The fifth round of the Oxford Super League was fished by eight teams of six on the Thames at Radcot and Clanfield, and it proved a red letter day for winner Graham Ault (Fox Match Isis).
On a sunny day with little flow in the river, a hard match was expected, and so it proved for most.
Winner Ault proved the exception on the bottom end peg at Clanfield. He had a mixed bag for 16.15.0, which comprised two chub, a barbel and six perch on pole and worm over chopped worm and caster.
A long way behind was second-placed Alan Brown (Colmic) with 7.4.0 of roach and perch on maggot over groundbait from the section above the lock.
Tony Skinner (Shakespeare) was third with 7.1.0, also roach and perch, on maggot and from above the lock.
Fourth-placed Gary Barclay (Drennan GOT Baits) worked hard for 6.15.0 of bleak and gudgeon on the 2m whip and pinkie.
It was also hard work for the 18 anglers fishing the latest Carp League 2010 match at Lower Court Farm, where Ivan Graham (J&K) triumphed with 48.14.0.
He started off fishing long with caster shallow and then moved into the margins with maggot.
Swindon’s Phil Powell was runner-up with an all-grass carp net on caster weighing 44.6.0.
Using maggot down the edge, Les Hill (Kennington) caught 38.8.0 of carp for third place.
North Oxford’s annual outing match was held locally at Stable Lake and Predator’s Tony Wright made it three successive wins in this fixture by topping the 13-strong field with 92.14.0 of carp.
He fished the pole with an assortment of baits, including corn, paste and pellet and his best fish went 13.2.0.
Dave Clarke had to settle for second with 91.0.0 of carp on meat, followed by Gordon Brown with 79.4.0 on paste.
Eight anglers turned out for the W Biggs Trophy run by Jolly Anglers on the BMH stretch of the Thames, and there were plenty of fish showing.
Bill Davis won his second match in a row with a net of roach and chub for 21.13.0, taking 15lb of chub in the first hour on maggot-feeder and then switching to the waggler and maggot for the roach.
Martin MacDonald fed hemp and caster and fished maggot under a waggler to tempt 75 roach for a second-placed 19.9.0.
Phil Ansell used the same tactics to finish third with 16.6.0 of roach, and fourth with 12.12.0 of roach was Ryan MacDonald, who fished pole and waggler with maggot.
Oxford Waltonian fished their Keep Cup on an in-form Thame at Cuddesdon where Tony Gee (Acorn Angling) topped the five-man field with 16.2.0 on pole and caster.
Sat next to him, Lionel Knight caught perch to 2lb on chopped worm for a second-placed 14.11.0.
It was a Kidlington versus Masons match on the Thames at Folly last Sunday, where the 29 matchmen found the river a little patchy.
All the better weights came from the bottom end around Coca-Cola Bay, with Doug Foreshew emerging the winner with 15.6.0 of perch on maggot-feeder.
Steve Foster also caught perch on the feeder and maggot for a second-placed 7.11.0, and third with 7.2.0 of perch was Chris Webb, who also used maggot-feeder.
Kidlington won the overall match with 84.4.0 to Masons’ 34.13.0.
Coldstone AC fished their latest match on their own club lake at Ascott-under-Wychwood, where the winner was Barry Barnes with 11.12.0.
Catching 250-odd rudd, plus a few perch and the odd chublet, Barnes had a busy afternoon fishing a whip with maggot over sloppy groundbait.
Steve Arthurs followed him home with 7.5.0 of mostly rudd, again on the whip, and third was Brian Ballard with 4.2.0.
Oxford Bus AC were on a low and slow Cherwell at ‘The School’, which fished well.
Pete Clarke had a fish a chuck using maggot and worm on the pole for a winning mixed net of 10.0.0.
He pipped Anthony Tompkins, who caught some quality roach on the punch for 9.14.0, followed by George Kingston, who landed perch and skimmers on the waggler and maggot or worm for 3.13.0.
The Thames at Benson had hardly any flow for Benson’s Lewis Cup fished by seven members, but it didn’t fish too badly.
Mick Marriott triumphed with a net of roach and perch weighing 9.5.0 on red maggot over groundbait.
Using the same tactics, Dave Head caught roach and perch worth a second-placed 7.8.8, and Tony Krason caught perch alternating between maggot and chopped worm for 6.15.0 and third.
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