By Kingfisher

EAST Lancs-based Springview Fisheries were lying five points behind league leaders Liverpool AS going into the final match of the big Wigan AA Winter League last weekend and needed an outstanding performance to snatch the title from their grasp.

It would help their cause if Liverpool managed to record their worst result of the series and the other teams to perform well.

This combination of events was unlikely but, on a difficult Leeds/Liverpool Canal at Apperley Bridge, it was certainly a possibility - that became a reality.

Inspired by the top individual on the day, Eric Morris, the Springview team put in a stirring performance to score an excellent 56 points.

This was only enough for second spot on the day but, crucially, it was eight more than Liverpool and they were duly crowned 2004 champions.

Morris was drawn in the famous Bone Hole, where he used punch at 11 metres and squatt at 14.5 metres to take a nice net of roach to eight ounces that weighed a total of 7-14-5.

Last week's individual winner, Octoplus Blackburn's Russell Sands followed that up with another great performance to finish second with 7-2-1; a similar net of fish on identical tactics.

Those were great individual performances by the East Lancashire pair, but that of Nelson matchman Dave Wells, fishing the same canal but at Saltaire in Yorkshire, also caught my eye.

He, too, had an all-roach catch but this was certainly different - to say the least. He weighed a very decent 8-7-0 for second place in a very good match indeed. All the anglers caught fish here, though most were on the small side.

The winner was noted caster expert Dave Colbran who, as usual, managed to find some of the better fish to total 10-10-8. They were fish in the four to six ounce range and they fell for the caster presented at 11 metres.

Compare that to the catch of Wells and there can be no doubt which of them had to work hardest for his reward. Dave didn't need much of his pole to present his favourite bread-punch where he knew there would be some fish - just three metres in fact.

I said that the majority of the fish caught were small and I assume that most of you have a mental picture of what constitutes a small roach; perhaps this will encourage a re-think in that regard.

Wells pulled his net out at the end of the five hours to reveal a sight that amazed those privileged to witness it.

For it contained no less than 415 tiny fish - averaging just over a quarter of an ounce each.

It was not a bad weekend for most anglers, pleasure and match alike, with reasonable weather and decent temperatures ensuring that the fish fed and they were fairly comfortable.

It has been a little cooler over the week since, but it remains unseasonably warm and I do not see why the decent catches of last week should not be repeated.

Having said that I do not expect many of you will be making a bee-line for Saltaire.

I prefer my roach a little bigger than that, though I can appreciate the skill needed for what Wells did, as do most canal anglers.