THE banks of the Old Nene through March were lined with anglers for the fifth Town Open at the weekend, and I m glad to say the river wasn t frozen over. Nene Parade again fished well as did the bypass but the winner sat on West End Park near the skateboa

THE banks of the Old Nene through March were lined with anglers for the fifth Town Open at the weekend, and I'm glad to say the river wasn't frozen over.

Nene Parade again fished well as did the bypass but the winner sat on West End Park near the skateboard park and landed roach to 10 ounces.

The lucky angler, who went home £175 better off, was Danny Mason, from Boston, who switched from bread punch to hemp, to net 14-07 pounds.

Second place went to Klaus Fix, drawn on Nene Parade, who finished the match with 12-07 made up of nearly all skimmer bream.

Third-placed Tony Watling (12-03) and Andy Mead, in fourth, were both fishing on Nene Parade. Fifth place went to Simon Easy, drawn on the bypass section, who connected with a couple of tench and some small fish for 10-08.

On Sunday, the Manea pikers were in action on their local lake and Billy Pope landed two pike for 27-06 - his biggest fish weighed in at 14-07.

Tom Mitchell was second with the biggest pike of the day that tipped the scales at 15-10. Third place went to Steve Newell.

This Sunday, the Manea pikers travel to Chainbridge on the Twenty Foot river at March. The draw for the match is 7.30am and fishing is from 8.15am-12.15pm.

Another club held a sweepstake match on the Six Islands Lake at the Decoy Fisheries complex, near Whittlesey, on Sunday.

Mark Abbs, fishing with the Townsend Angling Club, won his first match with 10-14 of carp taken on a feeder using worm and maggot on the hook.

Second place went to Ray Wilson's 7-12, Alan Driver was third with 4-04 and Terry King fourth with one fish which turned out to be a two pounds perch.

Also on Sunday, the Fields End water complex, Doddington, held a pairs match where one angler fished the match lake and the other the big lake.

The winning team on the day was Zak Wiltshire and Gary Burton with six points, closely followed by Pat North and Greg Kent on seven points.

Individual winners on the day were on the Big Lake. First was Pat North with 75-13, second was Martin King with 28-06 and third was Brian Green with 21-05.

Pat fished a ground bait feeder all day using sweetcorn on the hook to take 12 carp.

On the match lake, