FOLLOWING a cold night the 20 anglers taking part in the latest Redditch Federation Open match at Arrow Valley Lake on Saturday found it a tough proposition, as only one angler took a catch of over 20lb to the scales.
New visitor Peter Bennett (BagEm Baits) was the man in question as he took a catch of eight good bream on the method feeder from form peg 55 for a 23lb 3oz return.
Runner-up Scott Poynton (Old Ghost) kept up his strong recent form on the lake with a 13lb 14oz catch comprising three bream plus skimmers also on the method from peg 23, ahead of Mark Dowery (Birmingham) on peg 34 with 13lb 2oz.
In a tight chase for the minor places, Mark Bissett (Birmingham) took fourth spot with 12lb 11oz, edging out Mark Jennings (Redditch) on 11lb 9oz and Peter Millard (Redditch) with 10lb 5oz down the list.
TONY Lockett and Pete Lewis (five points) won Saturday’s Dark Lane AC doubles match on the River Arrow at Alcester.
Second were Barry Blewett and Pete Quirke (ten points) and third were Paul Murray and John Wynes on 11 points.
Upstream at Coughton the next day it was Throckmorton AC’s match and Shawn Street was top rod with a fine chub weight of 18lb 3oz.
Second was Glyn Blewett with 16lb 10oz and third was Paul Caswell with 13lb 15oz. The section winners were Paul Murray (10lb 6oz) and Pete Lewis (10lb 1oz).
LES AYRES stole the honours from Phil Evans in a dramatic finish to the Saturday Open at Alvechurch Fisheries.
With bites at a premium as the match drew to a close, Ayres fished pole and pellet out in front over a number of swims for a mixed bag of carp and silvers to weigh 31lb 11oz.
This snatched victory from Evans (peg 36) who fished the bomb up to the island for carp and silvers to weigh 30lb 10oz.
He finished ahead of Dave Coates (peg 7) who fished the pellet feeder up to the island for carp to weigh 30lb 9oz and Ron Taylor (peg 24) fished the long pole out in front to weigh 29lb 10oz.
Ayres’ triumph on Saturday followed a strong showing in the Thursday Open in which he came third. Ayres (peg 24) fished pole and pellet at ten metres over 4ml feed and late down the margins for carp and stockies to weigh 50lb 10oz.
However, it was Craig O’Brien (peg 30) who came out on top in blustery conditions as he fished pole and corn over ground bait and late down the edge for carp and stockies to weigh 58lb 3oz.
This included a carp of 12lb to boost his winning weight and beat Dave Coates (peg 27) who fished the pellet feeder up to the island over a number of swims with dead reds on the hook to weigh carp and stockies for 55lb 15oz.
Meanwhile, Phil Watts (peg 36) finished fourth after fishing a long pole and pellet down to the aerator for carp to weigh 45lb 6oz.
