A RETURN of milder weather has meant anglers have been able to fish local waters this week, either for pleasure or in competition.
Hampton Springs Fishery has staged the usual open matches this week now that the ice has melted.
Neil Faulkner, of Chester Tackle Locker, put in a good performance in Saturday’s Silvers match. Drawn on peg 12 of Poplars, he battled hard, taking a mixture of chub and roach with a combined weight of 14lbs 9oz. However, it was Barry Bush, fishing on nearby peg 12, who took the win with 16lbs.
The Saturday Open match was held on Rock and Meadows pools and these produced some good results for this time of year. Steve Butler ran away with it, netting a superb 54lbs 9oz of barbel from peg 19 of Meadows.
Butler’s nearest rival was Ellesmere Port’s Nick Roberts on peg three of Rock Pool with 27lbs 4oz, followed by Ray Rigby with 21lbs 6oz.
Roberts was in action again in the Sunday Open match, which ended up a two-horse race between himself and Chris Diamond, of Liverpool. Roberts was in great form, netting a brilliant 51lbs 10oz of carp.
However, Diamond sparkled, beating him into second with 53lbs 12oz of carp. Chester Tackle Locker’s Andy Spencer took fourth with 20lbs 4oz.
Catches have been low at Cheshire Fishing, Tattenhall, recently but some anglers have enjoyed a good day’s sport. John Openshaw had a decent day using pellet and waggler. He bagged around 30lbs of mostly small silvers and carp weighing up to 8lbs.
James Walton landed three lovely carp on a mixture of meat and carp. The Acton angler caught two mirror carp of 12lbs 2oz and 8lb 10oz along with a common of 10lb 8oz. A number of smaller carp of up to 4lb were netted by Little Sutton’s John Emmett on pellet, giving him a combined 28lbs.
Frank Doran was in form in Connah’s Quay AC’s match on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury. The Upton angler weighed in with 10lbs 6oz of dace and roach, but was just beaten into third spot by an ounce by Alan Murray of Connah’s Quay. The overall winner on the day was Darren Frost, of Wrexham, who weighed in with an impressive 11lbs 12oz of fish.
The Flintshire club also returned to their own Wepre Pool last weekend. Fifteen anglers competed on the water and all caught a lot of small fish. They included Saughall’s Dave Bampton, who took second spot with plenty of small silvers weighing 6lb 14oz.
Thursday Rovers held their weekly match at Hampton Springs Fishery and, surprisingly, not many fish needed to be caught for the winning weights.
Five carp taken on maggot was enough for Mark Greasley to win. Greasley, from Elles- mere Port, used maggot on peg nine of Poplars, bagging 21lbs 12oz.
