The fifth round of the Angling Times Oxford Winter League was fished by 55 hardy anglers on a frozen Kennet & Avon Canal at Avington, but despite the conditions, some fish were caught.

After days of sub-zero temperatures reaching -6C overnight, it was not surprising that the canal was frozen on all but a few bridge pegs.

A lot of roach were still willing to feed, but very few of the big perch showed.

John Hassler (Fox match Isis) led them all home with a decent weight of 10.6.0 from one of the feature pegs near the bottom end of the venue.

It was a repeat of his victory in this round last year.

He had a few roach on punch, before switching to worm fished over worm and caster fished to a far-bank bush.

That produced a 2lb-plus chub, a 2lb-plus perch and a number of smaller perch.

Runner-up was Mick Davies (Sensas A4) with 8.4.0.

He drew on the turning basin and had skimmers, roach and perch on the pole at 12m on pinkie over joker feed.

Paul Passmore (Turners Tackle) was third 7.15.0 from one of the few ice-free pegs above a bridge, catching mainly roach on punch and then bloodworm.

Martin Phipps (Drennan GOT Baits) did enough with 7.6.0 for fourth place from the wides at the bottom end of the venue. He caught all roach on bloodworm over joker at 10m.

Team-wise, champions Drennan GOT Baits triumphed with 48 points from Sensas A4 on 44.

With one round to go, Drennan GOT Baits lead with six points, followed by Sensas A4 with 11 and Turners Tackle on 15.

After the poor weights of previous weeks, Acorn Angling switched their open from the Thames at Carmel College to the little lake at Ladygrove and it proved an astute move.

The eight anglers had to break the ice in front of them first, but that didn’t seem to deter the fish.

Mark Betteridge (Acorn Angling) finished top with a net of skimmers and roach on pole with maggot over groundbait worth 25.8.0.

Paul Bowers also used maggot over groundbait, catching roach and skimmers for a second-placed 9.12.0, and third was match organiser Tony Gee (Acorn Angling), who fished the pole at eight metres with maggot for 5.14.0 of skimmers and goldfish.

The turn-out was low for Cuddesdon Mill VAA’s Chistlehampton Cup on the Thame, only nine anglers braving the icy conditions.

The river is at least two feet down and gin clear, while the severe frosts hardly helped conditions.

Legering pieces of bread, Tony Sexton weighed in two chub, the best going 5.7.0, for a winning weight of 8.3.0.

Bryan Ball was second with a couple of dace and gudgeon on pole and maggot for 0.6.0 and the seven other anglers all blanked.

Sliced bread was the killing bait in a very cold Tackley match fished by seven on the Cherwell at Northbrook.

Only two anglers managed to catch, Tim Wray with a chub of 4.4.0, which took a piece of legered bread, and John Spencer, who also landed a chub of 2.9.0 which also took a liking to bread.

It was similarly hard going on the Oxford Canal at Wolvercote for the six matchmen fishing the fifth Dorchester Inter-league match.

The water was frozen and even after they broke the ice, it soon froze up again.

Tony Krason managed to catch a perch of 1.5.0 on chopped worm to take first place, while Lol Budd had a few small roach and gudgeon on punched bread for 0.10.0 and runners-up spot.

Warren Cave also used punch to take third place with 0.3.0.

Dave Head had the misfortune to slip into the canal up to his waist and it took three of his mates to pull him out.