Cross takes weekend honours

Plantation's Main Lake showed good winter form and came up with a super set of weights for competitors of the Carps AC weekend match.

In difficult conditions it is often the simple things that work best and it was a straight lead and maggot cast close to the island that gave Gary Cross a winning 29-8-0 of carp to almost 4lb.

Gordon Cannings beat John Payne into second place by less than a pound of fish.

Cannings poled maggot at nine metres off peg two for 21-4-0 carp to 3lb, while Payne fished the same at 31 for a similar 20-8-0.

Heading the silverfish list was Colin Golding with 4-4-0 of skimmers and roach taken at eight metres centre off point peg 34 with red maggot and pellet.

Result: 1,Gary Cross 29-8-0, peg 32; 2, Gordon Cannings 21-4-0, peg 2; 3, John Payne 20-8-0, peg 31; 4, Colin Golding 15-10-0, peg 34; 5, Mike Owens 9-5-0; 6, Bill Ferris 6-2-0. Silverfish: 1, Colin Golding 4-4-0; 2, Simon Ryall 2-0-0; 3, Bill Ferris 1-5-0.

Merv Sivell took a first-round lead in the Bristol City Docks Thursday evening Starlite Series fished at Welsh Back.

The Fry's AC Match Secretary fished a groundbait feeder with maggot at 40 metres off peg 11 and weighed-in 10-10-0 of skimmers.

Dave Carroll came second with a similarly taken 9-0-0 from peg 1, while third-placed Jason Bird used a bread hookbait at 9 to tempt a brace of bream weighing 6-6-0.

Result: 1, Merv Sivell (Fry's AC) 10-10-0, peg 11; 2, Dave Carroll (Ding Master) 9-0-0, peg 1; 3, Jason Bird (Fry's AC) 6-6-0, peg 9; 4, Dave Clutterbuck (Fry's AC) 6-0-0, peg 6; 5, Pete Sivell (Dynamite Baits) 4-2-0, peg 10; 6, John Macey (Fry's AC) 3-4-0, peg 5.

Both lakes at the Stone Yard, Litton, were in superb form and came up with an excellent set of weights for the 20 members who fished the Fry's AC match.

Top of the scoresheet for the second match running was Merv Sivell.

He poled sweetcorn and maggot at 10 metres centre off peg two to tempt 73-4-0 of carp weighing between 2-0-0 and 6-0-0.

Andy Curry fished the same method and baits at peg seen for a similar 40-10-0, as did Paul Faiers, who weighed in third with 34-6-0 at peg 11.

Result: 1, Merv Sivell 73-4-0, peg 2; 2, Andy Curry 40-10-0, peg 7; 3, Paul Faiers 34-6-0, peg 11; 4, Dave Aitchley 25-9-0, peg 14; 5, Chris Wills 24-12-0, peg 17; 6, Mike Ferguson 22-9-0, peg 6.

Bristol's Tony Rixon and Dean Malin turned the Avalon Midweek Open into a two-horse race, with the former winning both categories.

Rixon poled caster over mini pellet at 16 metres off peg 32 for an 18-carp catch weighing 85-0-0, plus 13-7-0 of silvers, while his travelling partner Malin fished maggot and a pellet feeder to the island at peg 37 and weighed in 14 carp, plus a few odd bits, totalling 84-2-0.

Best of the rest was Mike West, who poled sweetcorn into the lakeside margins of peg 23 for 54-10-0 of carp to almost 7lb.

Result: 1, Tony Rixon (Avon Angling Mosella) 98-7-0, peg 32; 2, Dean Malin (Dynamite Baits) 84-2-0, peg 37; 3, Mike West 54-10-0, peg 23; 4, Martin Lenaghan (Avon Angling) 43-11-0, peg 40; 5, Gary Wall (Team Landsend) 36-15-0, peg 38; 6, Martin Alexander (Avon Angling) 27-0-0, peg 24. Silverfish: 1, Tony Rixon 13-7-0.