Pollard tops a quality field in the March Open

They were all keen to get in some practice ahead of this weekend’s big Winter League final on the venue and fished on the Old Nene at March from the BMX track right up to the bypass

Weights were lower than they have been in recent weeks due entirely to the heavy pressure put on the water as team after team have been fishing it for several weeks now.

Thankfully the leading weights looked very good yet again with Mark Pollard topping the strong field with a fine display of pole fishing to record 23lb 6oz.

He fished the pole with pinkie over groundbait from his peg at Pig Market Corner catching skimmers and a few roach all day long.

In second place was Sean Ashby. He drew down at Wigston Bridge and fished with the pole and whip for 21lb 13oz.

Howard Kaye was third on 21lb 6oz.

So now all eyes will be on the Old Nene at March and Benwick and the Twenty Foot Drain. These make up half of the final with the other half on Decoy Lakes.

I’m sure the lakes will look after themselves. The hot pegs will produce as usual and providing the weather stays mild we can expect to see some huge weights.

On the drains it should be those that know the water well and how to get the best out of the not so good areas that will score well which should see the better teams coming through.

It all makes for a great looking final and with so many good sides taking part it would be impossible to pick a winner.

DECOY LAKES OPENS

The Decoy Lakes open matches over the weekend also attracted a big turnout.

With much improved conditions it was no surprise to see some really big weights recorded on Saturday as a very big field filled six of the pools.

Gary Thorpe took the honours from peg 11 on the Oak Pool. He fished the long pole line for most of the match, starting on maggot and finishing the day catching big carp on pellet for 159lb 8oz.

Second was Rob Jones on Elm 16 with 127lb of carp and barbel caught on maggot and then came Craig Meadows on 110lb 9oz.

Sunday’s match saw James Brown top a strong field from peg 10 on the Oak. He fished a long pole line for most of the day on sweetcorn, but did catch late from the margins to win with 137lb 3oz.

Runner-up from the Yew was Frank Bellington with 130lb 6oz of big carp, then came Andy Stock on 128lb 1oz.

DECOY WINTER SERIES

It was a full house at Decoy on Sunday with not a peg left on the complex for day ticket anglers as also taking place was round five of the Decoy Winter Series.

Chris Barley topped the field from peg 25 on the Willows. He fished the long pole with soft pellet for most of the match over a bed of micros for 114lb 10oz.

Second from peg 10 on the Beastie was Richard Bond, fishing red maggot on a short pole line all day to finish on 104lb 9oz. Third was the in-form Andy Rayment from peg 17 on the Beastie with 81lb 12oz of carp and barbel.