Frank Lythgoe’s Warrington Anglers’ Association column

LOUIS Robinson, at the tender age of 12, is already a mad keen angler and on Saturday he caught a cracking personal best carp weighing in at 19lbs 4ozs 0drs from our popular Appleton Reservoir venue.

A pupil of Bridgewater High School, he is currently out fishing five days a week and his interest in the sport no doubt stems from his father Ashley, who has fished for Warrington Anglers at national level.

Vince Edwards enjoyed a good catch from Budworth Mere where he fished a groundbait feeder plus worm and caster for a net of 13 bream (lucky for some) and a solitary roach which he reckoned was the specimen of the day as it weighed 2-4-0. The bream were all around the 3lbs plus mark like peas in a pod. Best 3-12-0.

It is some time since we had a catch report from our Association owned stretch of the River Derwent at Darley Abbey. But Dave Smith made the 90-minute journey on Saturday for his first visit to this prolific river.

He set up a light tip rod and groundbait feeder with the addition of a sprinkling of micro-pellet and red maggots. After an hour without a bite he moved pegs and casting across to a willow struck into his first bite of the day which was a chub around 2lbs.

Four more chub followed, then he thought he was snagged until the fish started to move, resulting in a bream of 4.5lbs. He finished off with a few roach and will be making another visit in the near future. Don’t forget with a reciprocal agreement with the local club we can fish the end lake for a change of venue or if the river is in flood.

Ian Smythe enjoyed an epic roach session on the Macclesfield Canal at Astbury where he fished pole and maggot for a few roach before changing to hemp. After 20 minutes if he had hit them all it would have been a fish every cast. He still ended up with a nice net of roach to 12ozs which he reckoned was at least 25lbs.

Sunday saw the second Association contest (rod only) fished on the river at Mersey Walk where a very much in-form Jimmy Byrne repeated his success of the previous week with a mixed net of skimmers, roach, and perch taken on maggot feeder and bolognese for 10-2-0.

Jeff Shaw took second place from the adjacent peg with 9-9-0 and a similar mix of fish. In fact, I think Alan Faulkner landed the only decent bream of the match. Twenty fished.

The Disabled & Over 60s match on Monday was held on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Billinge which saw local angler Rod Fraser capitalise on an end peg draw where he fished caster at 11 metres next to the marina wides for an impressive net of 9-9-0 made up of skimmers, hybrids to 1lb, plus roach and perch.

Bas Chambers was second with exactly 100 fish taken on maggot and pinkie for 6-13-8 of roach, perch, and gudgeon. Sixteen fished and totalled 75lbs of fish which averaged over 4.5lbs per angler.

WAA headquarters at 52, Parker Street remain closed until further notice. Members renewing can simply put their book or request in an envelope with their payment, a stamped addressed envelope, and post it through our HQ door where mail is collected and dealt with most days. If you need any further information give me a call or email as below.

Keep those catch reports coming. Email frank@warrington-anglers.org.uk or call 01928 716238.

RESULTS:

Mersey: Second Association Contest (rod only): 1 Jimmy Byrne 10-2-0; 2 Jeff Shaw 9-9-0; 3 Ray Boden 8-13-0; 4 Alan Faulkner 8-1-0

Disabled & Over 60’s (Trent & Mersey Canal, Billinge): 1 Rod Fraser 9-9-0; 2 Bas Chambers 6-13-8; 3 George Hollis 6-4-4; 4 Roy Brown 6-3-12.

FIXTURES:

Sunday: Mersey Match Series, members only (23 pegs), must book on, draw 9am at Victoria Park, peg 12 up (£5 pool or £10 all-in, no coins and exact money).

Monday: Disabled & Over 60s, draw 9.45am at Bridgewater Canal, Preston Brook, peg 1 (£5 pool or £10 all-in, no coins and exact money)