THE first round of this year's Express & Echo Angling League took place on the Grand Western Canal.

Twenty-one anglers fished the length above and below Greenway bridge and the high banks. The match time had to be put back by 30 minutes because the anglers found the surface covered in half-inch-thick ice and snow. Ice breakers were the order of the day but all the commotion did not deter the resident fish from feeding.

A respectable winning catch of 4k 110g gave Kevin Diment the first prize of £60 and 10 points in the league.

He drew peg five on the Sellick side of the bridge and used a four-metre pole to hand throughout the five-hour event. At the start he fed some liquidised bread feed into the swim to attract the fish. Bread punch hookbaits on a 16 hook soon tempted the small roach and rudd, which he caught consistently throughout the day. He used around a pint of bread feed and had more than 200 fish. His best sample was 120g.

Runner-up Andy Bulled put 2k 760g on the scales at peg four to earn £40 prize money. He used a pole at eight metres and baited a 20 hook with bread punch fished over liquidised feed. He caught small roach at the start and kept fish coming when he switched to pinkie hookbaits. Shallowing up to 2ft deep, the small rudd showed well and he caught them steadily for around one-and-a-half hours. He completed the catch back on the longer pole line when he added more small roach.

Third place went to Paul Elworthy, who scaled 2k 450g at peg six to win £30 prize money. He fed some liquidised bread to the eight-metre mark and fished over it with bread punch on a 20 hook, light hooklength and a No. 2 elastic. He caught quickly after the start with little roach and rudd coming consistently. Topping up with feed held the fish throughout. His biggest sample was a 120g roach.

There were three section prizes of £10. Roly Palmer scaled 2k 290g at peg seven near Greenway bridge using a seven-metre pole with bread punch on a 20 hook over bread feed. His first fish, a roach, came after 45 minutes and he caught them steadily until the whistle. He used around one pint of feed to hold them.

Wayne Murton, who had 1k 800g at peg 15 in the 'cut', fed both liquidised bread and a little hemp to attract roach and rudd. Bread punch on an 18 hook saw him catch fish in spells and he included a good roach of 240g in the net.

Paul Marks had a 2k 170g catch at peg 22 on the high banks. He used bread punch on an 18 hook over feed and caught mainly roach until pike moved into the swim, scattering the fish for spells. He had a bonus rudd of 500g and another of 240g.

Section A point scores: Kevin Diment 10pts, Andy Bulled 8, Paul Elworthy 6, Roly Palmer 4, Gary Thornton (1k 430g) 2

Section B: Wayne Murton 10, Matt Flavin (1k 300g) 8, Alan Davis (800g) 6, Pete Kingdom (650g) 4, Brian Sussex (610g) 2

Section C: Paul Marks 10, Eddie Evans (2k 120g0 8, Ray Slack (1k 600g) 6, Keith Carpenter (1k 150g) 4, Dave Harvey (520g) 2

THE best fish reported so far this year at Upham Coarse Fishery was a 19lb common caught by Newton Abbot angler Matthew King.

He fished a 24-hour session on pond seven where he used boilie hookbait to tempt the fish, along with six others. All of the ponds on the complex have produced a few fish. John Lake, of Exeter, float-fished bread baits on pond six where he had nine skimmers plus a single carp.

Fishing on pond three, George Boyes, of Exmouth, recorded a catch of eight carp to 6lb. He used float tackle with prawns or corn on his hook. A move to pond four produced a single carp of 10lb to float tactics.

THE higher lake at Spires Fishery, North Tawton, has produced some carp, with the best, a fish of 16lb, caught on legered corn.

One angler had a catch of five carp during a single session. The lower lake has been in good form with carp to 7lb being caught. Pole tactics with red maggots have accounted for perch to 2lb 1oz.

Skimmer bream, up to 1lb 4oz, have been showing in good numbers, offering decent sport for anglers. Maggots are proving good for the roach and rudd, which are up to the 12oz mark. The same bait also accounted for a 3lb orfe. The lake is well coloured and deep water swims are most productive.

CATCHES were down at the latest midweek event at Luccombe Ponds, Exminster.

