Drennan Oxford have had a productive couple of weeks on the Kennet & Avon Canal.

First up was an open two weekends ago where team members Matt Herbert, Tom Hobbs and Gary Barclay filled the top three places.

Everyone wished for the end peg draw at Iron Bridge and this fell for Matt who made no mistakes with a 10-10-0 match win. He started at 4m to hand, feeding squatt over groundbait for 50 small roach 50, then moved across to the 3/4 line which had been feed with groundbait and a small amount of chopped worm. He also continued to loose feed squatts over the top to pick up 2-3oz roach and five 1lb skimmers.

Second  went to Tom Hobbs who managed 250 small roach on squatt over groundbait before latching into a very handy 2lb 10oz perch in the last 10 minutes. That gave him a level 10lb weight and relegated team mate Gary Barclay into third. Gary used similar tactics with squatts, groundbait and chopped worm to catch 8lb 14oz of roach and small skimmers.

The following week was the start of the Summer League where six teams of six compete; the first match on the canal and the remaining five on the River Thames. The canal was in a funny mood with only the two sections at Iron Bridge producing small fish and the other four being big fish or bust.

First place went to A4’s John William with 12-3-0. He drew a large bush at the Cottages end and had skimmers over chopped worm. Second was Chris Telling (Drennan Oxford) with 9-14-8. He also drew the Cottages stretch and included a 3lb bream amongst a net of smaller skimmers. Third went to Paul Harrop of Turners’ Tackle with a 9-13-0 mixed bag from the end peg at Roadside.

A4 lead the teams on the day with 30pts, while Drennan Oxford Blue and Drennan Oxford Red filled the next two places with 25pts and 21pts respectively. Everyone is now really looking forward to the next round, which is on the Thames and Medley.