THE bank holiday weekend saw plenty of action at Hampton Springs Fishery, with three open matches taking place.
Twenty-four anglers competed in the Saturday open on Rock and Meadow pools and the match was won in some style by Cliff Barber. He bagged a superb 95lbs of carp weighing up to 12lbs using meat on the pole at 12m from peg 28 of Rock Pool.
Some way behind in second spot was Chester’s Gary Vincent, drawn on peg 13 of Meadow Pool, who fished shallow pellet and meat to the island at 16m for a final weight of 54lbs 13oz of carp. Ellesmere Port’s Steve Bithall weighed in third with 46lbs 12oz of carp and barbel from peg 29 of Rock Pool.
Chris Diamond put in a good performance to win Sunday’s open on Rock and Meadow pools.
The Liverpool angler netted a very good 98lbs from peg 28 on Rock Pool. Drawn on peg 15 of Meadow Pool, Ellesmere Port angler Steve Georgeson caught 70lbs of carp and two barbel weighing 12lbs between them on corn and pellet for a final weight of 82lbs 4oz for second place. Third place on the day went to Martin Wedley of Wrexham with 69lbs 4oz of carp and barbel.
Monday’s open match was contested by a staggering 56 anglers on Rock Pool, Meadow Pool and Long Island. Due to the high number of anglers, there was a considerable amount of prize-money at stake.
The match didn’t provide such high weights as expected, but was quite close in the end. The eventual winner was Gary Bough, who fished peg 23 of Rock Pool to net 67lbs 4oz using tip and pellet and banded pellet. Ronnie Ranson took 57lbs 4oz from the margins of peg 28 of Meadow Pool using worm, caster and maggot for second place.
Lavister AC staged their club match on Sunday on the snake lake at Milton Green Fishery.
The anglers struggled in the conditions to achieve big weights and this in turn made the match a very close affair, all three top weights from adjacent pegs.
Winner was Dave Evans, drawn on peg five, who took 24lbs 10oz of carp using corn and meat for the win. From peg six, Jeff Harston just missed out with his 24lbs 6oz bag. Third place went to Phil Prestcot with 23lbs 13oz from peg four. Top OAP on the day again went to Gordon Rose of Lavister with 2lbs 5oz.
Cheshire Police AC held their club match on The Canal at Heronbrook Fishery last Thursday. Ellesmere Port’s Mark Greasley took top spot with 47lbs 12oz, a net made up of mostly barbel taken on meat and paste. Neil Jukes weighed in second with a mixed bag of 27lbs from peg 14. Ron White took a carp of up to 10lbs that gave him a final weight of 19lbs which was enough for third.
Barry Pennington of Chester recorded one of the best catches of the week at Cheshire Fishing, Tattenhall. Barry used corn, meat and micro pellet for a mixed bag weighing 78lbs. Among his catch were carp of up to 8lbs and some lovely roach of up to 2lbs.
