Cradley Heath Labour club team man Kevin Clarke has gone into a joint leadership  in the Woodside winter league following his 5-14-8 victory in the third round.

The Cradley Heath sections of the Merry Hill canal showed good form and just 1lb 8oz separated the top four catch weights. Clarke’s haul came from peg 95 where he offered squatt maggots over groundbait at 13 m to catch roach, perch and gudgeon.

A switch to bread flake in the last hour proved profitable when he hooked an estimated 2lbs of small roach to three ounces. 

His club colleague Shaun Waite was second with 5-1-8 from the next peg 94. He caught small roach on punched bread before switching to casters for bigger specimens. Ben Garbett (Royal Mail) was third with 5-0-8 over Dave Shaw (Brickhouse) 4-11-0 and Ken Perry  (Black Country Tackle) 4-6-0. Current league penalty points are Kevin Clarke and Carl Daley both 5 and Kevin Perry 6.

• Dave Richards (Wolverhampton) clinched the latest match in the Stole City AA’s Individual league  with 10-7-8. 

Sponsored by the Midleisure tackle shop he edged to the front in a tight finish with roach to 10oz plus perch to 2lbs using squatt maggots and casters. 

Close second with  9-11-1 was Dean Williams (Isaac Walton Stafford) who hooked all roach. Ade Shepherd (W B Clarke) was third with 9-3-3 over Steve Faux (Eclipse) 9-1-3, Eric Gardner (Eclipse) 7-15-0 and Terry Blyde (Lazy Hill) 4-11-14. 

Veteran Fred Cheetham is the current league leader with 7 penalty points over Dew Williams , Dave McCall and Keith Hulland all on 12.

• George Davies made it two wins in a row in the Wolverhampton Over 55s clash, but all he needed was a modest 3-12-0. The Staffs Worcs canal at Four Ashes was obviously off-form and he struggled to catch small roach, perch and gudgeon with squatt maggots at a peg just above the car park. 

Stan Kneller (Anglers Peg) was second only ounces behind with an identical 3-8-5 effort. 

Tony Wordley (Gailey) 2-8-12, John Bunn (West Bromwich) 2-5-9, Phil Eldershaw (Penkridge) 2-3-6 and Wilf Kneller (Bilston Angling) 1-15-12 completed the frame.

• Three competitors recorded double figure catches in the Bilston Angling’s open match on the Staffs Worcester canal at Pendeford. The stretch at the back of the Dunstall racecourse was obviously in excellent trim and Bruce Birch set the pace with a 12-7-9 mixed bag.

Wearing the Bilston colours he drew peg number four below the bend where his chopped worm and caster feed and hookbait attracted roach and perch. Mal Parkes’s (Bilston) second best 11-6-11 similar effort came to bloodworms from the next but one peg number six. Other prize winners were Malcolm Baker (Bilston) 10-3-0; John Hall (Bilston) 7-9-10. Nick Hooton (Bilston) 7-0-12 and Bert Simmil (Midleisure) 7-0-9.

• The River Severn at Stourport appeared to be in perfect condition for a Birmingham A A  open match but the fish proved difficult to tempt in the ‘float only’ event. Roach appeared to be the only species feeding and they made up all the catches headed by organiser Dave Foxall’s 11-8-0. 

The Durmech club member hooked 30 similar sized specimens using a waggler float with maggots and casters. Most of the fish which ranged between four and six ounces came from midwater in a six feet deep swim. 

Veteran Bilston expert Tony Cook was second with a 10-9-0 similar bag from the next but one peg. Other leading catches came from Mick Price (Stourport) 6-4-0, Tony Morton  (Preston Innovations) 6-1-0, Tony Quarterman (Worcs) 5–8-0 and Barry Cheese (Worcs) 4-12-0.

• The controversial bloodworm and joker (spawn of miniscule flies) bait accounted for an excellent result in a HanKat open canal match. It was held on the Birmingham Main Line canal at Dixon Street, Tipton where the top six catch weights all exceeded 8 lbs and the winner with 11-10-0 was Steve  Dudley. 

Grouped with W B Clarke he drew a peg near the entrance where small roach up to two ounces made up his haul. Andy Moulton (Mohmar) was second with  a similar  9-7-3 over Mark Taylor (Tipton VDE) 9-3-4, Paul Bick (Shakespeare)  8-14-14,  Kevin Adderley (W B Clarke) 8-3-0 and Rob Quinn (Shakespeare) 8-2-0.

• A practice match for the next round of the Warwickshire winter league produced some good catches from the Birmingham Fazeley canal at Minworth. 

Top scorer with 10-3-0 was event organiser Derek Jackson (Sensas Dams & Lock) who took advantage of his knowledge to catch skimmer bream and mixed sized roach.

He hooked four bream between 1lb and 2lb plus some roach. Tipton grouped  Jason Cunningham was second with 8-9-0 of small roach. Neil Martin (Drennan North West) 8-6-12 was next over, Andy Billingham (Drennan North West) 8-3-0, Dave Lloyd (Tipton) 8-2-0 and Lee Woodhouse (W B Clarke) 7-12-0.

• Cornerstone club canal expert Mal Galliers made it two wins in a row in the Soho Loop canal open series and with almost the same catch weight. This time he had just over 1lb to spare over the opposition with his 6-13-0.  Runner-up  Mervyn Rogers (R & D) landeds 5-14-0, while others were Bruce Jarvis (Cornerstone) 4-6-0; Mick Hill (New quay) 3-5-0 and organiser Colin Gregg (Insurance factory) 3-2-0.