ATWL 1st Round, Saracen's Head, 80 pegs

Sorry for the delay Kenny, nowt to get excited about though. By the way, when you see your line tighten up to your tip try strikin', hehe :)
Yep, round 1 of this years' Angling Trust Winter League kicked off today up at Sarry's y'ead. A little birdie told me there were about ten teams registered for the Wigan Division, in fact there are six! There's actually eight in the match but Bolton Bread Baskets and Hindley Midgets Group are only making up the numbers and don't go to press. Work that one out. Also another strong rumour was going around that there's a league at the Catteries with only four teams in, and the top two go through. Before Mark jumps up and down, we know the rules but usually there's no smoke without fire. Anyhow, I'm sure Banksy will put the record straight and tell us it's all a load of botox seeing as it's his league :) I guess it's a sign of the times, why sit there and struggle for four and a half hours dodging bikes, boats and walkers when you can go and bag up on a carp puddle? Paste-'ead told me the weights from their match yesterday, he had 20 odd pound and came nowhere. Ho hum :)
But back to our match and some proper fishin', hehe :) With relatively small sections of eight, in fact six 'cos you don't have to bother about the Bolton or the Hindley mon, it's easy to have a complete mare and come last in your section. I suppose you could argue it's also easier to win it.
Well, we had some decent scores and one or two not so decent and came back with 43 points and an average of 4.3 per man. Pretty damn good if there were fifteen teams in it but there's not so we slumped to 5th on the day, just a couple of points behind Sams.
I drew half way down the short ratch between Pinfold and North Moor Lane. I was happy with the draw but it soon became clear it was to be a struggle. Although the weights were low it made for a real close match and my E section was won by the Lostock lad with 2-3-14. I winkled away all day catching bits, not a snig in sight, at 14 mtrs to weigh 2-2-4 and nab second in section just ahead of Boyden on my left who weighed a level 2 lb. I was fairly happy with that and when the Warrior told me he'd had a snig which helped him to third, our Albert was second, Scouser and George Doors both had 3 points, I was thinking about brown envelopes. However it wasn't to be and we slumped to 5th on the day. But as I always say, it's a marathon not a sprint and it's very early days yet. Trouble is, the way the points work it's 1 for a win and 2 for second and so on, so in a league of only six teams it's tough to claw the points back. But we'll be giving it our best shot and it's never over 'till the fat lady sings!
Well done to maver NW who scored 32 points on the day, they had five section winners which was a pretty neat achievement then came TCP 'and gargle every day' with 32 points also but due to the complex points system, deducting Bolton and Hindley, they ended up second and therefore 2 points. Hmmm .....
Individually Stu Bird, TCP, won it with 3-15-0 from D section on Pinfold with Old Father Time himself, Dad Whalley, Mosella Lostock, coming second with 3-11-10. Dave Edgerley, Sams, was third with 3-11-0 while our very own Albert, Octoplus Standish, nabbed fourth with 3-9-15 next to Dad Whalley. He gave our Albert 'the eyes' and tuttled him good style, hehe :) Well done you lot!
So to the second round and we're off to Chorley, yes Chorley, can't wait. I doubt the canal record will be smashed but you never know and it should be another close one. Not many snigs up there but when you get one it's usually a crumper!
See y'all at the Lock and Quays Sunday!
'Till then .... tight lines :)
PS Is it true that Gorgeous George wears fake tan and has a secret stash of it hidden in his trusty Reliant Robin? I think so .... :)