IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE WINTER LEAGUE FORMAT

[joffmiester]

Exciting new format for prestigious contest.
We may be in the height of summer, but competitive pole anglers can look forward to some exciting changes in the 2015/2016 Winter League, set to get under way later this year.

The moves, made by the Angling Trust, come on the back of the recruitment of England International, Lee Kerry who has been working for the trust on a consultancy basis.

Lee said:  "Although this year's Winter League has been moderately successful, I was tasked with looking at ways that the league can be improved going forward.

It has always baffled me why the ‘Winter League' has a final in the height of summer, so my first move was to move the final to the end of February – so the league will be started and finished between the months of October and February.

I like the idea of letting leagues set their own team size, so I have kept this element the same – leagues can be of eight, nine or ten anglers.
However my biggest change has been to the final itself – which this year will be fished from a team of 10.

Taking place on the 27th February, the one day final will see teams of ten anglers split between two  very different venues – though teams will be able to nominate in advance who goes where, to make preparation easier. Five anglers will fish on the Fenland drains, and five at Decoy Lakes near Whittlesey, with the team that gets the best score across the ten anglers winning.

Two teams from each Winter League will qualify for this event, meaning that 340 anglers fish on the day – making the match the second biggest event of the year in terms of numbers, second only to the Division One National.

We will, of course, be contacting team captains in due course to inform them of the changes, and welcome any questions or debate, but all in all, we think it is a positive step forward for the league."