By Ben Bassett and Rich Salter

*This article was written in April 2023

After 4 months of wind, rain, snow, blood, sweat and tears, we can finally announce our Big Lerf Winter League 22/23 winners! It’s fair to say that this year’s league was a big success, not only in terms of the incredible numbers and species caught but probably more so, the social side. It was so good to see so many anglers meet up to fish together and continue to grow this amazing community we have.

So as we wrap up the last weeks of the competition and the results, we first better remind you what they were fishing for.

Most Species Saltwater UK & Ireland
1st – Majorcraft Aji-Do rod – provided by Majorcraft UK & a lure/tackle bundle from Ecogear UK
2nd – HTO Nebula Light Gamer 1-7g rod – Provided by HTO
3rd – Jackall Egg Toughy Rod – provided by Todber Manor and a £25 voucher for NineSeven Tungsten
4th – £25 voucher for NineSeven Tungsten
5th – C.A.N Fishing Lures bundle 

Most Species Freshwater UK & Ireland
1st – Majorcraft Crostage Aji 0.6-10g rod – provided by Majorcraft UK) & a lure/tackle bundle from Street Fishing London 
2nd – HTO Nebula Light Gamer 1-7g rod – provided by HTO
3rd – A Shimano Sahara 1000 FL provided by Jonny Lerfer and a £25 voucher for NineSeven Tungsten
4th – £25 voucher for NineSeven Tungsten 
5th – C.A.N. Fishing Lures bundle 

Most Species Junior Salt & Fresh Combined UK & Ireland
1st Majorcraft Solpara Aji 0.6-10g rod – provided by Majorcraft UK
2nd – HTO Aikido 1-5g rod – provided by HTO
3rd – Tanagomax has provided a selection of micro fishing tackle including Tanago hooks and two sizes of viewing tank 

LRF King Of The North – HTO Aikido 1-5g rod and HTO Aikido 1000 reel – provided by HTO

A superb roster of prizes, whetting the appetite for the final days of the League. And the final weeks of the competition were as expected, very tough for everyone with only a few species added. One unexpected run came from Mevagissey, where those who made the journey were able to target a semi resident shoal of corbin’s sandeel, which are a large species of sandeel, rivalling launce for size. Incredibly, Daniel McMinn boosted his total with a black goby, which showed how many rare species he had caught at that point. He finished with a flourish though, as his 40th species was a lovely plaice. Dan Cooper pushed both Daniel and Al Mundy all the way, and was only finished by injuring his back on slippery steps. We wish Dan all the best with his recovery.

In freshwater, despite the river season closing, the stillwaters proved fruitful. Matt Drake took top spot from Max Goodwin with four species, barbel, tench, silver bream and pumpkinseed. While the chasing pack pushed him all the way, with David West Beale catching the League’s only wels catfish of the season, full story in this magazine. Combining the fresh and salt, the juniors kept pushing each other too and we can start the results there. 

The juniors blew us away both in terms of the numbers they hit and the fantastic spirit they showed throughout the competition. Will Birch kept picking off species right through till the very last weekend and finished up with a brilliant total of 37 species, breaking the 30 species barrier in saltwater too. Tom Baron pushed Will through much of the winter and finished a deserved 2nd, while Owen Russell had a strong finish to put him in 3rd place. Owen was closely followed by Tyler Park, who’s fishing adventures with his dad Tristan have been one of the highlights for us to see. Reuben Judge took a well earned 5th place, a fine result, as Reuben has only been Lerfing for a few months.

Juniors (Saltwater and freshwater combined)
1st Will Birch 37 species

2nd Tom Baron 32 species

3rd Owen Russell 28 species

In Saltwater, Will Pender was our winner with an extraordinary 49 species and a total we think might never be beaten, a true ‘mic drop’ for him. Daniel McMinn also broke the 40 species barrier and caught some incredible species along the way. Dan Cooper and Plymouth Dangler had been neck and neck for a while now and were tied on species, but Dan just about nabbed 3rd place after we counted back and totalled up the scores. The scores were assigned as the amount of anglers who caught the fish, so the rarer the catch the lower the score, and lowest score would win. Lee Russell took the final prize spot with an excellent 36 species.

