THE going was much harder than of late at Brooklands Lake, Brompton by Sawdon, when the Contemptibles paid a visit last Monday.

As a consequence, nobody broke into double figures, with Nigel Hargreaves going the closest at peg nine, weighing in with 9lb 7oz of roach and rudd to the 8oz mark, pushing Bill Newsome into second place at the next peg with 7lb 9oz.

The High Bank at Raker Lakes also fished well below par on Tuesday, with Bill Newsome only needing a modest 11lb 7oz to win Westland’s AC’s fixture on this normally prolific venue.

Sitting at peg three and casting out with ground bait feeder and double red maggot, he attracted around 6lb of skimmers to the net, but it was an all-important carp taken in the final 15 minutes that swung the verdict his way.

Doug Featherstone and Colin McNeil were joint-second with 11lb apiece off pegs 15 and 10 respectively.

Travelling companions Phil Roberts and Terry Tierney ensured the bulk of the prize money from Westland’s AC’s Friday match returned to Norton with them by jointly securing top spot on the 3B lake at Foss Hill Fishery.

Sitting on adjacent pegs two and three and both employing the ground bait feeder with maggot for bait, they each attracted 6lb 4oz of skimmers to the net.

Colin McNeil trounced the opposition in Sunday’s Black Horse match at Raker Lakes, putting a very healthy 58lb 3oz on the scales from fancied peg 18 on the Acorn. Casting out with bomb and double sweetcorn, he banked 10 carp to the 8lb mark.

Chris Vipas drew peg 13 and fished up to the bush on the peninsular with the 13-metre pole and pellet to take 22lb 2oz of carp and second place.