Merrick on top in arctic conditions

SUNDAY saw Measham AC fish their Annual Members Fur & Feather competition on the Ashby canal at Snarestone where every angler receives a prize depending on where they finish in the competition.

This year’s match saw 16 anglers attend in very cold & frosty conditions, with bright sunshine as well as finding the canal almost gin clear, some parts ice free, other parts with “cat ice” and some parts frozen.

The match winner on peg 11 (permanent peg 24) with little or no ice was John Merrick who fed and fished maggot down the inside track seeking out an odd perch or two and patiently waited in hope that his float would disappear. It did on two occasions, both being small perch which at the scales registered a paltry 3ozs.

The next two prizes went to the two section winners - pegs 1-9 was taken by Kev Milne on peg 3 (permanent peg 32) who had to contend with a lot of ice. He sat patiently for ages hoping that his float would go under once and at last it did - the result, a small perch which at the scales gave him 2.5ozs.

Pegs 10-17 was taken by Roger Benn on peg 13 (permanent peg 22).

As the match wore on and the final whistle beckoning, he began to pack away when suddenly he realised his float had disappeared which resulted in one tiny perch which weighed just 1oz. As the snow began to fall quite heavily all the prizes were given to those that had caught fish and then drawn for and distributed to everybody else - nobody went away empty handed.

• Sunday will see Shackerstone AC stage round 3 of their Members Club sponsored Winter League Series, draw 7.45am at the Rising Sun.