TOWPATH specialists Mick Samson and Colin Davis once again showed their mastery of local canals by taking the top two places for the second consecutive week.

After Davis beat his club mate on the previous weekend, it was Samson's turn to take the spoils when he won the Worcester and District United Anglers Association Open at Perdiswell with an excellent double-figure catch.

Drawn well on the last peg 44 opposite the bramble bush, Samson used knowledge gl-eaned from extensive practice sessions in order to net two good carp on double-caster which, along with a good chub and a perch, recorded a total weight of 10-14-8.

Davis found himself on the opposite end of the same bush on permanent 42 where he beat talented opposition with a small chub, skimmer and a solitary carp, also taken on caster for 5-8-7.

Sticking to his bread-punch assault on peg 36 was Phoenix star Les Sanders who weighed in 3-13-9 of small roach for third place, beating team-mate Alan Baldwin's 3-10-0 caster-caught perch and roach net which came from peg 39.

Halfway angling club's Colin Bradley blitzed their latest silver fish only contest, held on the narrow legs of Church Farm Pool, with a superb net of 37-4-0.

Tackling his peg with maggot over groundbait Bradley went out to 14 metres in order to net 18 chub and a fine 2-14-0 perch in his winning catch.

Some way back in second place was Mick Watling who recorded a level 13 pounds consisting of three chub and a few perch and roach, all taken on a variety of baits presented on the pole between eight and 12 metres.

Pete Freeman finished third, weighing 8-14-0 on the waggler and maggot combination, while in fourth spot was consistent club man Richard Oliver with pole-caught 8-8-0.

The next Halfway AC match is in two weeks time.

n Big carp at Brockamin failed to show during the latest open with eventual winner Chris Senter netting around nine smaller samples on straight-ledgered corn from peg 22 in his 27-10-0 net.

Runner-up from peg 33 was Tim Noke who used bread flake, also on the lead, to take 19-14-0. In third place, from dam wall peg 25, was Dan Coley with two pellet fish going 11-6-0.

n Carp did not show at all on the first Portobello winter league match held on Rush-wick Pool but silver fish did make for a thrilling contest.

Coming out on top was Stuart Tibbetts with 8-5-0 of roach and small skimmers - all taken on bread punch.

Second place went to Wayne Parkin with a pellet-caught silver fish net of 7-4-0 which just edged out southern exile Ron Eagle who netted a third placed 7-2-0 to beat Alan Tibbetts catch of 4-7-0.

Unusually, despite the mild winter conditions, Wards club pool was in a difficult mood for members involved in the winter series competition.

Overall winner Terry Box must have been surprised when his mainly carp weight of 16-6-0 was enough to win comfortably. Offering corn over pellet on peg 23 Box took three samples along with a solitary skimmer.

Hugh Busby finished second with a silver fish weight of 4-4-0 from peg 27, while third place went to Leon Elsworth with one carp weighing 2-12-0.

Moorlands Farm results - Saturday Open: M. Leferve 120-10-0; M Watson 114-9-0; L Richards 93-6-0.

Sunday Open: D Sheldon 88-5-0; D Hopkins 69-14-0; S Harris 65-6-0.

Prospects: With rivers still out of sorts, attention turns to stillwater venues and with local canals holding colour skimmers and roach should be the target, while on commercial fisheries carp are now responding well.