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The day started off well with a gentle breeze, mild and plenty of cloud cover, it looked perfect.. Fish were feeding at the very start of the match, But out came the bright sunshine and things slowed up pretty quickly..!
Round 1 – 7th May 2017

Barry Young drew his favourite peg 20 on Queensberry Water, opting to fish the method feeder, and a long pole line potting in maggots.
With lots of indications on the tip rod, it wasn’t long before the fish started coming, and they continued coming in little spells throughout the match. The pole line produced only 5 ide and a skimmer, so the feeder was the way forward, finishing with 35lbs of carp and 19lbs 14oz of silvers for 54lb 14oz, winning overall and qualifying for the ” A” final.
David McAuley caught some nice ide on long pole on maggot, and a few small carp on tip rod to finish 2nd in section with a respectable 31lbs 4oz.
Geoffrey Brough took the last framing place with 5 good carp for 25lb 1oz, all caught on method feeder.

On Wallace Lake it was another extremely tight match with ounces separating many of the anglers.
The first place honors were shared, with both Steve Royle and Matthew Waugh weighing in nice nets of silvers ( small ide, roach and skimmers.), along with an odd carp, both weighing in 30lbs 4oz, and both qualifying for the “A” final.
Craig Duncan took the last framing spot with another net of silvers for 23lbs 8oz, only 2lbs 6oz separated the next 6 anglers..!
The carp in Wallace Lake still haven’t woke up yet, but the silvers are feeding well..!
Well done to the Qualifiers and Framers today.

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Round 2 – 4th June 2017

Queensberry

A heavy shower kicked off proceedings today, but it remained dry for the match, but a horrible gusting wind made it very difficult for most today, with some pretty severe undertow making bait presentation very challenging.
On Queensberry water Don Lines secured his place in the ” A” final from peg 20, but surprisingly, only two chub from the culvert, Don had to change tactics, fishing maggot and sweet fishmeal groundbait to put together a winning 48lb 4oz net of ide and the odd skimmer.
John Brooks took second place with 44lbs of carp and skimmers, all caught on pole using paste.
David McAuley took the last framing spot, weighing in 35lb 8oz of mainly skimmers and the odd ide, caught on pole / worm and maggot.
John Williamson and John Wright finished closely behind, both recording 34lb + weights.

Wallace

On Wallace Lake it was a real challenge trying to string bites together for everyone, with very few carp showing, and surprisingly the ide were in hiding too..!
Ian Whitson did just enough to book his place in the ” A” final with a net of roach and ide.. And with the help of two bonus carp weighed in 31lb 4oz, narrowly beating Mick Slater who caught 16 small carp on the tip rod, finishing 12oz behind Ian with 30lbs 8oz for 2nd place.
Barry Young took the remaining framing place with a net of ide & 5 skimmers, caught on maggot / pole.
Myles Watt managed to put a respectable 21lb + on the scales for 4th place on a tough day for most.
Well done Ian Whitson and Don Lines..!

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Round 3 – 18th June 2017

Queensberry

Ian Whitson took the section win with a good net of ide, skimmers and small carp to weigh in 48lb 6oz, all caught on maggot /pole.
David McAuley finished 2nd in section, enough to send him through to the ” A” final with Ian Whitson already qualified, David had 16 big ide, a few skimmers and small carp, for 43lbs, caught on pole / maggot
Mark Clow finished very close behind in 3rd place with 41lb 4oz, mostly skimmers, caught on tip rod. Again.. Decent back up weights with Mick Slater, Matt Waugh, Derek Foster and Geoff Brough all recording 30lb + weights.
Well done Geoff and David on Qualifying for the big final..!!!

Wallace

Geoff Whittle secured his place in the ” A” final, catching 20 carp on method feeder for 53lbs from end peg 33.
Myles Watt finished 2nd with a good net of silvers for 42lbs, all caught on maggot / pole.
Steve Royle narrowly beat Barry Young into 3rd place with 39lbs 10oz of silvers which included 15 skimmers, all caught on maggot pole, with Barry Young weighing in 37lbs 2oz of silvers for 4th, again caught on pole.
Symon Willan had a respectable 36lbs 8oz of carp for 5th, with plenty more good back up weights in a very close section.

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Round 4 – 2nd July 2017

Queensberry

Mick Slater won the Queensberry section and the overall match today, earning him automatic qualification into the Broom Series “A” final, catching carp on pole and tip rod on pellet to weigh in a healthy 67lbs.
David McAuley finished 2nd in section with 53lbs, mainly ide and skimmers with the odd carp, caught on pole using chopped worm.
Symon Willan took the last framing place to finish 3rd with 40lbs 2oz, a mix of carp and chub caught on tip rod.

