Angling times National Winter League Trophy.

Paul_Murrin · #1

Part 1: an extract from a famous book & author:

[highlight]Some times to move forward you have to go back ,and take on board what our angling for fathers did[/highlight], Paul Murrin:

[highlight][center]The Winter Leagues[/center][/highlight]

The winter league branch of match fishing originated in the heart of the industrial Midlands at [highlight]BILSTON,[/highlight] a dozen or so miles north-west of Birmingham, in the early1950s.
In those days contests were few and far between, even during the the popular months of the season. when winter came it was customary for many anglers to stow away there tackle and await for favourable conditions.
[highlight]Wilf Hazeldine , [/highlight] the man behind the conception of winter leagues, reasoned that what we needed was a type of novelty event to encourage anglers to maintain their interest in match fishing throughout the harder months of the year.He formed a league in the Black Country area and it quickly caught the imagination of the local anglers.
Now to say Wilfs idea has succeeded is a gross understatement for there are now somewhere in the region of[highlight] 800 to 1,000 Teams,[/highlight] mostly comprised of twelve anglers each taking part in league fixtures in all parts of England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales.
for many of these teams the ultimate goal is the Angling Times National Winter League Trophy which has gained increasing prestige over the years and is now generally recognised as being somewhat on par with the NFA 1st Division National Championships.
A Typical present day League format involves about twelve competing teams, each of twelve anglers , taking part in six contests. The series can be calculated either on points system ,or simply by a weight count, the latter being preferred by the national organisers.
For the Purpose of the National League promotion,
the country is divided into two halves, North & South, and the Various League Champions then fish against each other in their respective semi-finals usually towards the end of February. From These two semis, the top [highlight]THREE[/highlight] teams in each go through to a grand final, which in past years as been held both on home waters such as Coombe Abbey Lake and abroad, in Ireland & Denmark.
Up until the late 1970s this league structure was different in that it embraced twelve teams in the final, these having progressed from four regional semi-finals. This was when[highlight] economic pressure [/highlight]was not quite so severe , and prior to that the system was even less complicated with a much[highlight] smaller entry, [/highlight] all the league champions gaining automatic entry into the grand final.
It was in the early 1960s that [highlight]Leicester[/highlight] started to emerge as a very forceful side & apparent heirs to the national angling throne, taking over from the super Coventry Side who were fading after a tremendous run of success.
Although at that particular time they had failed to gain the National Championships Title, Leicester had secured two victories in the winter league final in consecutive years. It was there much publicised quest to make it a hat-trick which fired me with a challenging desire to become involved in this league competition ( Goo on Clive)

To Be Continued ..............
Paul Murrin hope I don't infringe any copyrights but this story like the other Nine are worth any ones read

TerryC · #2

Hazeldine AA a name from the past, I fished Hampton Ferry rounds of the HAA Winter League for the Britannia Pub Upper Gornal and remember winning my section with three gudgeon as a snotty-nosed 16 year old when the other side of the ferry was used, we had to get taken across by Ernie Huxley on the ferry.

#3

Suprisingly Hazeldine get a mention in para 6 of this page of the waterscape website here........

http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-ri ... al/fishing

TerryC · #4

I thought they had long since folded T K.

#5

Me too TerryC - sometime in the 80s I thought

#6

Or is it 'another' club - just had a google about and came up with

Hazeldine Anglers Association
J W Hazeldine
8 Dudley Road, Sedgley, Dudley, Staffs DY3 1SX

#7

Ought to start another topic - I've knocked this one right off track

#8

I think it is all the same club. If I remember right it folded just after the passing of Wilf

#9

Get it back on track Murf with part 2

Paul_Murrin · #10

Part 2;
[highlight][center]The Winter leagues[/center][/highlight]

Right here we go with Clive s Quest ,

There were some very good match anglers in the West Midlands at that time but Birmingham had still failed in moulding a successful outfit, most of the members treating the sport purely as an individual exercise instead of knitting together as a smooth running team.
At that time i was enjoying reasonable success and in the fortunate position of knowing many of the top Midlands Anglers. I started to approach them with a view to putting together what i hoped would be a successful league side. It was fortunate that there was an established league in the area , the West Midlands Division, which at the time was dominated by the [highlight]Colebrook Club.[/highlight] There was much enthusiasm amongst the match anglers I contacted and I received a lot of co- operation in forming what I believe to be an extremely strong outfit under the title of [highlight]Cofton Hackett [/highlight] . The West Midlands Division Proved an ideal schooling medium for us because [highlight]Colebrook[/highlight] was highly respected; in fact many experienced observers classed them as well- nigh on unbeatable.( goo on Clive)
On joining the league a big problem lay in the fact that it had been in existence for some five or six years, and the venues used for the series of matches were booked from year to year. This meant not only were [highlight]Colebrook [/highlight]a very strong team in there own right but very experienced on the waters used in the programme.
However , we did get of to a wonderful start when we competed on the [highlight] Gloucester canal @ Pirton,[/highlight] a venue now little used on the match circuit.( Thats true even now, what a venue) The event was run on the weight system as, indeed all matches were in the mid 1960s, and employing an attacking style for roach we secured a first round victory with a total of about seventeen pounds to leave the smart [highlight]Colebrook[/highlight] Squad trailing in second place some five pounds behind us.
This was an enormous boost to our confidence, and our success continued to such an extent that it was soon obvious that out of the twelve contending sides , the league had developed into a two-horse race. Each match saw [highlight]Colebrook[/highlight] & [highlight]Cofton Hackett [/highlight] in main contention, and there was rarely any other team able to split us.
We soon realised that the good start we had made to the series had been very important because league points are very difficult to pull back when the same to teams claim the leading places match after match.
Our successful form was maintained and we were delighted to finish as league champions at our first attempt. In those early days of the campaign it meant that we moved directly into the grand final with a chance to prevent [highlight]Leicester[/highlight] from securing there Hat -trick (there coming Joff)
The venue for the final was the [highlight]River Erne[/highlight] in [highlight]Bellturbot[/highlight] in southern Ireland were 144 anglers from twelve teams were pegged below the bridge in a downstream direction. The stretch was well known as a bream water in those days. I recollect that roach played little part in the match , there numbers being sparse compared with there abundance there today.
[highlight]Leicester [/highlight]was a noted Bream outfit, gaining innumerable success on home waters such as The [highlight]Witham, [/highlight][highlight]Welland[/highlight] & [highlight]Nene[/highlight]
but this type of fishing was a little foreign to the [highlight]Cofton Hackett[/highlight] Team. We were given some leeway, however , with the final being arranged at the end of the English Closed Season, thus enabling us to arrange practise sessions in order to improve technique. For those work-outs we chose the [highlight]Twyning [/highlight]section of the [highlight]Warwickshire Avon [/highlight]which we were lead to believe was very similar to [highlight]Bellturbot[/highlight] The fact that we were in the close season meant a little bending of the rules. through Legering was allowed, Groundbait certainly was not neither were Maggots. So, with this in mind the whole of the Cofton team would embark on some really early morning fishing expeditions! (lol)
We would leave home by 4.00 am and be tackled up and fishing by the break of day, felling fairly confident that the bailiffing force attached greater importance to sleep.
Practise sessions usually followed the pattern of mini-matchs with our twelve members fishing in a line along the bank . The only exception was that we did tend to ground bait more heavily at the start because after a time bankside activity strongly tended to increase .
well I remember one particular early morning arrival when heavy mist shrouded the whole area . We put our tackle together As usual and , on the given signal, our team of twelve let fly with the opening barrage of groundbait,using an average something like ten pounds per man. When the mist lifted some thirty minuets later, much to our surprise we observed four all-night Ell anglers on the opposite bank -seemingly in a severe state of shock as a result of our bombardment!

To be continued.................

#11

I know it's going back a bit but I actually fished the West Midlands Winter League on most of those venues mentioned. I well remember Colebrook, Circle, Gloucester, then the greatest of them all Cofton Hackett.
I well remember Starlets coming into the League too. To give you an idea of the strength of that league Starlets, along with ourselves Stafford Trotters finished at the wrong end, the League was that strong.

