TALENTED angler Gavin McGuire was the top man as Carr Lane AC cast into action at Saltfleetby.
On a weekend when several clubs opened up their seasons, it was a tale of many lost fish, with the carp knowing where the snags were.
McGuire landed 50lbs of carp, but he lost a further 20 fish – as they made their escape in to the snags on the far bank on peg 32.
The eventual winner fished the feeder, and had some decent fish for his winning weight.
Matty Benwell was on peg 15 – he was fishing under the tree and had to go to very heavy line to stand any chance of getting the carp out from their hiding holes!
Benwell managed to get 44lbs, while yours truly finished third with 37lbs on peg 15.
On to the open matches, and last week was the second match in the Friday night opens at Peter Clayton Ponds, North Thoresby.
And it was yours truly who took the honours with an all rudd catch of 14lbs 14oz.
Fishing the long pole, with chopped worm and caster – off peg 7 – and I caught some quality rudd.
Carl Huneysett was second with 10lbs off peg 1.
He had a couple of small carp, but mostly rudd made up his weight.
Steve Crosskill was third using his favourite method – the waggler – and he had just less than 10lbs, including some decent eels.
Sunday's match draws at 9am.
Meanwhile, NATS kicked off their campaign at Messingham Sands – and what a match it was, with the top four weights all being over 100lbs.
You can see by the weights, and the anglers taking part, that the club oozes quality.
Phil Parker was first, he was on the pellet waggler fishing peg 7 and had 123lbs.
Scott MacAteer was second, fishing the margin pole down the edge to catch 110lbs from peg 21.
In third was Colin Blendell, fishing off peg 4 he had 102lb with the bomb and pellet – and Daz Lawton took fourth with 100lb off peg 19.
The Police Club were also in action at Messingham, and 23 anglers turned out for monthly midweek match on the Tripp Pond.
With plenty of fish to be had, Terry Holmes was first in with 85lbs, while Steve Riley took second with 72lbs and Kelvin Loveday was third with 68lbs.
Casablanca AC went to Fenland Lake, and top local angler Lee Popham showed his skill with a fantastic 129lbs – caught from the margins in peg 15 on pellet.
Steve Musson was second (118lbs), using the long pole and pellet off peg 11, and Cliff Thornhill was third (80lbs).
Elsewhere, Healing AC had their first match of the season at Messingham's Swan Pond.
Andy Lofts got off to a good start and weighed in with 80lbs, while Martin Young was second with 58lbs.
In third was Keith Garrat, who netted 53lbs.
At Wold View Fisheries, Barnsley Blacks team member and top Grimsby-based angler Simon Fields was on fire he won both the Saturday and Sunday open matches.
On Saturday he was on the Silver Lake and had 47lbs off peg 12.
Carl Braithwaite was next in with 40lb off peg 24, while fishery regular Norman Hewliss was third with 35lbs.
On Sunday, it was on the canal and there was no stopping Fields – he had 66lbs off peg 4.
Grimsby angler Simon Piggott was next with 57lbs off peg 11, while Nigel Lowery was third, taking 35lbs off peg 19.
At Saltfleetby Fisheries and the Thursday the match was on the Island Pond.
Vince Martin was the winner catching 43.9lbs off peg 4. He was closely followed by the angler fishing in the next peg John Keaton he was on peg 3 and had 42.7lbs.
John Grant was third off peg 7 with 39lbs.
On the Sunday Korby Hugil kept up his current run of excellent form with 57lbs off peg 1, fishing in the corner he had more than double the weight of Lloyd Lakin who had 23lbs off peg 13.
I have not results from Frog Hall Fishery at Legbourne, but I understand that the match weights have been excellent with the winner having over 60lbs and good back up weight in the forties.
The matches are now on a Saturday and a Sunday.
After hearing repeated tales of silverfish anglers experiencing good sized roach being snatched off the hook while being played on the South Day Ticket Lake, Messingham Sands manager Sean Johnson decided that it was time to try and establish what the culprit was.
His first cast with a small lure fished just two feet deep in 12 feet of water resulted in a violent take from what appeared to be a really big fish.
After a fairly lengthy tussle, Johnson slipped the landing net under a 37lbs catfish.
He said that he was lucky to land it as the size 12 hook was only just in the outer edge of the fish's mouth.
Although no stranger to catching some decent sized fish in his time, this catfish was by far a personal best and certainly solved the mystery, although even Johnson was quite surprised at how little time it took.
Gainsborough match angler Ken Pacey made no mistake when he drew peg 10 on Tripp Lake on the Thursday Open, fishing 4mm soft pellet close in on the pole, he had a tremendous catch of mainly Crucian Carp totalling 122lbs to take the first place and with an extra £100 for winning from the golden peg he enjoyed a fairly profitable day.
Although all of the lakes fished well through the week, with some excellent catches for both match and pleasure anglers, Friday and Saturday proved to be hard going for most.
A sudden four degree drop in water temperature and plenty of rain had the expected result of curtailing the appetites of the fish stocks and weights were well down on the norm.
Sunday showed a big improvement however, as temperatures stabilised and there were some really good weights of fish recorded.
