with KINGFISHER

FAIR conditions last weekend promised some decent catches and there were some, although many anglers were disappointed.

The return of very cold weather towards the end of the week will ensure that this weekend will prove even more difficult.

Nelson matchman John Fallows (Mack's Tackle) was, most certainly, one of those to enjoy his fishing and how he deserved to!

He is one of the very few canal anglers to pin his faith entirely in the caster, nothing else, just caster. When he does get amongst them it does result in some decent fish and decent total weights, but there are many more occasions when he doesn't even get a bite.

Until last Sunday, in fact, he had suffered no less than sixteen consecutive blanks.

Not only did he manage to catch a few in the Hyndburn & Blackburn Open, on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Blackburn, but his 9-11-0 was also more than enough to win it.

He was drawn in a consistently good winter section, at the Navigation pub. John knows that it is not necessary to fish as far as you can, especially in the winter months, and presented his favourite bait at six and eight metres. He plumbed up very carefully, as he always does, to ensure the bait was just tripping the bottom.

This resulted in a very nice net of roach, which came at regular intervals throughout the match and included some of real quality, nudging the pound mark. John will, most certainly, have put in a few pouches of hemp with casters at the off and then fed a dozen or so casters every so often, the amount and frequency determined by his estimate of the number of fish in his swim.

Burnley's Andrew Shirtliffe (GTB Sports) is not so pedantic as John when it comes to choice of bait and method, spending plenty of time with breadpunch as well as caster. His 5-12-0 in this match was enough for the runners-up spot, with Dave Leeming (teams H&B) completing the frame with 4-0-2.

Other locals in the money last weekend included Chorley Social's Stan Ainscough, again, who weighed in 3-3-0 to take second place in a very disappointing Wigan AA match on the Leeds-Liverpool at Burscough.

The latest Hebden Bridge Golden Peg match on their stretch of Rochdale Canal attracted a very good entry of 49, which included quite a contingent from this side of the border. The best of them, Mark Ettridge, used pole and breadpunch at peg 94 (Hebble end) for an all-roach 5-5-0 whilst the 4-9-0 of Mick Teale was enough for third. The winner had 8-0-0 of quality roach and skimmers, on caster, from peg 109, on the park length.