Previous good results from the Birmingham Fazeley canal at Curdworth, near Tamworth, attracted quite a few first time visitors to the latest Stirrup Cup A C’s open match.
But Murphy’s law came into play and spawning fish put paid to the expected big catches.
A modest 5-4-0 was enough to give Phil Cox the top spot. The Fox Match Tipton team member drew peg 49 in the middle of the stretch where he hooked a 2lb 8oz bream on caster plus small perch, gudgeon and roach with squat maggots.
Brierley Hill’s Steve Broome (Black Country Tackle) was second with 4-9-8 from peg 43. Darren Massey
* Walsall’s Hatherton lake in the Arboretum can often be a hard nut to crack but when conditions are good it produces loads of fish.
The latest match looked as though there would be few caught but when the sun came out they fed freely. So much so that 6-8-0 was only good enough for fifth place.
Winner with 17-0-0 was Dave Gough who latched into six similar sized bream plus a rare for the lake, 6-13-0 carp. Newcomer to the series, Gerry Lundy (Walsall) was second with 12-4-0 of all bream to 2lbs. Kevin Edwards’s (Walsall) had a third best 12-4-0 of bream Mark Street’s (Sneyd A C) had 9-0-0, and Colin Taylor (Bentley) was fifth with 6-8-0.
* Spawning fish plus a veritable armada of boats put paid to good sport at the Bilston Angling’s Saturday ‘Cost Cutter’ fixture on the Staffs Worcester canal at Wobaston Road.
A very modest 3-13-0 was the best anyone could do and this was Alan Homer. The Walsall based towpath specialist attracted all small gudgeon. Wilf Kneller had a second placed 2-4-6 bag of small roach. Dave Angel (West Bromwich) was third with 1-12-14 over Brian Morris (Bilston) 1-6-0, while Dennis Lewis 0-14-10 and Colin Cole 0-9-8 made up the top six..
The Sunday event was switched to the Staffs Worcester canal at Tettenhall where experienced Dave Pinches won easily with 9-10-0. The Wolverhampton based member of the Goldthorn Social club team caught all small sized roach.
Bilston tackle shop owner John Hall was second with 5-5-0. Mel Wood (Bilston Angling) was next with 4-11-6, over Craig Cope (Bilston Angling) 4-6-0, Martin Spruce (Bilston) 3-8-10 and Steve Cope (Wolverhampton A A) 2-10-4.
* Another Bilston Angling shop’s “Cost Cutter” event was held on Wednesday and it yielded a brace of double figure catch weights from a recently acquired new stretch of the Staffs Worcester canal at Coven.
Winner with 14-4-0 was Carl Davies. West Bromwich veteran Dave Angel was second with 11-4-13.Penkridge based Cliff Harrison was third with 6-0-13 over Alan Homer (Walsall) 4-13-12.
* Midleisure Angling’s latest fixture on the Wolverhampton Post Office team controlled stretch of the Shropshire Union canal at Pendeford didn’t fish as well as expected and ‘Digger’ Conway only required 4-5-0 to win Organiser Tony Eagles (Ian’s Tackle) was second with 3-12-3.
* This year’s series of summer evening open matches on Walsall’s Reedswood pool got off to a reasonable start with a 21-3-0 winning bag for Dennis Taylor, a member of the Beechdale Angling Club.
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