Peter Barrell had a top catch of 12lb 8oz at his peg on larch pond. He float-fished with worms and maggots and fed pellets to attract fish. He had carp plus silver fish, which helped him take the golden peg prize worth £96.

Runner-up Jamie Goodfellow, of Exeter, fished on birch pond where he scaled 6lb 8oz. He used a pole at 11 metres and baited with maggots or pellets fished over pellet feed. He caught carp and silver fish. Third was Stuart Tinkler who had a catch of carp and skimmers for 5lb 6oz on maggot and pellet baits on birch pond. This Sunday there is a competition taking place at the fishery and all anglers are welcome to fish.

A GOOD carp of 16lb was one of two fish caught by an angler pole-fishing 8mm banded pellets at a swim along the straight bank at Hogsbrook.

Red maggots accounted for a few skimmers from the same area on the lake. Popular peg 16 gave a good catch of quality skimmers in a 20lb net for an angler who pole-fished pellet hookbaits. Surface ice has been a problem over the past week and I would like to wish a speedy recovery to fishery stalwart Lee Worthington, who is recovering in hospital from a slight stroke. Hopefully he will be back on the bank soon.

ALL Exeter Association members will have the opportunity to fish the Taunton canal on Sunday, February 14.

The rescheduled annual inter-club event is taking place between Taunton, Bridgwater and Exeter.

Recently the canal has produced some good catches of roach to bread punch on whip poles from the town reaches. Further details will be available next week regarding the peg draw and match length.

The Taunton club's 'fast' stretch of the River Tone, which runs close to the canal, was the venue for a club match on Sunday. The top catch of 13k was made up of roach, dace and chub. The runner-up had 11k with chub to 2k. Stick floats with red or bronze maggots proved successful there.

A VALENTINE'S Day pike competition takes place on the Exeter Canal on Sunday, February 14.

The draw will take place at the Lime Kilns car park at 7am and fishing will be from 7.30am until 3.30pm. Tickets, costing £5, are available at the Exeter Angling Centre and all monies will be spent on prizes. There will be a maximum of two rods allowed and live baits are not permitted. Prospects are excellent because the canal has produced some very big fish recently. For more information, call Tony Osborne on 07780 855955.

NEWTON Abbot anglers had to switch their latest winter match from Wapperwell Pond, which was frozen, to Bradley Lake.

The top catch was good for the time of year, Richard Johnstone putting 5k 500g on the scales at peg nine. He fished feeder tackle with maggot hookbaits for skimmers and bream to 3lb.

Runner-up John Durham fished peg 24 with pole and maggots for roach totalling 1k 560g. Peg 25 gave Mark Cousins third place with roach totalling 950g.

A pleasure catch by an angler on Bradley last week was reported to be around the 30lb mark. The angler pole-fished with dead red maggots to catch skimmer bream at peg six. A few roach have been caught from key pond and odd carp are showing from wheel pond.

THERE is no local competition taking place at Kia Ora this Sunday. However, members are advised that pegs 18 to 28 inclusive on the gold pond have been booked by a South Devon club. All other pegs are open to members and the whole of the silver pond at Kia Ora is available.

EXMOUTH Sea Angling Association's annual presentation night took place in the clubhouse behind the lifeboat station.

More than 20 cups and silverware were awarded to members on the night, including the RNLI Charity Shield, which was awarded to Andy Dunn.

Angler of the year Brian Reed collected the Walburn Cup and the RD Ison Ladies' Cup was awarded to Shauna Hole. The Ison Junior Trophy went to George Drew, thanks to his 7lb 8oz bass.

Wyvern Division officials were disappointed with a turnout of 50 for their annual presentation night at the RBL, Alphington.

Only three of the main Wyvern award winners collected their prizes on the night. Dave Horrill (Plymouth SAC) won the Castle Trophy for best specimen, a shore-caught blonde ray of 26-1-0.

The Dennis Smith award for best junior went to Paul Grinter (West Bay SAC) who had a rockling of 1-15-0. The only other award winner present was Sally Date (T&B ASA) who won best specimen by a lady and also the Conger Shield with a boat fish of 74-5-0.