DROITWICH Angling Centre squad members may be relatively new to the big match game but they are carving out an enviable reputation on the local circuit.

This follows Pete Bailey's victory in the WDUAA winter league first round contest at Perdiswell.

Drawn on the last but one peg at Bilford, permanent 73, Bailey had to wait until the final two hours of the contest before netting the first of three big perch, all of which accepted his double caster offering presented in the centre channel, which along with a few early roach tipped the scales at a match winning 5-2-8.

Second place produced a tie with Ben Harrison (Harry's W.C's.) and Lynx's Bill Biddle both ending the four and a half hour contest with an identical 2-7-10. Harrison netted one good chub along with a few small fish on maggot bait from peg 69 while Biddle took two large perch and five roach from peg 41.

Third place went to Dick Blight (Lucky Silvertops) with one chub, awkwardly hooked on pinkie, which when added to four small perch registered a total of 2-5-0.

Team winners, and therefore league leaders were the aptly named Harry's Worm Choppers outfit who totalled 25 penalty points while the talented Lynx side were second with 27 followed by Swan AC on 28 and Driotwich AC Blue with 29.

The next round will be on Sunday, October 27 when the Cavalier section will be used.

* The Avon at Fladbury was, like all rivers at the moment, exceptionally low and clear for the time of year but the talented Portobello AC still managed to record reasonable catches for their latest contest on the Garrington's stretch of the river.

Taking a rare first place was clubman Mick Price who netted 5-5-0 of medium sized roach and perch by presenting maggot bait beneath a stickfloat set up on his peg 10, midway along the match length.

Runner-up was club star Gary Brixton, who drew the upstream end peg that provided a win for him on the same contest last year, this time falling just short with 5-1-0 of pole caught perch and small roach.

In third place came southern exile Ron Eagle with 4-9-0 from peg 12 while fourth went to Dave Powell with a 3-14-0 mixed bag.

The club's consolation prize went to stillwater expert Nic Hill who proved off colour on moving water by being the only angler failing to weigh in on the day!

* No one can stop Moorlands AC star David James from winning on his favourite venue, the West Midland angler averaging two open wins a week, all with huge weights on the humble sweetcorn bait.

There was another repeat performance by James when he first won the match on the Meadow pool with 125-8-0, second was Colin Pace (Bilston) with 102-10-0 while Chris Hill (Fosters) came third with 97-1-0.

James's second victory came when he took a staggering 172-5-0 of carp from peg 14 on the Meadow pool beating Rob Massey whose 131-13-0 was only good enough for second place followed by Andy Newton with another third placed 'ton' catch of 101-11-0.

The big Tony Shuttleworth Memorial contest raised an excellent £420 for the British Heart Foundation and provided Bristol's Lee Nutland with yet another win for his weight of 102-15-0, meanwhile the Sunday open saw Warley angler Brian Hill take 83-0-0 on sweetcorn from peg 57 on the Meadow pool to beat Andy Newton (Lifestyle) who weighed in with 78-13-0 from Island peg 10.

There will be junior opens held during half term at Moorlands Farm on Tuesday, October 29 and Friday, November 1. Entry costs £5.

* The Droitwich Angling Centre's two-day Severn festival due to be held on November 23 and 24 is rapidly selling out with over half of the 40 pegs already taken.

Anglers interested should pay their £30 entry to John Maloney on 01905 358059 or Nigel Harvey 01905 25400 as soon as possible.

* Prospects: All rivers are desperately in need of rain, but stillwaters are in fine form with corn or worm taking the top catches on commercial fisheries. The local canal is proving difficult but the lower Diglis section remains in best form.