KOTT 2024
Gurkha – September 15th
2024 Gurkha Champion Chris Morrison.
Chris Morrison with two of the Chub from his 16lb 12oz match winning net from Riding Mill.
1st. Chris Morrison – peg 33 – 16lb 12oz
2nd. Sam Mears – peg 45 – 15lb 4oz
3rd. Phil Rippon – peg 43 – 11lb 12oz
4th. John Urwin – peg 5 – 10lb 10oz
5th. Pete (Sammy) Rambow – peg 36 – 10lb 8oz
Section 1 – Tim Richardson – peg 7 – 6lb 13oz
Section 2 – Terry Crosby – peg 9 – 6lb 3oz
Section 3 – Mike Gibson – peg 17 – 4lb 14oz
Section 4 – Steve Lackenby – peg 30 – 4lb 4oz
Section 5 – Brian Crabtree – peg 40 – 8lb 10oz
Section 6 – Mark Allison – peg 44 – 10lb 7oz
Section 7 – Billy Mason – peg 55 – 7lb 12oz
Section 8 – Peter Milestone – peg 64 – 2lb 2oz
Section 9 – Gary Ward – peg 68 – 10lb 4oz
Tyne Championship – August 18th
2024 Tyne Championship winner Lewis Mcintosh with his, 22lb 4oz, match winning net of Chub from peg 37, Farnley Beat, Riding Mill.
1st Lewis Mcintosh – peg 37 – 22lb 14oz
2nd Dennis Armstrong – peg 35 – 17lb 12oz
3rd Stephen Grigor – peg 48 – 16lb 6oz
4th Ian Kirton – peg 51 – 15lb 6oz
5th Derek Batey – peg 40 – 13lb 12oz
Section 1 – Pat Adams – peg 2 – 5lb 10oz
Section 2 – Rob Perkins – peg 16 – 8lb 14oz
Section 3 – Martin Hope – peg 17 – 8lb 14oz
Section 4 – Mark Crabtree – peg 28 – 13lb 4oz
Section 5 – Paul Kozyra – peg 33 – 5lb 14oz
Section 6 – Anthony Jeff – peg44 – 5lb 14oz
Section 7 – Sammy Rambow – peg 49 – 11lb 12oz
Section 8 – Dave Hunter – peg 61 – 7lb 12oz
Section 9 – John Urwin – peg 72 – 12lb 10oz
KOTT 2023
2023 King of the Tyne winner, Peter “Sammy” Rambow. Peter caught 158lbs 13oz over the three match series, for a 53lb average per match. His total is a new KOTT record.
King of the Tyne winners 2023. Left to right – Paul Kozyra 5th, Mark Allison 6th, Nathan Procter 2nd, Peter “Sammy” Rambow Champion, Tim Richardson 3rd. Missing from the picture is Fred Hardcastle who was 4th overall.
Overall standings for the KOTT Championship 2023.
Steve Roberts Memorial – November 5th 2023
SRM Champion 2023 – Tim Richardson – 59lb from peg 21 (The Perfect Peg) Riding Mill.
SRM Framers 2023 – Left to right – Terry Crosby 2nd overall, Tim Richardson – SRM Champion, Peter “Sammy” Rambow – 4th overall, Paul Kozyra – 3rd overall.
Gurkha – September 17th 2023
A full field of 72 anglers once again gathered on Sunday September 17th to battle it out for the title of Gurkha Champion 2023 and to try and add as many pounds as possible to their weight for the Tyne Championship, and stay in contention for the prestigious KOTT title.
The days running up to the match had given us some much needed wetter weather and, at 6.15am, on the morning of the match, the level gauge at Bywell was showing 2′ 5″ above normal, some colour in the river, and with the prospect of settling to around 2′ by the 11.30am start time. Temperature was around 15 degrees, overcast and a light Easterly wind.
