THOSE who took my advice to pre-bait were rewarded with some great sport at the start of the river season on Saturday. Bream and tench were feeding well on the rivers and drains and Rob Graves was up early on Saturday when he fished the Ole Nene. Rob had

THOSE who took my advice to pre-bait were rewarded with some great sport at the start of the river season on Saturday.

Bream and tench were feeding well on the rivers and drains and Rob Graves was up early on Saturday when he fished the Ole Nene.

Rob had been pre-baiting for a couple of nights and found the fish feeding straight away, netting four tench and 23 bream for 96lb.

Fishing the Old Nene with Rob were John Cartwright, who landed 77lb, and Gary Lawrence, who ended with 59lb.

Daniel Hall and Shaun Strachan put 130lb of tench and bream into their nets and further down the river at Reed Fen, John Welcher hooked 19 bream and three tench for 90lb.

Gary Burton was on the Sixteen Foot at Stonea and took 10 bream and eight tench.

I didn't get out until 4.30am on Monday but the raking and pre-baiting paid off when I landed 17 bream and 11 tench (106lb) on the Twenty Foot.

At Sheppersons Bridge, Mick Pool also started early and took 114lb.

I have heard many similar reports and, at Benwick, 80lb was needed to win a local club match.

On the match scene, things were different and the Manea club found the going tough on the Old Bedford on Sunday. Phil Turner landed three tench to win with 10lb 8oz.

Manea will be in action on the Sixteen Foot, at Stonea, on Sunday. The draw is at 7am with fishing from 7.45am to 11.45am.

The March club didn't fair much better on the Old Nene and Rob Graves won the match with 16lb 8oz.

March will be running an afternoon match at Creek Cottage on Sunday. Draw is at 2pm and fishing runs from 3-8pm.

On the lakes, Townsend Angling Club fished the new lake at Gedney and Martin King won with 37lb of carp and rudd to 3lb.

Mill View travelled to Milton Keynes and the top four anglers netted more than 100lb. First place went to Steve Potter's 148lb.

This week, Mill View are fishing Kingsland's Old Lake with an 8.30am draw and fishing from 10am-4pm.

Pete Morris won the senior citizens match on the Magpie Lake, at Pidley, last week with 72lb.

Whitemoor Angling Club held their monthly match on the Pool, at Fields End Water, and Paul Ringham won from peg one. Paul hooked 49lb 8oz of carp to 3lb, fishing close in on paste.

Dave Pearce Junior won the Thursday evening open with 46lb 8oz and Ray Sladdon won Tuesday's senior citizen's match with 69lb 11oz.

The first of the March junior fishing matches took place on the Old Nene last week and Daniel Hall won with 14lb 4oz of bream.

I won the March and District evening match fished at Creek Cottage after netting 3lb of skimmer bream.

Finally, there will be an open match at the Pool tomorrow (Saturday). Anyone interested in taking part should call Martin King on 07804 900775.