In spite of the bitterly cold weather there was a good turnout for the annual Fur and Feather, which was also Championship Match 15, and for the Fletcher Cup.

The Erewash Canal (pegs 75 to 90, accessed from Fields Farm Road, Long Eaton) produced excellent sport, and even though there were two 'no-weighs', the average catch was over 3 lb per angler.

Drawn just below Fields Farm Bridge on peg 81, John James was fishless during the first half of the match.  Then a shoal of perch moved in over his chopped worm feed, and baiting with worms fished down the far side of the track, he caught fish steadily throughout the second half to finish with 8 lb 3 oz and a clear win.

Five pegs above the bridge on number 75, Matt Colegate also employed worm over chopped worm tactics, and alternating between 'the track' and the far side, he also caught perch to take second place with 6 lb 14 oz.

In contrast, Pete James fished bloodworm over joker on peg 76 for a nice bag of 'silvers' (mainly roach with a few skimmers) to take third place with 6 lb 6 oz 8 dm.

Fourth place was another worm catch, Nigel Brailsford landing 5 lb 8 dm from peg 90 (below the Railway Bridges), with Ivan Carrier (3 lb 5 oz from peg 87) and Alan Wright (3 lb 2 oz from peg 80) taking fifth and sixth places.

Competitors will collect their prizes at the club's Christmas Social event on Monday 22 December at the Curzon Club (Long Eaton), which commences at 7.30 pm.  The evening will include presentations to the successful LEVAS Junior Championship anglers, the usual sausage and chip supper, and a festive 'raffle'.

With only three Senior Championship matches remaining this season, the 2008-2009 Leaderboard now reads:

Dave Kent 193 points; Mick Lager 182; Paul Richardson 157; John Adamson 153; Rob Henrick 111; Brian Leafe 105; Stef Fedyszyn 102; Carl Henrick 95; John James 95; Malc Munn 94.

Match 14, scheduled for the River Soar at Kegworth, was switched onto the Erewash Canal (Trent Lock) because the high river levels made the river bank unsafe.

With the W Hardy Memorial Trophy at stake, a good turn out enjoyed some excellent sport.  Although small fish figured highly in catches from either end of the match length, catches of perch formed the bulk of the weights.

Top weight fell to Pete Bywater (end peg 124 towardsTrent Lock).  Fishing red maggot down the track and chopped worm across, Pete kept fish interested all day to amass 4 lb 15 oz.  Second placed Malc Munn (peg 114) caught small fish down the track by alternating large maggot and pinkie, and also caught some perch by fishing close in with worm.  His 4 lb 10 oz was not quite enough.

The next four places were all tightly contested.  There was a tie for third place between Dave Mayo (peg 121) and Alan Wright (119), who both weighed 4 lb 5 oz.  Dave McPate filled fifth place with 4 lb 3 oz from peg 118, with Keith White in sixth with 4 lb 2 oz.

After four matches, Team LEVAS are holding a mid-table position in the Makins Winter League, which with 16 teams of 12 remains the biggest winter league in the country (192 anglers on the bank each match).

Although having to change half the team since last year, performances have been steady but not outstanding, with the team scoring 110 points (9th), 113 points (12th), 99 points (6th) and 111 points (9th) respectively.  In each match just a few more points would have lifted the team up several more places on the day, and vastly have improved our 9th league position place (28 points).

To date our money winners have been Carl Henrick (section win); Alan Talbot (section win); Jamie Adcock (2 section wins) and Andrew Williams (2nd Phase 2 and 3rd overall in match).

Top points scorers (1 for a section win down to 16) over 4 matches are: John Adamson 22, Jamie Adcock 27, Steve Hoult 27, Andrew Williams 34, Rob Henrick 37, Dave Kent 39, Anthony White 41, Carl Henrick 43.

Two matches remain (23 November and 7 December). Should any member be intererested in fishing either of both of these (being a reserve) please contact either Dave Kent or John Adamson.

Match 13 (for the Phil Read Memorial Trophy) saw an excellent turnout on the banks of Gils Pool at Holly Farm.  This is one of the nicest kept fisheries in the area and the well manicured shrubs and grasses looked stunning in the autumn sunshine.

Sport was reasonable throughout the matchlength with all competitors catching, but it was not until the scales reached the last peg that the winning weight, taken by Colin Robinson, emerged.  Drawing end peg (26), Colin fished 'down the track' at around 7m, and alternating baits between maggot, cat meat and luncheon meat over groundbait feed, he kept the carp interested enough to tempt a creditable 44 lb 3 oz.  This was just enough to push Brian Leafe (peg 37) into second place.  Fishing pellet over pellet feed tight to the far bank, Brian finished with 43 lb 2 oz.

  Colin Robinson with his 44 lb 3 oz winning catch

Third place fell to John Adamson (peg 29) with 33 lb 5 oz, with Carl Henrick (peg 31) fourth with 31 lb 12 oz, and Mick Lager (peg 38) fifth with 21 lb 7 oz.

The top 10 'Leaderboard' for the Club Championship is now: Dave Kent (173); Mick Lager (158; Paul Richardson (157); John Adamson (144); Rob Henrick (111); Stef Fedyszyn (102); Carl Henrick (97); Les Overmass (84); Brian Leafe (75);,Nigel Brailsford (67).

Championship match 12 unfortunately clashed with the Makins Winter League so there were several absentees.  Also the match, scheduled for the Oak, was unexpectedly switched to Kingfisher which caught out most competitors, plus the strong blustery wind made conditions difficult.

Top weight was taken by Brian Leafe with 18 lb 4 oz, Paul Richardson was runner up (16 lb 12 oz), followed by Martin Wheildon (14 lb 2 oz), Dave Cotterill (11 lb), Les Overmass (5 lb 7 oz) and Malc Munn (2 lb).

LEVAS Juniors ended their Championship campaign with an excellent match at Lakeview.

12 year old Curtis Hodge, who included a carp of 4 lb 10 oz in his 12 lb 11 oz catch was the winner, just edging out Jake Hemmings (age 13) who totalled 12 lb 4 oz.  Both fished pole, Curtis baiting with maggot and pellet, Jake using pellet.

Anthony Hanstock (age 13) filled third spot with 9 lb 1 oz, with Geoge Rigbey (age 13) and Kyle Cowans (aged 10) tying for fourth place, each with 8 lb 10 oz.

8 year old Adam Brailsford took third place in the under 13 group with 1 lb 15 oz.