OUR Mersey Saturday Sweepstake was won by match organiser Ray Boden, with 15ozs made up of one roach and a skimmer bream.

Just an ounce adrift, Derek Bibby was in the runner-up spot with a catch of seven small roach for 14ozs and no doubt bitterly regrets losing a 4oz roach at the net.

Thankfully, catches showed some improvement the following day for our Sunday Series Match, which saw local match ace Jimmy Byrne put four skimmers and a few roach on the scales for 3-0-0 to almost double the nearest weight.

Martin Lenihan caught a couple of skimmers plus small roach for second place with 1-15-8.

Our Disabled & Over 60s match on Monday saw Derek Bibby chalk up another win from the Bridgewater Canal, with an all roach net for 3-6-4.

Bud Lee wasn’t too far behind with a similar net for 2-11-8. Fished again on the Dead Length it was feast or famine with a fair number of ‘did not weighs’.

However, for the interest of pike anglers, there were quite a few roach taken on their way to the net by these toothy predators.

With thin ice on many of our stillwaters over the past few days, fishing has been somewhat restricted but Phil Morgan managed a quick piking session on Grey Mist following advice gleaned from our Facebook page. He caught two small jack-pike on dead baits, both around the five pounds mark.

We hope to start the second phase of the micro-chalk treatment at the lake opposite the bungalow at Offa’s Dyke Fisheries this month. A further two tons are on order to hopefully help reduce nutrients and siltation in the near future.

Our team here and The Moat are determined to turn this once neglected fishery around and have to date put many hours work in to help bring this about. There are no instant fixes.

There have been several instances of people leaving the gate open at High Legh Fishery allowing the farmers sheep to escape. The farmer has chained the access gate, which will be replaced with one of our security locks.

Members failing to lock barriers or gates on any of our fisheries will lose their licence with no excuses.

Email catch reports to frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk or call 01928 716238. HQ at 52, Parker Street, is open Friday, 7pm to 9pm.

Results: Mersey Saturday Sweepstake: 1, Ray Bowden 15-0; 2, Derek Bibby 14-0; 3, Jimmy Byrnes 3-0. Mersey Sunday Series: 1, Jimmy Byrnes 3-0-0; 2, Martin Lenihan 1-15-8; 3, Ray Boden 1-13-0; 4, Jim Gannon 1-4-0. Disabled & Over 60s: 1, Derek Bibby 3-6-4; 2, Bud Lee 2-11-8; 3, Keith Wernham 2-9-1; 4, Lennie Dutton 2-0-8.

Forthcoming events: Saturday: Mersey Saturday Sweepstake, draw 9am, through gates at Mersey Walk. Sunday: Mersey Sunday Series, draw 9am through iron gates at Mersey Walk. Monday: Disabled & Over 60s, draw 10am, at Walton Gun Club. Contact John Dagnall at Cheshire Angling 01925 635486.