Pole angler Martin Murfitt really put his tackle to the test when he fished an evening session at the Gloucester Park little bay - using just 2lb line to take ten tench, plus carp of 10lbs and 16lbs.

Martin's after work session saw him fishing a single red maggot on a size 18 hook to a 2lb hooklength and light elastic.

He began catching tench straight away, and had ten in the net before the big carp moved in. He lost the first carp but hooked another big fish soon after.

This time his hook hold held and after a fifteen minute battle he managed to juggle the 16lb plus common into his match sized landing net. No sooner had the fish been weighed and photographed than he was back in action, this time with a carp of just over 10lbs.

Whilst Martin was bagging up on the eastern side of the big bay, waggler angler Norman Kenward was in action on the Western side.

In fact he was playing a 12lb carp while Martin was having his big fish photographed. Norman was fishing large cubes of luncheon meat under a small waggler, presenting his baits only a yard or so from the bank.

This produced two double figure specimens in his two hour after work session!

The biggest Gloucester Park carp of the week fell to Dave Girdlestone who fished the big bay to net an immense common of 19lb 8oz.

Dave had spent most of the day fishing boilies, before switching to waggler gear. It was a float fished cockle that tempted the big carp just a few yards from the bank

Nick Morby missed out on a new personal best by four ounces when he landed a carp of 18lb 6oz from the western end of the Island at Gloucester Park. He tempted the fish with a popped up strawberry boilie.

Junior anglers have also been getting their share of the Gloucester Park carp, with Daniel Sparks and Daniel Waldon netting 16 carp between them. The two lads fished the big bay tempting their fish with tutti fruitti boilies. Daniel Sparks landed their best fish, a common of 11lbs.

Northlands Park continues to produce some big bags of bream, especially on the warmer days when the wind is south westerly.

Darren Nicholls made the most of a warmer afternoon to net over 30lbs of bream and skimmers from the road lake.

Darren fished the first swim on the road bank using luncheon meat bait.

Nine-year-old Billy Allgood fished the Northlands Park cafe lake to net a personal best 3lb plus bream amongst a bag of roach and skimmers. The youngster used a quivertip rod fishing a swim feeder and double red maggot.

(Right) Malcolm Murfitt took this 16lb plus Gloucester Park carp on a 2lb hooklength.

(Left) Darren Nicholls shows part of his big Northlands Park bream haul.

Tony banks a beauty

The big Lake Meadows carp continue to show, with several 20lb plus fish taken.

The biggest carp reported fell to Tony Matthews who landed a personal best 23lb 4oz mirror from the grass bank.

Tony tempted the fish with half of a homemade boilie hair rigged to a tiny size ten hook and light 6lb hook length.

Williams conducts fine Hockley match win

The latest matches held at Hockley Angling Club again gave good weights for all competitors.

Romford Bus Garage held the first match which saw David Williams take first with a fare haul of 44lb 4oz.

Les Court was second with 34lb 10oz. Rod Court took third with 31lb 2oz.

In the second match Richard Manshield took the honours with 47lb 8oz.

Peter Roue was runner up with 41lb 12oz. Geoff Long's 32lb bag earned him third spot.

In the third match John Masheter landed a tremendous bag of carp for 57lb 4oz to take the spoils.

Wayne Hughes was second with 36lb 13oz. Third place went to Terry Patten with 36lb 3oz.

The Easter Monday pairs match produced huge bags of fish for the 44 anglers taking part.

The field split into two with one of the pair fishing for silver fish and the other for carp. This saw 240lb 2oz of silver fish weighed and a total carp weight of 640lb 3oz.

Winners were B Vincent and D Vincent with 40 points. B Vincent landed 26lb 7oz of silver fish and D Vincent 28lb 4oz of carp.

The second pair were P Sargent and P Connell with 37 points who landed 11lb 11oz of silver fish and 66lb 8oz of carp.

Third pair were Simon Colclough and Andy Howard with 35 points taking 10lb 10oz of silver fish and 68lb 8oz of carp.

Other notable silver fish weights were David Hemmings with 17lb 8oz, D Sykes with 13lb 14oz, M Campion 13lb 4oz, Mark Rogers 11lb 13oz, Trevor Lowry 11lb 5oz, Richard Martin 22lb 8oz, Steve Warner 10lb, Peter Marshall 10lb 1oz, Alex Busby 11lb 6oz and Chris Driver 10lb 8oz.