The draw was buzzing with much speculation about where would fish the best, but many were once again predicting that the ever consistent Riding Mill pegs would be the place to be. However, the Mighty Tyne has a habit of throwing up a few surprises and today would prove to be one of those days.
Following the record breaking weights from August’s Tyne Championship it would be interesting to see if Nathan Procter could be reigned in by anybody, or whether he would draw another “flyer” and extend his lead on the field. Nathan’s dip brought him peg 43 on the Bywell Road section and closest contender Mark Allison drew peg 63, at the bottom of Prudhoe Park, on the Federation Water section. With some of the other top weights, from the previous match, drawing in the favoured Riding Mill and Beaufront sections, it was going to be an interesting match, especially as some of the less favoured sections generally have a habit of throwing up some great weights when the river has a couple of feet of extra water in it.
As the results started to arrive at the Adam and Eve it soon became apparent Riding Mill had been usurped by the consistent Beaufront, with 265lbs being weighed in versus Riding Mill’s 257lbs, plus the winning weight had been caught at Beaufront.
The winning peg was number 17 (aka Hoggin’s Flats) and the on form Peter (Sammy) Rambow, managed to put a fantastic 56lbs 15oz on the scales. Sam fished 6m and 7 m Whip exclusively in about 4 feet of water to catch a couple of Chub, at 3lb and 4lb respectively, a 1lb plus Roach, with the rest of his net comprising of the Tyne’s bumper stocks of quality Dace. White maggot over groundbait, laced with casters and hemp proved to be the winning formula for Sam.
Pushing Sammy hard in second place was Phil Rippon on peg 30 in Riding Mill. Phil put 48lbs 9oz of Chub and Dace (plus a few Gonks!) on the scales to narrowly beat Graeme Hutchinson on peg 29, who lost out by 7oz with 48lb 2ozs, but comfortably taking third spot. Phil started on a Stick Float, but then changed to a 5m Whip, once his groundbait and loose feed brought the fish into the swim.
In 4th place came Mal Wilkinson, with 47lbs 8oz, from peg 24 at Beaufront. Mal started with a 6m Whip, over heavily laced groundbait, but soon found that the better stamp fish were much closer in. Mal made the move to a 3m Whip and never looked back catching stamp Dace in about 3′ to 3’6″ of water.
Gurkha Champion – Peter (Sammy) Rambow (Jr) – 56lbs 15oz
Runner Up – Phil Rippon – 48lbs 9oz
3rd Overall – Graeme Hutchinson – 48lbs 2oz
4th Overall – Mal Wilkinson – 47lbs 8oz
5th Overall – Kevin Weighell – 45lbs 10oz
6th Overall – Fred Hardcastle – 45lbs 0oz
Sections
Section 1 – Hexham 2 – Scott Miller – 21lbs 5oz
Section 2 – Hexham 3 – Steve Eddy – 17lbs 12oz
Section 3 – Beaufront – Barry Evans – 26lbs 12oz
Section 4 – Riding Mill – Fred Hardcastle – 45lbs 0oz
Section 5 – Woodyard – Andy Stainthorp – 26lbs 12oz
Section 6- Bywell Road – George Pickering – 34lbs 10oz
Section 7 – Fed Water Ovingham – Nige Collis – 24lbs 6oz
Section 8 – Fed Water Prudhoe Park – Jeff Herbert – 23lbs 8oz
Section 9 – Wylam – Graham Jones – 31lbs 9oz
Overall the river produced 47 double figure weights from 72 anglers and 1,245lbs of fish in total.
Tyne Championship – August 20th 2023
Winner Nathan Procter (103lb) and Runner Up Mark Allison (77lb 12oz).
N. Jose – section 9 winner Part of N Procters net
Superlatives! It’s a big word, but there really aren’t enough to describe just how well the River Tyne fished on the August 20th Tyne Championship.
The stars aligned on the days running up to this much anticipated first match of the 2023 KOTT Series, with two rises in river level and a perfect level, beginning to fine off, on the morning of the match.
