The North West Association of Sea Angling Clubs held the John Williams two-day memorial match on Otterspool Promenade last Friday and Saturday.
This one, based at the Britannia Pub, saw competitors welcome travellers from all over Wales, IOM, Ireland and right across England to take part.
Many locals paid homage to John, who died in 2013, as a Wallasey man and a long-time member of Wirral Boat SAC. John was also respected as the distinguished president of the NWASAC.
Honouring him with much admiration and respect from his fellow anglers, this match is now regarded as one of the most coveted events across the country on the sea angling calendar.
The profile of this match alone spoke volumes of the respect held here for John.
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With the stage set and the conditions perfect, the field of 116 participants were happy to bare the cold as they took in calm winter evenings and saw the fishing good, producing plenty of Whiting, a few cod,rays, rockling and some good flounders.
With strict rules in place that saw the total measurements of all the catches recorded and converted into point score rankings over the two days, these matches as they progress, involves everyone marking each participant’s individual cards with the organisers then carefully determining the successful point scorers final positions.
Somewhat fittingly and proudly taking the top honours with a remarkable three-point score was Wallasey’s own Gavin Parker.
As a member of Wirral Boats and a supporter of the NWASAC since he was a teenager, landscape gardener Parker fished an incredible match that saw him lead the field with some very strong opposition close in what was a tight finish.
Already fully booked for next year, it has to be said that without the fantastic team behind this competition in Bill and Heather Linfield, Mark Hurcombe, Shaun Goligthly, Bob Gascoigne, Nigel Conlon and Carl Edwards and of course the hosts within the Britannia, this event would not have been as successful as it is now nationally recognised to be.
Coming inland and north up the Leeds Liverpool Canal, another local rod taking top honours was Blundelsands’ John Easton.
Easton led Liverpool AS in this one and as captain he took the top weight upon Sunday’s final round of the Wigan Winter League.
Pegged on Wheat Lane just outside Burscough, a surprisingly great start for Easton saw him take a small bream and two skimmers from the start on bread at just five metres.
Easton then topped his ‘bonus’ early start up with perch at 11m using maggot for a winning 6.5.0.
Still on the cut, Liverpool DAA are hosting the Barrie Davis, Cliffy Jones Memorial Pairs Match on Sunday.
With 27 pairs booked on, this one again looks to be another great match. Any anglers who fancy it can contact Mike Dickson at liverpooldistrictangling.co.uk.
