Muchno....
Dead unfair asseessment of the Wigan winter league... dunno what you boys (Sensas) expected when you joined it for the first time but let put things in perspective...
This years winners (Sams Tackle) are a class act, 6th last year on a Div 1 national is the last entry on a
"Palmare" that goes back 20 yrs. Over tha last 3 yrs TCP, Sams and Standish have dominated the many series on the canal.... how many venues can boast having so many team events in a calendar yr for one thing?
They dominate the events because the are cracking canal anglers and can read the way the venue is going.... Nuff said....
So why is it a "comedy league" in your words?
I'm not knocking what your lot, Sams or Standish have done over the years at all. Some of our lot might have thought they'd have an easy time up at Wigan but I know enough of the venues and anglers to know that's not the case.
My comment of "comedy league" is based on a couple of aspects though. Firstly although there's variation in some lengths, the Wigan circuit is effectively a collection of anglers who fish the same venue Saturday, Sunday and midweek. It almost has a commercial feel in the way that people don't seem to go anywhere else if you see what I mean. It reminds me of the North Yorkshire commercial circuit where the same 40+ fish 3-5 times a week in summer, turning up with rigs already on topkits and half used cans of cat meat ;-)
Secondly as much as I enjoy the rewards when you catch 3lb at Wigan, I got fed up last year of sections where there was no consistency between pegs. By that I mean I've seen someone catch 5lb of roach, with either side of them struggling for 10oz. The lads catching 5lb clearly know what they're doing, but at the same time those struggling either side are no mugs.
To me it just seems more a peg than technique venue. Don't take that as me suggesting the anglers there can't fish, just that from what I've seen up there over the last 5 years you can put 3 anglers of equal ability on similar pegs and maybe 1 of them will catch. You'll probably disagree and suggest the cream always rises to the top, I just feel that such happens with more regularity than it does at Wigan.
I drew just into the basin with John Cookson the first peg in it on my left and Frank Holding on my right. I weighed 28.0.0 odd of skimmers ...... Rob Holt my Sensas NW team mate was in the section the other end of the basin and caught 6 big bream to 6lb for around 25lb in the last
oh if we had a circuit like that again one day :-/ 