Our first match of the New year saw four of us fishing the Sunday Open at Woodland View. Worcestershire is currently a Tier 3 area so we were able to match fish but who knows how long this will be able to continue.

The match was on Front and Back Deans on a bitterly cold winters day with overnight snow surrounding the venue. We all drew on Front Deans this week. Phil and Rob on the low numbers on the first bank while Robin and Andy were pegged on the opposite bank. Stu, Mark and Doug had more sense and stayed at home in the warm in what proved to be a extremely difficult match. The aerators had been on all night, so no ice breaking was needed but the fishing was hard for most with several dry nets and anglers packing up early. Everybody was in winter fishing mode with many starting the match on bomb and Bread and this week it was Robins time to shine from peg 25. He caught several carp on the bread before changing to corn later in the match. He won the pool easily, taking the Nomad Super pool and also ended the match in overall 2nd place with 75lb. Rob did well catching a few fish, weighing in five carp for 28lb, being the only angler to weigh in on his bank. But Andy and Phil struggled, as did most anglers today, it was a really hard days fishing.