Barrell of fun as Chris comes out on top with his big haul of carp

A COLD day at Woodstock Pond kept the weights down in the penultimate match of the Newport Spring League but it still needed 34lb 4oz of carp to win and the angler who caught them from peg 15 on the canal side was Chris Barrell.

Cwmbran competitor Martin Challenger came in second with 32lb 4oz that was mainly chub and Darrell Barnes third with 23lb 5oz.

The section winners were Chris Murphy with 22lb 6oz and Rob Sims with 21lb 8oz.

The final match is at Morgans Pond on Sunday, May 13.

Scott Odam, from Bridgend, won for the first time at White Springs when his 121lb 4oz of carp was the best catch in the open match on the New Canal.

It was also a first for Chris Oag, who caught over 100lb for the first time and with another 7lb 2oz had the second best weight.

Third place went to Alan Godrich with 94lb.

Godrich moved up to number one in the second match when he drew three pegs away from his previous day’s peg and extracted just a little more for a 95lb 12oz weigh-in. Following were Merthyr duo Paddy Payne and Brian Prothero with 58lb and 44lb 12oz.

Terry Morgan was another first time winner when Cefn Fforest AC headed into Gloucestershire and a match under winter like conditions at Staunton Court.

He caught 51lb 5oz of carp to beat Dan McCarthy who also framed for the first time with 47lb 15oz and Welsh National Champion Zac Williams in third place with 30lb 3oz.

Howard Green, from Pontllanfraith, carried on his winning way at the sell out Wednesday Open on Penny’s Pond at Redhill Fishery. Helped by a good draw at the deeper end he pole fished pellets and ended the day with 89lb 3oz of carp.

Two Pontymister AC members from Cross Keys filled the next two places as Tristan Walters weighed in 76lb 15oz and Scott Hale put 71lb 11oz of carp on the scales.

The over-50 Wednesday turn out at Cefn Mably Lakes was also a good one and the match went well for Glamorgan AC member Mick Fraser who kept up his good record in the series by netting exactly 80lb of carp to win. James Smithson, from Cardiff, also had carp for the 55lb that made sure of second place as did Cwmbran duo Neil Dibble and Bill Gronow in behind with 47lb 8oz and 47lb 4oz.

Dennis O’Leary, from Ebbw Vale, has won the silver fish pool more times than anyone and he did it again with 15lb 4oz of roach and bream.

There were fewer anglers on the bank for the weekday open at Mathern Mill where Norman Sterry caught six carp on pole tackle and 10 more on legered pellets for a winning 109lb.

Saturday at Mathern was much busier with all pegs taken; but after a night of heavy rain the carp weren’t so enthusiastic and David Poole found himself comfortably ahead with the 92lb 15oz he banked at peg 16 on the top lake.

The next three were close as Sean Wilson, Jason Hale and Steve Shaw weighed 56lb 3oz, 54lb 6oz and 54lb 2oz while Norman Sterry won the silver fish pool money with 18lb 5oz of bream.

Mark Sweeny was a long way ahead when Merthyr Tydfil AA held a match on the club’s Middle Pond, Penywern. His feeder tactics brought him a 29lb