Wallace
Wallace Lake Ian Whitson won the section with 54lbs of ide, skimmers and carp caught on pole, Steve Royle was very close behind to take 2nd spot with 50lbs 12oz, catching carp on pole in the margin and a lot of small ide.
Don Lines finished 3rd with 33lbs 4oz of ide and carp, caught fishing the feeder at 13m.
With Ian, Steve and Don already qualified, Craig Duncan qualifies for the Broom Series “A” final by triple de – fault.
Congratulations Mick and Craig…! 

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Round 5 – 6th August 2017

Queensberry

Very windy and very wet…. Not ideal conditions, or so we thought..!! Presenting a bait on the pole was very difficult, but it fish rather well overall.
Geoffrey Brough won the Queensberry Water section and the overall match today with a superb 73lb 10oz, Carp and chub caught on method feeder – which also earned him automatic qualification in to the Broom Series ” A” final.
John Williamson also put a great weight of 61lb 8oz on the scales to finish 2nd in section, catching carp on bomb and pellet. Hard luck John, it’s not very often someone puts together a weight like to that and doesn’t qualify..!, But a very well deserved runner up today.

Wallace

On Wallace Lake James Carlton stole the show, winning the section comfortably with 72lb 14oz of carp caught on method feeder and pole, James also earned automatic qualification into the Broom Series ” A” final.
Barry Young finished 2nd with a respectable 50lbs, with 17 carp and a handful of silvers, mainly caught on pole at 13m, with 4 of the carp caught on method feeder.
Congratulations Geoffrey and James on reaching the big money final, and everyone else who caught some cracking back – up weights today.

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Round 6 – 20th August 2017

Queensberry

On Queensberry Water there was a right old tussle going on not only to take the last qualifying place in the ” A” final, but also to win the overall league with £500 up for grabs, AND there was also a ” Wildcard ” Entry into the ” A”final” for the angler scoring the most points without winning a Qualifier.
And with Ian Whitson ( 44pts) , David McAuley (43pts) and Barry Young ( 41pts) going into the last day with a chance of winning the league, it was fate they all ended up in the same section to battle it out.
David McAuley (peg 17)started well catching some big ide on pole / maggot, with Barry Young on the next peg a bit slower off the mark, with one ide and an early carp, it was pretty much tit for tat all match, with Ian Whitson catching at the other end of the water also.
At the weigh in David McAuley had done all he could, catching 23 big ide, 3 skimmers, chub and 2 carp for a section winning 62lb 14oz.
Barry Young on the next peg (18), put on a spurt mid afternoon, catching 9 ide, 9 carp, 3 good skimmers and a chub on maggot and worm/ pole, but the loss of 7 good fish proved costly overall, but his 54lb 12oz effort secured 2nd place in the section.
Ian Whitson caught steadily all day on pole and feeder, catching quality skimmers and carp to weigh in 47lb 8oz and 3rd in section.
With John Wright drawing a good peg (20), he secured 4th in section with 46lb 12oz, but more importantly the last Qualifying place into the ” A” final.
Meanwhile John Williamson did just enough, scoring a few more points to secure the ” Wildcard” place.!
With the worst scores to be dropped by each angler over the 6 rounds, it was always beneficial having a low score to drop, which paid a big part in deciding the league winner.
With Ian Whitson only dropping 2pts as his worst score, this was helpful in securing him the overall league winners place, with David McAuley dropping 8pts and Barry Young 7pts as their worst scores.!

Wallace

Steve Royle won his section an the overall match with a superb 70lb 8oz, with 50lb of that all carp caught on pole.
With the last Qualifying place up for grabs, the weigh in was tense to say the least with everyone following the scales along the bank, and last to weigh was John Brooks who weighed in 49lbs of carp and skimmers to finish 2nd and takes the last available place in the Broom Series ” A” final.
Hard luck to Peter Wilson who was sitting in the qualifying position with 47lbs 12oz, but finishing 3rd in section after John’s net pipped him by the smallest of margins..!
Great back up weights right down the line in a well contested section.

League top 5
1st – Ian Whitson – 46pts
2nd – David McAuley – 45pts
3rd – Barry Young – 43pts
4th – Steve Royle – 39pts
5th – Mick Slater – 36pts

Congratulations to John Wright, John Brooks and John Williamson on securing your places in the ” A” final, and Ian Whitson on winning the league stage.

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Finals Weekend Day 1 – ‘A’ Final – Wallace

A real tough one today, conditions were far from ideal, flat calm, bright sunshine with the odd shower, and the air pressure as low as it’s been for months, and with a wet and windy day forecast tomorrow, the pressure certainly wouldn’t be settled enough to encourage the fish to feed.
The ” A” final was dominated on day one by carp on the end pegs, with everyone in between struggling to get any rythmn going on the silvers, but very close none the less.
Ian Whitson won the lake with an impressive 76lb 8oz of carp, caught on pellet waggler, with Matthew Waugh 2nd, with 40lbs of carp caught in the margins.
Barry Young finished 3rd with 34lb 12oz of mainly small ide and 3 bonus carp.

