Angling

Collingham's latest match on Millennium Fishery attracted a field of 33 and, with Centenary having a serious off day for whatever reason, the top six all fished on Willow Lake.

The in-form Paul Cowling won the Rodney Coldron Memorial Charity Match at Portland Fishery on Canal and the Old Wood Lake.

Collingham are running a “Wedding Day Special” at their Millennium Fishery on Friday for members only, and places are filling up fast.

Currys AC fished their second contest of the season on Canal Pond at Portland Fishery and 26 took part — though I didn’t really count as my pole snapped in half before the match even started.

The Newark Working Men’s Club kicked off their season with a contest at Janson’s on the original match lake and 25 members turned out to fish.

What is the point of the close season on rivers and who bothers to police it?

It is with great disappointment that I can report that the long-awaited Winthorpe Lake project for Newark Federation has been cancelled just as work was about to start.

With the river low and clear, the Upper Witham Six-a-side Championship was always going to be hard going for the 108 anglers.

Following a host of late entries, 18 teams of six will participate in Saturday’s Upper Witham match between Westborough and Dry Doddington.

Floods put an end to Sunday’s Grantham Open at Westborough and Bennington on the Upper Witham, so the stretches won’t be match-fished again until the six-a-side match a week on Sunday.

With the Upper Witham Six-a-side match only two weeks away, match organiser Colin Walton is urging clubs to get their entries in soon.

The latest leg of Colin Walton’s silver fish winter series was held on Long Island Lake at Portland Fishery where a gale-force wind made conditions very difficult.

The Newark Federation bailiff for Kelham, Shaun “Tiddy” Gash, has just returned from a family holiday to Mexico where he managed to sneak off for a day’s big game fishing and caught his biggest ever fish.

It is that time of year again, with entries being invited for the 26th running of the Upper Witham Championships.

After the best part of a decade without one, the Newark Federation members will be able to enjoy some pond fishing again.

During my quarter of a century as sports editor of this newspaper, I have built up a large number of vital contacts.

It is very difficult to put together a fishing column when the extreme weather of late has put paid to the prospect of any sport for the forseeable future.

As the wintry weather put paid to the angling scene once again at the weekend, it gives me the chance to continue the tale about our latest fishing trip to Holland.

Everything was frozen off again, so I thought that it was time over the next two weeks for a little insight into a typical fishing holiday, similar to the ones I have been enjoying for the last 35 years.

Southwell AC fished their Christmas Cheer match at Metheringham Fen pond where the winner couldn’t take advantage of the main goodies on offer because he was fishing as a guest.