TEMPERATURES dropped to minus six on Saturday night and the anglers taking part in the first round of the Hajacs Winter League, on the Twenty Foot river around Chainbridge and the new foot bridge, were greeted with a frozen river. After 20 minutes spent b

TEMPERATURES dropped to minus six on Saturday night and the anglers taking part in the first round of the Hajacs Winter League, on the Twenty Foot river around Chainbridge and the new foot bridge, were greeted with a frozen river.After 20 minutes spent breaking the ice, conditions improved significantly. With very little wind and the sun shining down on us, it turned out to be nice and warm for most of the match.The river fished well considering how cold it had been and four pounds-plus was needed to win any of the six sections.The individual winner was Dave Rawlings who was drawn two pegs below Chainbridge and landed 8-10 pounds of roach taken on pinkie over groundbait using a long pole.Second place went to Ricky Young who was drawn at the new footbridge section and also had an all roach catch of 7-10. Third place went to Neil Addcock 7-7 and Mick Parkins was fourth with 7-06. On the team front, Stanjays Specials took top spot followed by Browning Hot Rods in second place. March fielded two teams but they didn't fare very well finishing eighth and ninth. All I can say is it is a good job we have broad shoulders and can hold the league up.This week sees the second round take place on Raverley Drain and Factory Bank around Ramsey. There is an 8am draw at the Marix Inn, Ramsey Mereside and fishing is from 10am to 3pm.This Sunday also sees the fourth round of the Chatteris Winter League take place on the Horseway Sluice section of the Forty Foot drain. The draw time for this match is 9am on the bank with fishing from 10am to 3pm.If last Tuesday is anything to go by, it shouldn't be too bad as Micky Pool, Rob Graves, Alex Bates and I gave it a try and all ended up with 6-07 of roach taken on different methods. However, pinkie seemed to be the best bait.Over at Manea, the pike men staged their Sunday morning pike match on the Old Bedford river at Welches Dam where Barry Linney landed two pike for nine pounds to lift the Grainger Cup. Second place went to Steve 'Nutty' Newell with 4-00 and third place went to Pete Bailey.This Sunday sees the Manea Pikers travel to the Twenty Foot at March to fish the footbridge section of the drain. The draw for this match is 7.45am with fishing from 8.30am to 12.30pm.March angler Jonny Smalley took top spot in the Decoy Lakes open match on Sunday. His 40 pounds of carp just pushed Chatteris angler Dave Cox's 30 pounds into second place.Still worth a visit if its roach you're looking for, is Ely town centre, the River Wissey at Hilgay, Raverley Drain and the River Wensum through Norwich.