The Shimano and JP Tackle Chelmer Masters was held on the River Chelmer and proved that it is no ordinary river when it produced a top weight on a cold day of 87-5-0 for matchwinner Steve Copping from Suffolk.

He found the carp, bream and chub for his runaway win setting the new record on the first Chelmer Masters match, sponsored by Shimano and JP Tackle, Maldon.

Copping was 75-4-0 in front of his nearest John Costner who had 11-1-0 for second place. Trevor Porter was third with 10-1-0 and fourth place went to Tye Horicks, who netted 8-7-8 for his place.

At the prize presentation of the trophies, donated by JP Tackle, Maldon, and presented by John Penn, Steve Copping said that whatever bait he put in, it caught fish and that he had 'a brilliant day.'

Copping also won a 14-foot match rod worth £200, donated by Shimano, and a bag of tackle plus his prize money.

The second and third place anglers, John Costner and Trevor Porter also received trophies, reels and goodie bags of tackle plus prize money as did the fourth placed angler, Tye Horicks.

All the anglers were full of praise for the way the event had been organised and run by Alan Stokes and his hard working wife Jane who had to put up with the numerous telephone calls for days.

The draw was so well organised that it saw 100 anglers registered through, and on their way to the pegs in 30 minutes, all had maps and instructions on how to find their pegs.

The most cheerful ones were those who discovered that they were near McDonald's on the retail park, that took care of breakfast for them.

All section winners received money and a Shimano goodie bag, there were even pay outs for second place in each section, and where there were extra anglers in some sections they paid third as well.

The winner of 'A' section was S. Westall 6-9-0, and second place went to P. Nasey 3-13-0, the 'B' section winner was Tom Baldwin (7-0-0), with the runner-up being Dusty Miller with 6-10-8, and the 'C' section was taken by Mick Bonnymead, who had 3-6-0, and second was D. Botley with 2-0-0.

The 'D' section winner was Roger Church with 6-6-0 and there was a tie for runners-up slot which was shared by G. Laney and M. Scoulan who both had 3-15-0.

In 'E' section John Peters had 7-13-0, and Richard Egan was runner-up, while the 'F' section winner was Dave Austin, who had 1-4-8 and second was Sid Roberts with 0-12-0.

The weights then started to go up again in 'G' section and the honours were taken by Mark Campion 7-8-8, while G. Corke and C. Gardner both had 1-11-0 and were joint runners-up.

In section 'H' Ken Blare had 5-11-0 and runner-up was John Pinner who had 3-8-0, whilst in the 'I' section Steve Westral won with 7-12-8 and the runner-up Derek Young had 5-3-0.

In the last section, 'J', there were some extra anglers so the organisers paid out on three places.

The winner was Jim Trew with 7-10-0 while Steve Linley had 6-14-0 and third in the section went to Les Hills with 6-9-0.

Everyone was adamant they would be back next year for this event and was full of praise for the way the event had been run and for the quality roach, bream, chub that most had caught, which puts the River Chelmer up in the forefront of the National Angling scene, and all this from a local day ticket water.

The only blackspot of the day was for Bill Walker, when a rotten post that held a lifebuoy fell over and knocked him down the bank, and broke three sections of his £3,000 pole, but he was rescued, before he got totally wet, by nearby anglers.

Hot rods: Anglers try their luck at Sunday's Shimano and JP Tackle sponsored Chelmer Masters on the River Chelmer.

Picture: ROB BROWNE

Southend's Carl Barton found his normal water closed due to the foot and mouth outbreak, so he went to Gloucester Park, Basildon.

Though he arrived late in the day, he soon got to grips with the water.

Fishing from the middle of the cockle bank Barton used worm and maggot to land a steady stream of carp, tench and crucian carp plus several big roach, chub and even a barbel, to finish up with a personal best top weight of 59-8-0.

Steve Copper from Stanford-le-Hope was another first time visitor to the same venue and using a Pole he netted 18-6-0 and included in his catch was roach of 1-9-8.

Junior angler Ricky West was also in action at the Park and fished the big bay, and using Whisky Boilies he caught his best ever common carp of 13-0-0 and two hours later he netted an even bigger mirror carp of 15-8-0.

At Hockley Angling Club, the latest matches have produced some good weights for anglers. Geoff Long was the winner of the Saturday match with a net full of carp, and he weighed in 44-6-0.

Second placed Peter Roue had 24-2-0 and third placed Richard Mansfield had 24-0-0, while fourth place went to Paul Abrahams with 18-8-0.

The Essex Angling Centre match on Sunday saw more good weights despite the cold.

Eight of the anglers were separated by just 3lbs, but Bob Cheeseman was first with 14-8-0. Second was Dave Ealding with 14-3-0, third was Johnny Brooks, (13-0-0) and fourth was Dave Aldwich (12-15-0). Mark Campion (11-15-0) was fifth.

The foot and mouth outbreak has closed many waters, but waters such as Central Park Lake in Chelmsford and the urban parts of the River Chelmer remain open as there is no livestock or deer in any of these parts, and all have tarmac access from the roads and along the banks.

The same applies to Lake Meadows in Billericay, Gloucester Park and Northlands Park in Basildon as they also are surrounded by industrial estates and housing.

As many of the fisheries are on farming land, anglers must also be responsible and keep away from these places and help stop the spread of this disease.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.