Other good carp weights were Andy Stebbings 39lb 14oz, Dave Lord 25lb 4oz. Stan Woodruff 25lb, Bob Davis 27lb 6oz, Alan Busby 27lb 10oz and Billy Walker with 34lb 8oz.

Aquatels' action blows hot and cold

It's been a mixed week at Basildon's Aquatels with the westerly winds stirring the carp into feeding at the start of the week. However, the latter part slowed down a lot as the wind changed into the north.

Best results of the week have to go to Steve Copplestone and fiance Gemma Parkin.

Fishing from the middle beach at 30 yards range, using PVA bags loaded with trout pellet and Formula One boilies, they accounted for six fish each.

Steve took the biggest carp of the season so far with a mirror of 28lb 2oz, as well as fish of 12lb 12oz, 12lb 6oz, 16lb, 13lb and 8lb 4oz.

Gemma weighed in her tally of 18lb 6oz, 16lb 9oz, 13lb 12oz, 16lb, 13lb, and 13lb 12oz.

The couple also took several large bream up to 6lb 8oz on the same method!

Alan Whiteaker also used the same winning formula during an overnight session to land a common of 23lb.

Also in with a big fish was Rob Skinner with a common of 21lb from the jet ski swim.

Rodney Lewsey took a 10lb ghost koi from underneath the hotel bank.

Bernie Callis, fishing from the golf range swim beneath the Quays pub, landed a mirror of 18lb 2oz on Nutrabaits new Trigga mix.

Season ticket holder Michael Blackburn returned to fish the Knob Point at the back of the lake and managed to land a fully scaled mirror of 20lb 2oz along with fish of 18lb 6oz, 18lb and 17lb. He also lost another good fish at the net.

Paul Morgan fishing overnight on the last day session on the beach landed a superb ghost koi of 20lb 9oz. Bottom baits were Paul's preferred choice.

Away from the carp, Ray Lumley fished from the duckboards to take several good roach on the pole with red maggot.

There have also been reports of tench, bream and eels beginning to show.

At present there is a 'No Fishing' policy in existence on the beach section of Aquatels between 10am and one hour before dusk until further notice.

Fishery manager Tony Prayel says: "These are difficult times for anglers at present. I would like to thank all those fishing the lake last week for their patience and understanding."

For the latest developments on angling at the Cranes Farm Road water, contact 01375 401928.

Flying high for Chigboro

Chigboror trout fishery, in Fambridge, has been prolific over the last week with 702 fish being taken by 232 anglers.

Average catches amount to 2lb 10oz, although this figure does include hauls taken at the complex's Priory lake - a small water used for the smaller fish to grow on.

Best rainbow of the week fell to Jonathan Yates, who managed a 13lb 2oz fish in his 36lb 2oz haul.

The main Home Water lake is staging the Airflow Masters on Saturday, April 27 and entries are welcome from both teams and individuals. Contact David Weston on 01621 860750 for further details.

Big fish blitz at Doggetts

Rochford's Doggetts fishery has seen some fairly slow float fishing, although larger bream and tench have rewarded a few anglers with some great sport.

Carp anglers have enjoyed an exceptional week which dropped off drastically when the colder northerly winds arrived at the weekend.

Before the cold snap John Hierons, of Rochford, had a classic day on the north bank, landing a common of 15lb 4oz plus mirrors of 11lb, 12lb and a superb example of 22lb. John also had numerous tench which were all returned unweighed.

Chris Lindsay again risked divorce by fishing the long arm for the second time in seven days, bearing in mind his first trip lasted for three days!

This time around Chris only managed one night but still landed mirrors of 18lb and 21lb 5oz.

Once vacated, Leigh angler Adam Lineham fished the same swim and was delighted with an immaculate common of 22lb 10oz.

Matt Price, of Rochford, fished the north bank for a day session landing mirrors of 14lb and 17lb with an added bonus of a common weighing in at 14lb 8oz.

Eastwood's Dean Paine fished the north bank for a day session and landed a good upper double mirror.

Westcliff duo Dan Ryan and Brian Webster fished the south bank as the weather started to cool and the fishing slowed.

Dan still managed to bank a 17lb mirror plus a 6lb tench with his fishing partner claiming a 19lb common from the reeds.

By Stuart Hillis

Reporter's e-mail: stuart.hillis@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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