Ford in the driving seat as he picks up Shield at Sirhowy AC

SIRHOWY AC started the new match calendar with the Simon Jones Memorial Shield match at Redhill Fishery and the bumper entry filled Penny’s Pond.

Andrew Ford had travelled from Neath and he returned with the shield after catching 72lb 14oz of carp on both pole and waggler float.

Second prize also went the same way thanks to Mikey Williams’s 68lb 13oz of carp and then it was Newport member Phil Weaver with 62lb 3oz and Dai Evans, from Tredegar, with 59lb 8oz.

Tredegar angler Mike Yandle added another to his impressive list of wins at Redhill Fishery when he put 102lb 5oz of carp on the scales at the end of the Wednesday open on Sophie’s Pond.

Cefn Fforest AC member Duane Boyle was six pegs away and second with 85lb and Sean Wilson, from Trethomas, third with 81lb.

Newport feeder specialist John Mack came off best in the Over-50s Wednesday fixture at Cefn Mably Lakes.

He caught 74lb 12oz of carp to beat Bill Gronow, from Cwmbran, with 73lb 8oz and Glamorgan AC member Mick Fraser who was third with 62lb 10oz.

Dennis O’Leary, from Ebbw Vale, collected the silver fish pool money with the best non carp weight of 17lb.

Welsh International John Harvey, from Risca, has won the White Springs Winter League after finishing the series with 13 penalty points.

Tredegar competitor Danny Baker was runner up with 17 points and an aggregate weight advantage over Rob Jones with the same number of points in third place.

The final match saw Danny Baker win the day with 110lb of carp and bream from the Match Lake while Adam Mitchell and Mike Yandle, both drawn on the New Canal, filled the next two places with 85lb and 76lb. Ken Roper caught a 10lb 6oz mixture of roach, perch and bream to win the Cefn Fforest AC match at Trecelyn Pond and he was well clear of runner up Trevor Tarling who weighed in 3lb 1oz.

Only small roach showed up during the Pontymister AC match on the canal at Cross Keys where Phil Rance had another success since his recent return to the match scene.

He caught 1lb 10oz at Hall’s Road to beat Geraint House with 1lb 8oz and Kevin Mellish in third place with 9oz.

Pole and pellets was the way Dick Brunton attacked his peg on the Match Lake and won the Sunday open match at White Springs with 85lb 15oz of carp and bream.

Runner-up Andy Kirtley weighed