Blundelsands rod John Easton took the top individual honours on Sunday, competing in the first round of the Wigan Teams of Four.
He led his Liverpool LAS team to a creditable fourth place on the day with a score of 24 points.
Pegged on the Wigan lengths of canal from the Saracens Head towards Burscough and finishing at the Red Lon boats, the canal was in great form for this one, with this the first of four matches involving some very strong canal squads.
Complemented with a fantastic £1,000 prize-money from WDAA, this one has attracted 16 top teams from all over the north west and Easton, captaining the LAS, he was in fine spirit. Not only did he achieve his individual win on the day, but he was more than glad to stay in the race with a great start.
Taking a bream for over two pound, Easton – fishing caster to the boats on the Red Lion – put together a good net of stamp roach and a couple of skimmers on both caster and hemp to back it up for 16.11.0.
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Matrix Yellow team man John Brogden from Preston took second place on the day with another creditable catch of roach on caster for 14.0.0.
That weight led his team to win on the day, on a weight countback as they tied with the Drennan White team (second) on a score of 15 points. Drennan Blue took 19 points for third place.
Over at St Helens, SHAA held the Carr Mill Dam Championship – Ged Rigby Trophy on Sunday and it again saw a fantastic turnout in honour of one of the regions most respected and greatest ever anglers.
Still a stalwart of the association and one who is certainly very often still winning upon his favourite water, Ged or ‘the master’ as he’s affectionately known took pride of place on being first to draw on this well-attended match in his honour.
Given the conditions on the day though, being bright with a good influx of rain water last week, the dam didn’t really rise to the occasion for this one, as weights recorded were much smaller than what was expected.
However, that didn’t stop local rod Pete Tickle putting together a fine net of pole fished roach and perch for the top weight on the day of 11.2.0.
Tickle, pegged on the front wall behind the Waterside Pub, approached it with groundbait caster and maggot taking over 200 fish.
Moreton’s Derek Bennett took second place with another creditable catch as he again showed his consistency taking second place from the dam wall with a similar approach for 10.4.0.
Shaun Fletcher took third place with 7.8.0, Ste May fourth with 7.7.0 and joint fifth were Jeff Holland and John O’Driscol with 7.4.0.
Still holding his place as another on top rod on Carr Mill Dam, Derek Bennett turned out again on Monday and took the honours amongst another good field.
Again opting for the pole approach, Bennett took 11.12.0 to win this one as Mick Lever took 10.8.0 for second. Wigan’s Tommy Holroyd took skimmers for 9.7.0 for third.
Maghull & Lydiate AC took to Widows Flash on Sunday and saw a close finish as Stuart Turton 19.15.0 just topped Neil Turner’s 19.2.0. James Doran took third with 18.6.0.
