Our Summer and Winter Leagues were both well attended with good weights during the summer and some harder days in the winter, with the Witham being its normal fickle self. Over the last few seasons we have seen an influx in newer anglers to the League who have been steadily improving and have closed the gap with the more experienced anglers. They are now regularly framing in matches, which is good to see, particularly when the haven’t gone in the match pools. The attendances show that there is a marked preference for the stillwater venues, however we need to maintain a balance between them and the rivers. The increase in carp lakes that we fish, meant that we have had to introduce a surcharge for any pegging fee over £3 as the League couldn’t sustain that level of spending.

We had a good run in the Angling Times Supercup and reached the final at our first attempt. Steve Harper captained the side and won the second round match. I won the semi-final with Stu Nesling also winning his section and the team had other good results, which got us through to the final despite a dry net. In the final the 3 anglers on the lake had excellent results, which if we had matched it on the ‘Canal’ would have seen us in first place, unfortunately it was not to be due to a poor draw and insufficient match practice. Phil Foster finished in 3rd place and also won the trophy for ‘Man of the match’. Well done Phil. This competition brought us good publicity for the League and the RAFCAA with plenty of press coverage. We continue to have our results published in the Clubman section of the Angling Times with a number of weekly winners through the season , the most recent being Andy Courtney with a superb winning weight on Moat Lake, Tattershall.

Last season saw the start of the RAFCAA Clubman competition with 3 representatives from our League, including Rob Jones who became the first winner of that competition. Well done Rob. The League also introduced a Clubman competition with Daz Dickerson winning the Winter League. The League had a disappointing turnout for the Inter-league and with the EAWL being the only full team on the day, the result was never in doubt. We must make more of an effort this season.

The fixtures have now been decided for the Summer League with a blend of rivers and stillwaters, most of which we have fished before. We have 3 matches on the Trent around Burton Joyce leading up to the Inter-unit champs, so we should be well prepared. The Inter-league is on Staunton Harold, one of our waters. We have 2 matches on there and we must put the effort in to regain the trophy from the EAWL.

Finally, I would like to wish you all luck in the forthcoming season.

G Vongyer
Chairman EMAL