Angling: King Arthur rules the canals with impressive results; Hook, Line AND SINKER.

Byline: GARETH PURNELL

JON Arthur enjoyed another impressive weekend on the canals, finishing joint top in the winter league match on the Birmingham Fazeley Canal at Minworth and then taking the outright prize in the competitive Hankat AS Teams of Three event on the Walsall Canal.

Arthur weighed in 6-11-0 on the Fazeley from peg 31, after a peg-to-peg battle with Jon Moulton, who recorded exactly the same weight.

However, Arthur's Shakespeare team had a bad day, finishing sixth.

Having looked safe, they have been overhauled for the lead by Fox Tipton and now sit in joint second with Drennan North West.

With the Walsall canal frozen for the Hankat AS match, it was out with the ice breakers for the 85 competitors.

Arthur fished joker from peg 24 at five and nine metres on the pole for 320 small roach and a 9-6-8 total.

That was enough to lead his Shakespeare Mach3 side to second place on the day, only beaten by a tremendous performance from the Saints A team of Simon Nickless, Ian Blakeley and Paul Hughes.

MAKIN'S Fishery hosts a two-day festival over the Christmas break with the whole of Phase Two booked (Lizard and Lagoon Pools) and Avon Pool on Phase Three available if needed.

The venue has been producing the biggest turnouts in the country lately with over 200 turning up sometimes, and given a good turnout for this, the winner will pocket pounds 1,000.

Entry is pounds 20 with pounds 20 pools each match. To book in call Mansfield Angling on tel [phone].

WHEN it's as cold as this, ordinary carp on even the most heavily stocked commercial fisheries only feed in short bursts, if at all.

But one fish that keeps feeding through the cold is the F1, which is why Tunnel Barn Farm continues to attract big fields and produce consistent match fishing throughout the colder months.

This is also the time when fishery improvements are carried out by the team at the Shrewley, Warks venue who are busy putting in new platforms and restocking all of the match pools with F1s, common and mirror carp and silver fish.

"We're also restoring the roads around the pools to make easy access to all pegs," said Tunnel Barn Farm's Sarah Underwood.

"We have a number of big matches confirmed already for 2008, with a Fish O Mania qualifier match in May and two Maver Pairs qualifiers in June.

"As always with Tunnel Barn, you won't know which pool to draw let alone which peg on the day."

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