LEE Davies had a day to remember as he came just short of claiming a record breaking catch at Alvechurch Fisheries last week.
He weighed in with an impressive 96lb 6oz, which was just 2lb shy of the winter record, despite losing a number of carp and having to adjust his presentation.
Following overnight frost, it did not look like being a good turnout for the 14 fisherman competing in the Thursday Open and Davies (peg 24) made a slow start in the first hour.
But he then found a big shoal of carp feeding at 14 metres which saw him go on to record the best winter catch to date.
Davies’ weight, which included carp up to 8lbs and stockies, was also more than what John Adamson achieved as he finished second from peg 30 with 46lb 10oz.
Danny Tresigne (peg 11) also produced a fine performance after fishing pole and maggot alternating swims at 13 metres for a mixed bag of stockies and silvers to weigh 40lb 1oz.
He finished third ahead of Dave Wallavize (peg 4) who fished pole and pellet at eight metres for a mixed bag of ide, chub and skimmers to weigh 24lb 13oz.
It turned out to be a very profitable day for Les Ayres who drew the bonus peg 5 and added the bonus peg jackpot of £200 to his comfortable win in the Saturday Open.
Les fished straight lead tactics with dead reds into open water rotating swims throughout to net carp up to 8lbs and stockies for his winning weight of 63lb 9oz.
The 16-strong field also saw Warren Beech (peg 13) do well as he net a mixed bag of carp, ide, skimmers and silvers for his weight of 42lb 11oz to come second.
Elsewhere, Adamson (peg 26) came third with 34lb 5oz, while Phil Evans (peg 28) who won last weekend, had to settle with fourth after fishing straight lead tactics and dead reds up to the island for stockies and silvers 33lb 3oz.
