I do fear for this venue. So far it has held up well but there have been so many matches on it since the start of the season. And with more to come it could suffer in the long run.

Sunday was a tricky day for pole anglers as rough and windy conditions hampered bait presentation. Consequently weights were much lower than expected.

Match organiser John Spalton drew well on peg 16 and took 7lb of roach together with a big bream to finish with 13lb 2oz. A net of small roach and skimmers weighing 7lb 6oz saw Benwick rod Rob Lincoln ease ahead of the chasing pack to finish second followed by Brian Gibson with 7lb 4oz.




THE upper reaches of the Nene have a habit of throwing up a very big weight from time to time and on Sunday in the Warmington Club match at Fotheringay winner Martin Halton got among the bream to put a fine 49lb 12oz catch to the scales – the best weight from that area since the season began. Jason Vernalls came second with 20lb 8oz followed by John Greenwood with a level 5lb.




DESPITE winning the match and top pools money Stamford angler Geoff Wright went home much the poorer when he fished Deeping St James AC's latest match on Stretton Lakes last weekend.

Fishing at 12 metres for the Les Wiles Trophy in gale force winds something had to give . . and it was section five of his pole that gave up first.

And it wasn't the only pole broken at the weekend – I know of three that went in the bin from the Peterborough Nene League match.

Wright made a temporary repair and continued fishing, presenting worm tight to the island to finish with 22lb, no mean feat in those conditions.

Also battling the wind five pegs away, Mick Wright fell short by 15oz weighing 21lb 1oz to take second place, but did finish with his pole intact. Third place went to club newcomer Rob Allen who weighed 7lb 13ozs.




HEAVY rain was the problem for the Fenland Rods anglers on the in-form Lou's Lake on the Decoy complex.

Matthew Lutkin started the match up in the water from unfancied peg four but switched to the inside line fishing paste to take carp to 5lb for a winning weight of 99lb 12oz.

Runner-up from peg 11 was Mac Campbell who fished similar tactics to the winner but used pellet. Unfortunately for Campbell as the final whistle was blown a 6lb carp leapt out of his net and cost him the match with him finishing on 98lb 4oz.

Third from peg 15 was Neil Garner with 92lb followed by Paul Smith with 79lb 12oz.




CONDITIONS were no better for the Whittlesey AA club match on the Twenty Foot Drain. Heavy rain and a strong down-the-drain wind made bait presentation difficult. Several decent fish were lost mostly on the whip lines.

Dave White made the best of a bad job though finishing top with two good tench and a net of small rudd taken on a chopped worm and caster approach for 7lb 13oz.

Paul Wright came second with 3lb 13oz of small fish taken on the whip followed by Frank Bevilacqua on 1lb 4oz.