Saltwater
1st Will Pender 49 species 

2nd Daniel McMinn 41 species 

3rd Dan Cooper 39 species (1271 points)

4th Plymouth Dangler 39 species (1279)

5th Lee Russell 36 species 

On to the “King of the North” category, a mini league designed to reward our northern Lerfers. This was tightly contested throughout, with a few anglers trying to catch the 8 “northern” species and jostling for top spot. In the end though, it was Andrew Seywright that took the title, with 6 species. Fittingly, his eelpout clinched it for him right near the end, it was also the only one caught during the entire winter. Kevin Benton, Lucas Theocharides and Daniel McMinn were all close behind on 5 species, but Andrew sealed the win by catching coalfish, cod, dab, eelpout, short spined sea scorpion and three spined stickleback.  Being based around the Clyde estuary in Scotland, we feel Andrew was a fitting winner of our first King of the North prize.

In freshwater, Matt Drake racked up 25 species, which was a brilliant total, especially as Matt caught many of his species late on in the competition. Don from Not Guilty Press, kind suppliers of our Fundraiser T shirts and other merch, finished in 2nd place, with Max Goodwin in 3rd and Matt Barnsley in 4th. David West Beale and Haydn Crocker both finished on 18 species, but David took 5th place with the rarest catches, including his wels catfish.

Freshwater
1st Matt Drake 25 species

2nd Don NG Press 23 species 

3rd Max Goodwin 22 species 

4th Matt Barnsley 20 species 

5th David West Beale 18 species 

We have to take the time to thank our incredible sponsors who provided so many generous prizes. These were Majorcraft UK, HTO, Ecogear UK, Streetfishing London, Todber Manor, Nineseven Tungsten, C.A.N Fishing Lures, Jonny Lerfer and TanagoMax. We couldn’t do it without them. 

The League was an incredible success , with 199 anglers signing up and 130 of those registering catches. All in all we had 1664 individual catches logged, registering 93 species on artificial bait, fly and lures – no wonder we need a rest! So, until the next event, thank you one last time and we’ll finish with a list of every species caught and the amount of anglers that logged them.

Saltwater Species caught 
Eelpout – 1
Lumpsucker – 1
Anglerfish – 1
Dover sole – 1
Greater pipefish – 1
Straightnose pipefish – 1
Pogge – 1
Ringneck blenny – 1
Three bearded rockling – 1
Northern rockling – 1
Small headed clingfish – 1
Tadpole fish – 1
Turbot – 1
15 spined stickleback – 2
Shore clingfish – 2
Rock cook wrasse – 2
Montagu’s sea snail – 2
Anchovy – 2
Cuckoo wrasse – 3
Lesser sandeel – 3
Tub gurnard – 4
Corbins sandeel – 4
Horse mackerel (scad) – 4
Conger eel – 4
Short spined sea scorpion – 4
Butterfish – 5
Connemara clingfish – 5
Thick lipped mullet – 6
Topknot – 6
Plaice – 7
Fivebeard rockling – 8
Leopard spot goby – 8
Launce – 8
Worm pipefish – 9
Montagu’s blenny – 10
Cod – 11
European eel – 11
Dab – 12
Common dragonet – 15
Pilchard – 15
Grey gurnard – 16
Shore rockling – 19
Three spined stickleback – 19
Lesser weever – 24
Painted goby – 27
Coalfish – 27
Two spot goby – 29
Common goby – 31
Bass – 31
Goldsinny – 32
Garfish – 38
Sand smelt – 40
Atlantic mackerel – 44
Flounder – 44
Tompot blenny – 45
Poor cod – 46
Herring – 49
Pouting – 50
Whiting – 50
Ballan wrasse – 53
Corkwing wrasse – 55
Sand goby – 59
Black goby – 64
Common blenny – 65
Long spined sea scorpion – 69
Pollack – 71
Rock goby – 75
67 saltwater species

Wels catfish – 1
European eel – 1
Crucian carp – 3
Barbel – 4
Pumpkinseed – 4
Stone loach – 5
Ide – 5
Tench – 6
Silver bream – 6
Sunbleak – 7
Ruffe – 8
Common bream – 9
Gudgeon – 9
Bleak – 10
Grayling – 10
Three spined stickleback – 12
Dace – 13
Zander – 13
Bullhead – 15
Carp – 15
Minnow – 16
Chub – 17
Roach – 21
Rudd – 22
Pike – 32
Perch – 43
26 Freshwater species