The pre match banter, at the draw, was filled with speculation, and much anticipation, of how the fish would feed in the ideal conditions with forecasts of big weights floating around like confetti!
After a minutes silence to remember Tyne Stalwart Robert Youdale, the draw commenced at 8.30 sharp. As usual raised eyebrows, big smiles and some sighs of disappointment registered across the 72 faces of the competitors, but most were optimistic and looking forwards to a good day.
Little did we know that the Mighty Tyne was about to unleash the greatest catch statistics in its long history of match fishing, with every record in the book being broken!
Riding Mill once again proved the place to be, but it moved its usual superb records of big match weights from amazing to simply astounding! Mark Allison on peg 45 was the first to put a new River record of 77lbs 12oz on the scales (well done Mark), but the record was to be short lived as the scales moved to peg 46 and Nathan Procter. Nathan knew he would be close to Marks weight, but 77lbs was a big mountain to climb! He started to pull his net from the river, but quickly realised he needed help to put his net of Chub and Dace on the scales. Five weighs later and the scalesman finally announced an astonishing figure. 103lbs, the new river record and the first time the magic “ton” had ever been broken on the River. Nathan fished, maggot, caster and groundbait almost exclusively on a 6m Cadence Whip and his net consisted of around 40% Chub and 60% Dace, a truly amazing performance, well done Nathan.
The next four top weights also came from the prolific Riding Mill with Pete Rambow (jr) putting 59lbs 8oz on the scales for third overall, Peter Close 57lbs 10oz for fourth, Steve Tummey 52lbs 10oz for fifth and Tim Richardson 52lbs 1oz for sixth.
Riding Mill, 8 pegs produced 495lbs 6oz, there are no words that can truly describe that amazing stat.
SECTIONS
- Hexham 1 – D Hunter – peg4 – 34lb 2oz
- Hexham 2 – J Stevenson – peg 11 – 23lbs 0oz
- Hexham 3 – K Robson – peg 24 – 20lbs 0oz
- Beaufront – S Tate – peg 32 – 43lbs 04oz
- Corbridge Cricket Club – R Perkins – peg 37 – 43lbs 01oz
- Riding Mill – T Richardson – peg 48 – 52lbs 01oz
- Woodyard – A Edwards – peg 55 – 37lbs 0oz
- Bywell Road – P Helm – peg60 – 21lbs 8oz
- Fed Water – N Jose – peg 70 – 40lbs 02oz
Overall the river produced 58 double figure weights from 72 anglers (new record), 1,645lbs of fish in total (new record) and a 147lbs winning 4 man team weight (new record).
Well done to all who fished (you’re part of history) and particularly to the framers and section winners.
See you at the Gurkha on September 17th.
Nige Collis
KOTT 2022 Final Standings
The final match of the three match KOTT series always generates a lot of interest and this years SRM match, on November 6th, proved to be no exception.
Dennis Armstrong was a clear favourite as he was carrying forward 78lb 11oz giving him a clear 17lbs advantage over second placed Paul Jackson with 61lb 8oz, but could he draw a decent peg to secure the title? Third down to tenth was only seperated by 13lbs and with the top five featuring in the £2000 payout everything was still to play for. The river was looking in very good shape to produce some impressive weights, but with a number of sections likely to produce them it was always going to be down to where the Dace had decided to hole up on the day.
Dennis dipped into the draw bag and pulled peg 46 in the relatively unfancied Woodyard Section, but with the river carrying a couple of feet of extra water and peg 46 being the fancied peg in the section, could he put a decent net together to maintain his lead? Paul Jackson’s dip into the bag saw him pull peg 32 in the fancied Riding Mill Section, but would the peg known as Tim’s peg produce with the river carrying the extra water? Chris Gowling, who was lying in third with 57lbs 15oz, found end peg 72 stuck to his hand, this peg, situated on the South Bank below the Points Bridge in the Wylam Section with it’s large back eddy, has produced some decent weights in the past, but once again it was going to be a tough call for Chris to take a good weight from it. Other contenders drawing well in the top ten included Terry Crosby on peg 35 in the very consistent NW Pumping Station section, Stuart Tate on peg 33 in the same section and Steve Knowles, lying in seventh place with peg 14 in the fancied Corbridge Wellbank section. Everything was in the balance and the exodus from the Adam & Eve pub after the draw was filled with hope, anticipation and some trepidation!