#12

[movedhere] General [move by] Simple.

Hookman · #13

Moving to the UK and am an avid fishermeister. Can anyone point me to how to join? Any requirements? (other than catching something)? Kindly give a Yank a hand, I would do the same for you folks.

old_trentman · #14

Bill is it that long since i used to fish with Cofton in the WMWL(no its not ) COME FROST, SNOW,FLOODS YOU NAME IT THE MATCHES WENT ON BE IT TRENT ,AVON SEVERN, CANAL ,G CANAL Y NAME IT . They where good matches Bill and run very well . When Clive called a meeting check methods etc it was very intence and you had to be there he ran a very tight ship , and it showed in the end product.Bill i am fishing my first canal match in 25 yrs on the T,M this weekend have been on it every spear min with the other team members so keen just like with Cofton all them years ago (practice makes perfect) has Clive used to say.

leeben1 · #15

let us know how you get on tony

#16

let us know how you get on tony

Make sure to do Kingfisher

#17

Back of the garages Tony for a slack 20lb of big red fins !!!!!!

Paul_Murrin · #18

Part3

[highlight][center] The Winter Leagues[/center][/highlight]

( Back to Twyning)

Those practise sessions proved to be every bit as useful as we had hoped,and it was a much improved team of bream anglers which set off from Bristol Airport looking forward to its first big final.
We had a stormy flight across the Irish Sea , then there was a bit of a problem in collecting our bait supplies from Dublin, previously transported there by cargo flight. However a treasury note solved this hiccup, and we were on route for [highlight]Bellturbot,[/highlight] punctuating the Journey with stops at local hostelries.
we arrived at the match area in the evening, and immediately made for the River bank to get our first look at the water. From the bridge we saw 2- 3 anglers fishing some 300yds downstream, and went to watch them perform. Within minuets we all realised that this was far from the Bream fishing we had been practising.our equipment consisted of 2lb/3lb lines a few Aresley bombs, and hooks ranging from no larger than a size 14.
But it was apparent that these Irish bream of the mid 1960s had little knowledge of, and far less respect for, our English methods. They were WILD FISH !
we noticed that the local Anglers were using hefty lines , about 6lb B/S, and in buckets buy there side s were 200+worms of varying sizes some quite hefty.It was noticeable, too, there groundbait was very heavy indeed , and nothing like that used on our waters back home.
It was quickly confirmed that this bold approach was the successful method as one of the anglers struck into a bream with a swift bending of the rod. Within two or three minuets he had the fish in his net, a specimen about six pounds, as black as Cole, and eyes as big as 50p pieces!!It seemed so substantial that a coat hanger could have been hung from the beading around its mouth, and the size 6 hook with the remains of a three inch lob-worm did not look out of place. We were told this was the third fish of that size caught by that angler in the space of thirty minutes !! By that time we had seen enough. Luckily for us , shops in Ireland stay open all hours, and within minutes we were buying 6lb line for our reels and the necessary large size hooks to replace our light gear. A few two-shilling pieces also brought us a few more hundred worms.
Then we felt we were in a far better position for the following days final, and in view of what we had seen we felt confident that any team that employed the English approach would fall by the wayside.
That night at a team meeting we came to the conclusion three or four weights from the twelve anglers would produce the sort of returns we could expect on this type of water . Fish of this size do tend to shoal and, unlike smaller varieties, they are not resident at every peg.
Our plan was to chop up 200/300 worms mixed in about twelve pounds of groundbait stiffened by pig meal obtained on the eve of the match .
We decided to throw ten balls of ground bait each the size of an orange, into every one of our swims , and top up the supply at regular intervals . Because of the disturbance caused by this initial onslaught we did not expect to catch fish for the first two hours . We felt there was little point in pursuing negative tactics on the swims which did not have a "breamy" appearance.
After a couple of hours the picture was indeed not too rosy and, as i recall , we had not a bream to our credit. It was a lengthy match course and our runner , [highlight]Johnny Coles [/highlight] was working Flat out to keep us all in touch .
After four hours of the five hour match Johnny's report was still not one to become excited about . Although the odd angler had along the match stretch had caught bream , we had none to many on our sheet[highlight] ( have they blew it Joff, giving Leicester the Hat trick)[/highlight] , but all the team sticking rigidly to the plan.
When the final whistle sounded my catch consisted of five big mouthed perch which seemed to have tails growing out of the backs of there heads and no body ! They tipped the scales at 1lb- 4oz, and I made off with my tackle somewhat dejectedly towards the waiting trailer that was to take us back to our quarters.
there was one vehicle for each section and it was some consolation for me to know that no bream had been caught in my section.
But the real surprise came when I arrived back at the marshalling areaand one of our team men [highlight]Jim Ryder [/highlight] , rushed up to me and asked what i thought of the results. When I told him I had not heard, he gave me the news that[highlight] Cofton Hackett [/highlight] had more than doubled the score of any other Team! I really thought he was joking because, with only an hour left , we had only two or three of out Team with a single fish......

