Classy Hill in win romp

Angling: PAUL HILL is the man to beat in 2010.

The Gilders rod has shown incredible improvement over the last three years with regular wins on Chadderton Mill Lodge and other venues.

In round six of the Chadderton Mill AC Winter League on the club water, Hill displayed his class with a superb match-winning net of 26lb.

Drawn on peg 14, the series leader landed seven carp on the tip and maggot for a comfortable victory.

The best of the rest was John Less, also of Gilders. He bagged three carp on the tip before switching to the eight-metre pole and maggot which had ide crawling into his net for a level 24lb.

Ian Cox, the winner of the previous round, had to settle for third place, with three carp on the waggler and plenty of ide on pole-fished maggot from peg six accounting for 22lb 4oz.




HARD-WORKING Peter Humphreys has earned a reputation as a quality angler — and he produced the goods in the Blundells Fishery open.



Drawn on East Lodge peg nine, he opted for red maggot at nine metres and caught plenty of carp, the biggest of which weighed in at 3lb, for a 41lb 14oz net.

Next-best was 12-year-old Jack Howarth, with the 14-metre pole and corn attracting 38lb of carp.




OLDHAM rod Alan Dawson enhanced his excellent record at Brookside in their latest open event.



Drawn on Snake Lake peg 21, he trounced the opposition with an amazing 56lb catch.

Employing red maggot at 10 metres, Dawson caught plenty of carp in the 2lb region as well as a smattering of silvers to finish a distance clear of Simon Beswick (TRI-CAST Rochdale).

The runner-up had a 31lb net, which included carp and silvers on red maggot at 11 metres from Snake Lake peg two.

Andy Bennett (TRI-CAST Stalybridge) was third with an almost identical net of 30lb.




ANGLERS have to chip in thousands of pounds of their own money to represent England at world championships.



Unfortunately, fishing doesn’t seem to warrant the same level of funding as other sports.

Angling will receive a mere £1.5million for the period from 2009 to 2013.

I find that crazy when you look how successful our teams are compared to other sports.

Worse still, Dick Clegg, England’s International events director, is struggling to raise the £16,000 that is needed to send our veterans and disabled teams to their World Championships.




THE rain gods must have got together when they found out I was going to visit the River Ribble as the water level went up about eight foot overnight!.



Fortunately, there was some slack water a mile up the river. Now, a mile walk without any fishing tackle is easy but with tackle it certainly isn’t and on reaching our pegs I felt like I needed gas and air.

My travelling partner is a bit older and he was really struggling. We had stops every 30 yards or so, making the journey slow, although where he found the energy for the final sprint is beyond me, as he left me in his wake to grab the best-looking peg.

Four hours later and after what can only be described as hard fishing, my mate bagged a sea trout, which was put back, while I was left empty-handed. However, I still enjoyed the day.

The river dropped by more than two feet in the last two hours, so I’m going again next week in the hope of better luck.




Venue Guide



Huddersfield Narrow Canal: Day tickets on Saddleworth lengths. Fish are being caught.



Rochdale Canal: Few fish or anglers about. Expect pegs on the bream bend at Boarshaw to produce, with bread punch and flouro pinkie the best baits.

Chadderton Mill Lodge: This water is throwing up some incredible weights for the time of the year, with a 26lb net winning last Sunday’s match. Red maggot on the pole or tip producing carp and silvers, with skimmers to 12 ounces showing up all over the lake.

Hollingworth Lake: There was just four ice-free pegs to go at, but pike anglers were still out. Dead baits and spinning are worth a try.




Diary Dates



Every Saturday — Open matches on Meermoor Fisheries.

Every Sunday — Albert Morris open matches on canals throughout the north west. For information, contact Albert on (0161) 792 2684. £11 all in on the day.

Every other Sunday — Monarch AC members matches on the club water. For further details, contact Craig on 07916 923890.

Sundays — Chadderton Mill AC winter league matches on Chadderton Mill lodge. For further details, contact Lee on 07522156978.

Email your news or views on the local or national angling scene to Jan Verbruggen at foldgr@ntlworld.com or call 07846 456408.