As news started to filter in from the different sections, following the weigh in, it was clear that some of the fancied sections had produced some fantastic weights, but some of the much fancied pegs had not. Dennis Armstrong put a tremendous 29lb 10oz on the scales to take the Woodyard Section, but with news of much bigger weights coming in would it be enough to secure the title?
From peg 35 Terry Crosby weighed in a phenomenal 51lb 8oz to take the SRM Title for 2022 and also to give him back to back wins following his winning the Gurkha in September, a feat that has not been achieved before and securing a unique place in the record books. In second place came Stuart Tate on peg 33 with 46lb 8oz and in third, off peg 34 came Stephen Lackenby with 42lb dead. Steve Knowles made the most of his fancied peg on Wellbank putting 33lb 10oz on the scales for fourth and Paul Kozyra jumped himself up the overall standings with 32lb 9oz and fifth on the day.
The big weights had certainly changed the top 5 standings for the KOTT Championship with Paul Jackson, Chris Gowling and Steve Guy all dropping back and Terry Crosby, Steve Knowles and Paul Kozyra moving in to take the spoils.
Many congratulations to Dennis Armstrong who secured the title with his 29lb 10oz from the Woodyard and to the other framers who put together some very impressive weights to secure their top five placings.
Thanks to all the anglers who took part, you make the series what it is and give it a very notable place in the North East match calendar.
See you all in 2023
Nige Collis
KOTT Champion – Dennis Armstrong – 108lb 5oz (New KOTT record) £600 + Cadence £150 Voucher
KOTT Runner Up – Stuart Tate – 101lb 6oz – £500 + £120 Cadence Voucher
3rd Overall – Terry Crosby – 99lb 6oz – £400 + £100 Cadence Voucher
4th Overall – Steve Knowles – 81lb 9oz £300 + £70 Cadence Voucher
5th Overall – Paul Kozyra – 74lb 8oz – £200 + £50 Cadence Voucher
SRM – November 6th 2022
A cloudy, but dry day greeted the 69 competitors for the final match of the 3 match 2022 KOTT series. Water conditions were excellent with 2′ 5″ showing on the Bywell gauge at 5.45 am and falling. As usual the main banter centred around where the fish might be in the current conditions with Wellbank, Corbridge South, Riding Mill and the NW Pumping Station Site featuring heavily in everyones list of favourites.
The top 5 going into the match were carrying forward some pretty impressive weights, but the anglers just below were very close and final results were going to be heavily influenced by the draw bag and whether the fish were in residence on your peg.
Leader going into the match was Dennis Armstrong with 78lb 11oz and with over 17lbs lead on Paul Jackson in 2nd place he was going to take some catching. Dennis put his hand into the bucket and pulled out peg 46 in the relatively unfancied Woodyard section, a few eyebrows were raised and talk centred around whether he could pull enough from his peg to maintain his lead. In the meantime some of the chasing pack had pulled some very fancied pegs and without further ado the race was on.
At the weigh in Dennis Armstrong put a fantastic 29lb 10oz on the scales, but was it enough to secure his KOTT title as it was soon obvious that that was not going to be anywhere near enough to make the frame for the SRM 2022 Champions Title. On peg 36 in the fancied NW Site Terry Crosby put a phenomenal 51lb 08oz of Dace plus one Chub on the scales to secure the SRM title and to take him further in the race for the KOTT top 5. Stuart Tate, also in the NW Site, on peg 33 also had a great day with 46lb 08oz to put him in second place with Steve Lackenby on peg 34 taking third with 42lb dead. Sneaking into 4th was Steve Knowles also in a fancied section on Wellbank peg 14 with 33lb 10oz narrowly beating Paul Kozyra on Wylam peg 68 with 32lb 09oz.
