CANAL ace Mick Samson returned from major heart surgery to win a Swan AC contest on the Staffs/Worcs canal.

Using bread punch off peg seven Samson tamed the difficult conditions and put around 30 small roach onto the scales for a winning weight of just 2lb 15oz 0dr.

Dennis Yeomans came second with a pinkie-caught roach and small perch catch going 1-14-3.

Sue Jaques claimed third with 1-11-4 to beat Len Merrill who had a late perch to add to a few small fish for fourth with 1-5-12.

The next Swan AC contest is at Stoke Works on April 9.

Veteran Droitwich Spa Angling Club member Reg Bastable made peg one on the canal at Porters Mill come alive when he narrowly beat a good turn-out.

Using a big maggot approach just out of the centre channel Bastable was rewarded with skimmers, roach, perch and rudd to give him the overall verdict with a weight of 9-0-8.

The previous week’s Barley Mow winner Ken Legge showed his liking for the venue by coming second when he caught 8-11-8 of skimmers and perch by using a worm and maggot combination on peg 26 in the third pound.

Dave Anderson came third weighing in 6-10-9 from peg 18 to beat in-form Kevin Downton’s fourth-placed catch of 4-9-14.

Section prizes went to Alan Turner, John Moloney, Colin Davis and Chris Turner.

The next Droitwich Spa contest is an open at Stoke Works on April 8.

Once again the wind made presentation difficult for competitors on the Friday Drummonds Dub contest.

Alf Hand came out on top with a pole-caught net of skimmers and roach taken on maggot over pellet from peg 4 going 20-13.

Second was Keith Holt who also used maggot on peg eight on the opposite bank to put 16-5 onto the scales.

Caster master Alan Baldwin used his favourite bait when he weighed in 15-10 of roach from peg three to narrowly beat organiser Dave Warren on peg two with a pellet-taken, all-skimmer net of 15-7.

Worcester’s Tony Whitcher once again came out on top of the Woodland View Tuesday open which attracted 14 competitors to the Ghost pool.

He weighed in a feeder and pellet-caught mixed bag of 71-1 from peg six.

Runner-up was Tony Taylor (Woodlands) with 70-4 and third came Aaron Smith (Worcester) with 47-7.

Saturday, Ghost pool open: 1 P Edmunds 52-4, 2 T Guise 46-12, 3 H Taylor 41-0; Sunday, Deans pool open: 1 P Sibley 75-0, 2 G Clarke 72-8, 3 S Tibbetts 63-12.

Moorlands Farm, Thursday, Costcutter open: 1 C Hodge 98-11, 2 S Parker 77-9, 3 D Williams 55-6; Saturday open: 1 N Groves 93-6, 2 A Espery 83-14, 3 G Hodge 64-14; Sunday open: 1 I Mills 99-13, 2 P Rice 98-15, 3 P Haddlington 96-7.