After three rounds of competition that have been the absolute definition of wild, natural venue match fishing at Lockwood Beck, Jim Taylor has come out on top of the 24-strong field to take the title of Middlesbrough Angling Club Northumbrian Water Reservoir Master for 2024 and the overall winners prize of £300.
With three performances worthy of a champion, from a Round One – Zone A section win in the woods – in horrendous conditions of non-stop torrential rain, winning the day on Round 2 – where Jim topped the leader board going into the final round, to edging out his closest rival, Peter Manning in the deep water ‘section of doom’ in Zone C – securing a vital point to tie with three other anglers on an amazing 4 points – taking the title on a cumulative weight of 25lb-07oz – An achievement made all the more remarkable – given the nature of the venue and the conditions – as Jim is one of the clubs oldest members at ninety years of age – Amazing!
In the runners up spot, also scoring 4 points was Russ Hodgson who added to consistent performances throughout the competition, with a section win in zone B to take second place and a £200 consolation with a combined weight of 24lb-08oz – just a decent fish away from the title! …Never far from the frame and always able to put a fish in the net when it counts was David Atkins, who made 4 points working out results from poor areas in previous rounds and made it count with a zone A section win on the final day to tally 13lb-15oz and a prize of £160 for third overall – due to the excellent support for this new series the prize pot was also able to pay out 4th place to Paul Spowart (5 points)(18lb-02oz Total) & 5th place to Peter Manning (5 points) (17lb-04oz Total) – Massive well done lads!
Round 3 Overall winner on the day and setting the bar high with a new venue record was Ian Kirton who weighed a fantastic 48lb-06oz of feeder caught skimmer bream from section 2 – end peg C8 – showing the massive potential of the venue. David Atkin took second place on his way to third overall with 10lb-14oz from section 1 peg A7 in the woods using the whip to good effect and third place went to Ian Johnson with 10lb-01oz on the feeder from tricky section 1 peg C3 after the pump house on the dam wall. Also picking up section prizes were: Tony Leaming (S1 – Zone A), Russ Hodgson (S1 Zone B) and Anth Smith (S2 – Zone B)
A notable mention to junior member Harry Moore for taking part and showing his dad how its done 😉 Thanks to Metty and young Alex for weighing in. Northumbrian Water for supporting the series and of course each and every angler who took part, endured the challenging moors weather and working hard for every bite, making it a memorable first year fished in a great spirit with plenty of vicious banter! …Great Support, Great Venue, Great Format, Great Performances, Great Payout …Well deserved Winner! …Final standings for the series are posted below.
Full M.A.C. NWL RESERVOIR MASTERS SERIES 2024 Info here: https://bit.ly/3x0sXoU
M.A.C. Committee