Finals Weekend Day 1 – ‘B’ Final – Queensberry

On Queensberry in the ” B” final Myles Watt leads the pack, finishing 1st on the lake with 41lbs, lots of silvers caught shallow on pole and a few bonus carp fishing deep, narrowly beating Eddie Bibby by a mere 4oz. Eddie finishing 2nd with 40lb 12oz of carp and skimmers caught mainly on method feeder.
Rosen Arsov finished 3rd with 38lbs + of carp caught on tip rod

Finals Weekend Day 2 – ‘A’ Final Queensberry

The Broom Finals weather lived up to its usual reputation today, with heavy blustery showers and gusting winds up to 25mph – which pretty much made any long pole fishing out of the question for most anglers.
As always on day two, there were plenty of twists and turns in both finals.
At the draw yesterday’s leader Ian Whitson drew peg 27, with Steve Royle drawing end peg 28 with the wind favouring that end of the lake which made things interesting, with Matthew Waugh ( 2nd yesterday.) drawing peg 17 at the opposite end, one of the few pegs where long pole fishing was manageable. Meanwhile Barry Young ( 3rd yesterday.) drew peg 21, with David McAuley ( 4th ) drawing peg 23, and Mick Slater drawing in form peg 20, The stage was set for a right old tussle..!
Barry Young started on the method feeder, netting a small carp first cast, with Mick Slater quickly following suite. Steve Royle also started well on peg 28. Barry Young then hooked a good “double” which snagged him up, dislodging the hook, but on retrieving the ” snag “, it turned out to be a ” Drennan ” rod an reel.. Lost recently by another angler.
Matthew Waugh meantime started catching on pole, and Don Lines on peg 18 started stringing a few fish together.
David McAuley on peg 23 started catching some nice skimmers on a short pole line, with Ian Whitson doing the same.
From there on in it was difficult to keep tabs on everyone, with nets and elastics regularly out..! Craig Duncan was also doing very well catching lots of nice slivers.!
Barry Youngs pole line was fizzing away but the wind prevented any decent presentation, and with lots of indications on the feeder, it wasn’t long before the rod was going round at a reasonably steady rate.
Strangely, the culvert peg 20 was a lot slower but still producing a few fish.
At the weigh in Matthew Waugh put a good net of fish together to weigh in 48lbs 4oz, with Don Lines on the next peg weighing in 51lbs of carp caught on pole / maggot.
Barry Young had managed 22 carp on feeder and 3 good skimmers on pole for 69lbs 8oz, while Ian Whitson put a good net of skimmers together to weigh 47lb 8oz, but last to weigh in Steve Royle put a spanner in the works for those in contention by weighing in 68lbs 12oz to take 2nd place in section.
The ” A” final top 4 winners were
1st – Barry Young – 18pts – £1000
2nd – Ian Whitson – 16pts – £400 ( weight.)
3rd – Matthew Waugh – 16pts – £200
4th – Steve Royle – 13pts – £100

Finals Weekend Day 2 – ‘B’ Final Wallace

At the draw yet again things were made interesting, with Symon Willan drawing end peg 45, with yesterdays leader Myles Watt drawing the less fancied peg 38, but with Myles picking up a maximum 10pts on day one, it was up to the chasing pack to catch him.
Rosen Arsov had also picked up a valuable 8pts for 3rd yesterday, which would prove crucial at the weigh in.!
Symon Willan capitalised on peg 45, winning his section comfortably with 53lbs 4oz of carp, including a cracking 14lb 4oz common carp. Rosen Arsov finished 2nd with 35lbs, with Myles picking up valuable points for his 6th place finish.
Eddie Bibby ( 2nd.) yesterday with 9pts, also finished in the points again today, his 7th place worthy of 4pts, with Phil Baird picking up 7pts yesterday and another 6pts today for his 5th place in section, proving consistency is key.

” B” final top 4 winners
1st – Rosen Arsov – 17pts – Preston Seat Box
2nd – Myles Watt – 15pts – Feeder Rod
3rd – Eddie Bibby – 13pts – Pole Roller
4th – Phil Baird – 13pts – Pole Roost

Blind Bet ;
” A” Final – Matthew Waugh picked up £62.50 for choosing Barry Young to win final
” B” final – Eddie Bibby picked up £62.50 for choosing Rosen Arsov to win final.

A fantastic Broom Series with some excellent fishing and nice catches, many thanks again for all your support from all at Broom..!