VETERAN canal ace Ivor Ballard dominated the first Browning Spa open at Stoke Works by almost doubling the weight of his nearest rival with 7lbs 2oz 2dr.

Offering his maggot bait into the centre channel produced four good skimmers which, along with a few perch, saw the Swan AC man’s pre-match winning prediction come true.

Second with 3-11-11 was Conrad Davis (Smithy’s), who also took skimmers and a few roach, while Dennis Evans (Harris MG) finished third with a punch-caught 3-9-11 roach net.

The next open contest in the series is on Sunday, August 19.

Arbo AC visited the River Severn at Hallow where Colin Sherwood triumphed with a mixed bag caught on stickfloat and maggot going 5-8.

Runner-up Dave Hindley used the maggot feeder to net 3-7, while Phil Bennett’s 2-8 perch net fell to the stickfloat and beat Tim Yapp’s 2-2 total.

The club are on their own pool at Leigh Sinton on Sunday.

The Malvern club pool played host to Droitwich Spa AC where victor Richard Bearcroft bagged 10-1 of carp and silvers on the maggot and worm.

Second-placed Mick Price had an 8-2 small fish net caught on the breadpunch ahead of Simon Wheeler’s 7-4 method feeder-caught weight.

The Whitehall annual contest on Wilden pool was tough as seasoned campaigner Keith Holt won with a three-carp net taken on pellet at 15 metres and going 15-12.

Former towpath star Colin Davis was second with a similar net of 13-2, while Len Merrill returned with a third-placed 11-12 and Nigel Crane weighed 10-2 on the corn in fourth.

Section winners were Brian Hope, Mike Hope and Trevor Davies.

The club held the Ron Goldsby invitation match on their pool at Cotheridge where catches were much better.

Club star Dave Warren’s 32-6 winning catch consisted of carp and silvers taken shallow at 12 metres on pellet off peg 24.

Second-placed Mick Watling was unfortunate to lose a match-winning carp on the final whistle while recording 27-2 from peg 22.

Merrill was again on the leaderboard with 23-10 followed by John Shelton, who took 17-0 of maggot-caught fish from peg 27.

Derek Silk recorded a massive 213-6 from peg 28 to win the Barbourne AC contest on Wyatt’s pool at the prolific Cob House Farm Fishery.

Using pellet shallow at just three metres allowed Silk to net carp regularly to three pounds.

Bob Griffiths weighed in 204-10 from peg 30, Lee Griffiths 177-6 from peg 24 and Paul Knight 161-8 from peg 26.

This weekend’s Barbourne club contest is on Brockamin’s top pool.

The First Midland Red bus company held their annual depot contest on Leigh Sinton’s Bluebell Wood pool where Merrick Kalwasaki triumphed with an all-carp net taken on ledgered meat of 17-4.

Runner-up Cliff Henshaw weighed 12-10 from the margins ahead of Mick Hayes with a mainly small fish catch of 9-7.

There are a few tickets left for the Air Ambulance charity match on the fishery on Saturday, August 18. Details are available from Colin Hope on 07968-735046.