The Tyne had once again proved what a tremendous river it is with 39 anglers, out of the 69 competing, putting double figure nets on the scales and the top ten weighing in an amazing 348lbs between them.
1st Terry Crosby – Peg 35 NW Site – 51lb 08oz
2nd Stuart Tate – Peg 33 NW Site – 46lb 08oz
3rd Stephen Lackenby – Peg 34 NW Site – 42lb 0oz
4th Steve Knowles – Peg 14 Wellbank – 33lb 10oz
5th Paul Kozyra – Peg 68 Wylam – 32lb 09oz
Sections
Section 1 – Pegs 1 – 8 J Yardley 19lb 12oz
Section 2 – Pegs 9 – 16 G Pickering 32lb 04oz
Section 3 – Pegs 17 – 24 G Ward 28lb 12oz
Section 4 – Pegs 25 – 32 G Beck 19lb 09oz
Section 5 – Pegs 33 – 40 J Herbert 18lb 02oz
Section 6 – Pegs 41 – 48 D Armstrong 29lb 10oz
Section 7 – Pegs 49 – 56 A Smith 20lb 02oz
Section 8 – Pegs 57 – 64 S Miller 19lb 08oz
Section 9 – Pegs 65 – 72 P Adams 16lb 04oz
Gurkha – September 18th 2022
1st Terry Crosby – Peg 56 Fed Water – 33lb 08oz
2nd Dennis Armstrong – Peg 1 Hexham 2 – 32lb 04oz
3rd Ken Hunter – Peg 3 Hexham 2 – 31lb 02oz
4th Steve Guy – Peg 24 Beaufront – 30lb 13oz
5th Mal Wilkinson – Peg 64 Fed Water – 29lb 12oz
Sections
Hexham 2 – Pegs 1 – 8 Pat Adams 25lb 08oz
Hexham 3 – Pegs 9 – 16 Scott Miller 19lb 02oz
Beaufront – Pegs 17 – 24 Barrie Lockey 27lb 10oz
Riding Mill – Pegs 25 – 32 Paul Jackson 26lb 08oz
Woodyard – Pegs 33 – 40 Pete Rambow Jnr 21lb 06oz
Bywell – Pegs 41 – 48 Stuart Tate 20lb 02 oz
Fed Water 1 – Pegs 49 – 56 Paul Breeze 15lb 04oz
Fed Water 2 – Pegs 57 – 64 Lewis McIntosh 7lb 14oz
Wylam – Pegs 65 72 Billy Walker 21lb 04oz
Tyne Champioship – August 21st 2022
1st Dennis Armstrong – Peg 21 Beaufront – 45lb 13oz
2nd Chris Gowling – Peg 4 Hexham – 42lb o3oz
3rd Steve Eddy – Peg 35 Riding Mill – 40lb 14oz
4th Steve Knowles – Peg 17 Beaufront – 36lb 11oz
5th Nige Ripley – Peg 40 Riding Mill – 36lb 0oz
Sections
Hexham 1 Pegs 1 – 8 John Bainbridge 22lb 0oz
Hexham 2/3 Pegs 9 – 16 Steve Guy 25lb 06oz
Beaufront Pegs 17 – 24 Stuart Tate 34lb 12oz
Corbridge CC Pegs 25 – 32 Billy Walker 23lb 08oz
Riding Mil Pegs 33 – 40 Paul Jackson 35lb 0oz
Woodyard Pegs 41 – 48 Stephen Lackenby 14lb 11oz
Bywell Pegs 49 – 56 Rob Perkins 26lb 12oz
Fed Water Pegs 57 – 64 Paul Kozyra 30lb 15oz
Wylam Pegs 65 – 72 Tim Richardson 21lb 12oz