Part 4 later this evening..........( just gunna wipe this bream slime of me keys

)

joffmiester · #19

;)we will see in part 4

Paul_Murrin · #20

Part4:

[highlight][center]The Winter Leagues[/center][/highlight]

It appeared that [highlight]Lloyd Davies[/highlight] had caught five or six bream in the last hour , giving him a catch of something like 30lb and others of our team had netted fish late in the match. We had, in fact sunk the opposition without a trace!
It was a wonderful victory because while all the other teams had failed to interpret the required tactics and had approached the match English-style we had re thought our approach - the sign of a confident team.
on collecting the trophy and our medals at the presentation I had the distinct impression that nobody really took us seriously . The thought seemed to be that we fished so crudely, we had just been Lucky: this made me even more determined to stamp our authority on this competition in the years ahead.
in the next season 1966/67 , [highlight]Colebrook[/highlight] bounced back with a great performance in taking the the National League crown on the[highlight] Irish River Boyle[/highlight] . But we struck again in the following year to take the[highlight] West Midlands League Title[/highlight] and book ourselves a place in the in the final, this time on the[highlight] River Rinn,[/highlight] a small Irish River reputed to hold large shoals of bream.
This was going to be a test in which the [highlight]Cofton Hackett [/highlight] team hoped to remove those doubts which were levelled at us by the critics of the previous victory. We were still in the early days of match fishing in Ireland as far as English anglers were concerned , and with no facilities available for practise it meant that all the competing teams faced the match with very little inside information.
Again it was going to be the side which adapted most successfully on the day which would carry of the spoils.
we had a full range of bream equipment, and having again carried out our training by means of close -season sorties on home waters, we were really match fit.
Accepting that the river was of a small nature, it was suggested at our team meetings that a steady approach would have to be made compared with our Tactics on the [highlight]Erne[/highlight],but still with bream in mind.
We were then a smooth running combination and very much aware of our runner , [highlight]Johnny Coles [/highlight] , who was with us . In a situation were the teams had little information about the water it was vital to our success that John could obtain for us some tactical information for us early in the match to allow us, if necessary , to adopt our styles accordingly.
The Cofton plan was to make a steady approach for bream at all pegs for two hours , then reassess the situation with a view possibly to increase our feed, or perhaps sitting back for a tight match.
when the report did come, it must have surprised every body who was fishing , and probably more to the organising officials , not a single bream had been caught in the whole of the 144 peg match length!
I told our Runner to rest while I thought out the situation. As far as I could tell all the teams had approached the match cautiously; in fact some of the [highlight]Northern [/highlight]outfits had loose fed the slow moving swims in an attempt to catch fish.
I reasoned that there was no excuse at all for the bream not to have shown in limited quantity after two hours of the match. Instinct told me we must expect little , if any improvement in the remaining three hours.
I was prepared to take a gamble........

to be continued.. tomorrow afternoon...............