Three Out Of Three For Drennan Oxford

Jack Reid

Drennan Oxford have continued an impressive winning streak in the Oxford division of the Angling Trust Winter League.

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Round Two was held on the River Thames on the Medley, Channel and Folly sections. With the river finally holding some much needed colour and a bit of pace, everyone was wondering if the big roach would show and whether Medley’s bream population would put in an appearance. Although the big weights of bream failed to materialise there was still plenty of small fish to be caught in all bar one section.

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Gary Barclay won Round Two with an 18lb catch from the Folly section.

Leading the way was Drennan Oxford’s Gary Barclay with a weight of 18lb 9oz from behind the cottages at Folly. He fished maggot and caster over groundbait at 11 metres for a quality net of skimmers, hybrids and roach.

In the same section as Gary, Richard Cox from Tubertini Apollo fished the groundbait feeder for three bream and some skimmers for 16lb 9oz and second overall.

Just an ounce behind was Drennan Oxford’s Richard Head with 16lb 8oz. Richard was drawn on the end peg in the Channel and balled in with eight balls of groundbait and loosed fed casters over the top to catch small roach every chuck from start to finish only topping up with groundbait when the fish backed off.

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Carl Eland won his section with this 14lb catch on the bolo fished down the middle. He used a 14ft Acolyte Ultra rod and fed regular balls of groundbait packed with casters and hemp.

Again it was a successful match for Drennnan Oxford who posted a score of 50 points to win the round, just ahead of Sensas A4 on 46 points and Tubertini Apollo on 41 points.

Round Three

The third round was held on the Thames at Abingdon and Radley. Again, after a week of rain the river was holding plenty of colour and was moving well. With six sections at Radley and two at Abingdon the bream never showed but the roach fed exceptionally well.

Leading the way from his 3rd place the week before was Richard Head. The Drennan Oxford team man drew behind the swimming pool upstream of Abingdon bridge and once again fished maggot and caster over balled-in groundbait for a winning 21lb 13oz catch – including roach to 1lb 8oz.

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Matt Herbert included a fine 2lb 12oz perch in his second-placed catch.

Matt Herbert was 2nd from the first peg downstream of Radley Boathouse. He also balled it in and topped up with 20 balls throughout the day when the roach backed off to end the match with 20lb 12oz. That consisted of 18lb of roach plus a perch that went 2lb 12oz!

Third place went to Jon Taylor from the top end of Radley with 19lb 15oz, mainly chub and a few roach on the waggler.

Again it was another solid team performance from Drennan Oxford who won three of the six sections at Radley and was 2nd in the other three sections. Together with a section 2nd and a 4th place at Abingdon they ended up with 48 points to win the day. Sensas A4 were once again just behind on 45 points followed by Isis Oxford on 43 points.

League After Three Rounds
1st Drennan Oxford 3pts
2nd Sensas A4 7pts
3rd Tubertini Apollo 9pts