt19 Peterborough DAA and Thornhill AC, both 98; 21 Tang Hall MG, 79; 22 Coleman’s Cottage Bait & Tackle, 78; 23 Prince Albert AS, 71; 24 Swindon Isis AC, 63; 25 Chelmsford AA, 49.