KOTT Championship 2021
KOTT Champion – Barrie Lockey – 101lb 12oz
2nd Nicky Jose – 88lb 09oz
3rd Dennis Armstrong – 74lb 12oz
4th Nige Ripley – 67lb 11oz
5th Paul Kozyra – 64lb 09oz
Steve Roberts Memorial – November 7th 2021
1st Barrie Lockey – Peg 18 Corbridge Riverside – 65lb 13oz (New match record)
2nd Nicky Jose – Peg 25 Riding Mill – 47lb 11oz
3rd Robert Preston – Peg 29 Riding Mill – 42lb 13oz
4th Paul Stainsby – Peg 17 Corbridge Riverside – 42lb o2oz
5th S. Boughey – Peg 35 NW Pumping Station – 36lb 08oz
6th Nige Ripley – Peg 26 Riding Mill – 35lb 03oz
Sections
Hexham Pegs 1 – 8 Scott Miller 21lb 12oz
Wellbank Pegs 9 – 16 Charlie Burnside 32lb 8oz
Corbridge Pegs 17 – 24 Mal Wilkinson 34lb 12oz
Riding Mill Pegs 25 – 32 Nige Ripley 35lb 13oz
Northumbrian Water Pegs 33 – 40 Jeff Herbert 34lb 6oz
Woodyard Pegs 41 – 48 Jimmy Stevenson 11lb 06oz
Bywell Pegs 49 – 56 Barry Evans 15lb 0oz
Fed Water Pegs 57 – 64 Karl Robson 16lb 06oz
Wylam Pegs 65 – 72 Paul Kozyra 25lb 08oz
Tyne Championship – Aug 15th 2021
1st Kevin Weighell 44lb 1oz (Riding Mill)
2nd George Pickering 31lb 9oz (Riding Mill)
3rd Paul Kozyra 30lb 11oz (Riding Mill)
4th Billy Leonard 28lb 5oz (Riding Mill)
5th Nicky Jose 27lb 6oz (Riding Mill)
Sections
Hexham Pegs 1 – 8 Alan Scott 13lb 8oz
Hexham 2 & 3 Pegs 9 – 16 S Miller 18lb 3oz
Beaufront Pegs 17 – 24 Scott Jose 19lb 12oz
Corbridge Cricket Club Pegs 25 – 32 Nige Collis 24lb 7oz
Riding Mill Pegs 33 – 40 Andy Bowes 26lb 3oz
Woodyard Pegs 41 – 48 John Parkinson 12lb 14oz
Bywell Road Pegs 49 – 56 Stuart Tate 8lb 10oz
Ovingham Pegs 57 – 64 Pat Adam’s 8lb 10oz
Prudhoe/Wylam Pegs 65 – 72 D Armstrong 14lb 14oz
Gurkha – September 19th 2021
1st Dennis Armstrong 29lb 4oz (Bywell)
2nd Barrie Lockey 29lb 2oz (Prudhoe)
3rd Karl Robson 27lb (Riding Mill), Richie Newton 27lb (Riding Mill) & Pat Adams 27lb (Riding Mill)
Sections
Hexham 2 Pegs 1 – 8 Nicky Jose 13lb 8oz
Hexham 3 Pegs 9 – 16 Nathan Procter 12lb 4oz
Beaufron Pegs 17 – 24 Scott Miller 13lb 8oz
Riding Mill Pegs 25 – 32 Scott Jose 12lb 11oz
Woodyard Pegs 33 – 40 Anthony Smith 10lb 2oz
Bywell Road Pegs 41 – 48 Billy Leonard 13lb 9oz
Ovingham Pegs 49 – 56 Rob Perkins 13lb 13oz
Prudhoe Pegs 57 – 64 Anthony Jeff 8lb 6oz
Wylam Pegs 65 – 72 Peter Helm 13lb 7oz