with KINGFISHER

COLNE matchman Paul Smith came out top in one of the biggest open canal matches to take place in many a year, last week on Yorkshire's Stainforth and Keadby Canal.

It turned out to be a very comfortable win for Paul, earning him plenty of respect and a pocketful of cash.

No less than 205 anglers lined the bank for the Drennan NE Div One practice match, which turned out to be a very good one with weights well spread.

However, 204 of them were fishing only for second place, with Paul's draw putting him on a shoal of feeding bream.

Using caster on the hook, at the end of his 16 metre pole, Paul managed to tempt 20 of them, plus a single chub, for a grand total of 31-1-0, that was more than 10 lbs clear of the runner-up, who used chopped worm in a feeder to attract an all chub weight of 20-14-0, which included fish to 3lbs.

Now Paul is an undoubted canal expert, but this one is a bit different to the local Leeds-Liverpool, being at least 20 metres wide, a couple of metres deep in the middle and having wide shelves at about half that depth.

That will explain the need for the 16 metres of pole used by Paul for the bream and the use of feeder tactics, for chub right across, by the runner-up.

Smith was a founder member and long-time stalwart of the now defunct Langroyd team of the late 70s to early 90s. As such he acquired a wealth of experience on a variety of waters, including the tidal RiverTrent, on which the team won a National Championship in 1993.

Many members of that team now fish at a similar level for other teams, like Paul, who is with Tri-Cast Rochdale.

He is, however, especially at home on the canal, like Hyndburn's Trevor James. He is also an ex-Langroyd man now fishing for Tri-Cast Rochdale, and the Rochdale Canal at Hebden Bridge is one of his favourite waters, otherwise he wouldn't keep turning up for the matches, would he?

Perhaps the fact that the 'Golden Peg' fund has reached a fantastic £2,300 also has something to do with it, or maybe that he always seems to be in the money as he was again last week.

A surprisingly low turnout of only 39 fished the match (must be more next time with all that money at stake). James drew peg 291 near the bridge. It was not the golden one, but certainly worth a bit of silver for him as pole fished caster produced a pair of decent bream and a big skimmer that weighed a winning 10-6-0 together. One fish, a carp of 8-7-0, was enough for the runners-up spot though the angler was left rueing the loss of two other similar fish to caster/worm.

The ex-Langroyd theme continues with the news that Barnoldswick's Ian Scott was the winner of the Listerhills AA Open on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Rodley, with 7-9-0 and that Colne's John Clapham once again found Brookside Fisheries to his liking with a fifth place for 27-4-0.