Lee Harrison and Dave Brooks earned a festive £1,000 Christmas bonus after winning Round Two of the Preston Innovations Pole Fishing Pairs league.
Fifty pairs travelled to the fantastic Messingham Sands Fishery near Scunthorpe for this heat and, despite the cold and windy conditions, the venue lived up to its reputation as one of the best silverfish waters in the North.
Ever-consistent Lee had double cause to celebrate after winning the match outright with a 20.7kg mixed bag. Combined with Dave’s section-winning catch, the Drennan Barnsley Blacks duo scored a maximum two section points and a combined weight of 32.35kg.
Lee explained: “My initial attack involved loose feeding casters over the top of small balls of sweet fishmeal groundbait at 10 metres. This seemed to attract carp more than anything, though, so I cut out the loose feed and just potted everything. This was much better and soon I found myself into fish again. I fished a 0.5g rig, and one of my favoured B911 F1 hooks in a size 18, with two dead maggots on the hook. It really was a great day’s fishing. I didn’t know what I was going to hook next!
“When I found out Dave had won his section as well, and we had done enough to win the £1,000 for being top pair on the day, I was obviously over the moon! A nice little pre-Christmas bonus!”
After two rounds, Andy Power and John Harvey are leading the way on five points, with Jon Arthur and Ed Warren in second place with six points. With two pairs on seven points and nine pairs on eight points the race is still wide open!
The next round is at Lindholme Lakes in January.
Round Two Individual Result:
1st Lee Harrison (Drennan Barnsley) 20.7kg (Tripp 14)
2nd Lee Kerry (Preston Innovations/Sonubaits) 16.67kg (Tripp 33)
3rd Andy Power (Preston Innovations/Sonubaits) 16.61kg (Island 35)
4th Andy May (MAP/Bait-Tech) 16.5kg (South Lake 9)
5th Alan Scotthorne (Drennan/Sensas) 16.27kg (Tripp 11)
6th Dan Varney (Drennan) 16.25kg (Island 36)
7th Jon Arthur (Drennan) 15.39kg (South Lake 15)
8th Andy Geldart (Garbolino/Dynamite) 15.25kg (Island 10)
9th Grant Albutt (Matrix/Bait-Tech) 14.12kg (Merrys 4)
10th Lewis Breeze (Drennan NW/Sensas) 13.52kg (Merrys 2)
Round Two Pairs:
1st Lee Harrison & Dave Brooks 2pts (32.35kg)
2nd Joe Carass & Lee Kerry 2pts (29.13kg)
3rd John Harvey & Andy Power 2pts (22.85kg)
4th Andy May & Lewis Breeze 3pts (30.02kg)
5th Jon Arthur & Ed Warren 3pts (24.15kg)
League To Date:
1st John Harvey & Andy Power 5pts
2nd Jon Arthur & Ed Warren 6pts
3rd Lee Harrison & Dave Brooks 7pts
4th Dan Varney & Brad Titmus 7pts
5th Lee Wright & Grant Albutt 8pts
Images courtesy of Craig Butterfield and Pole Fishing magazine.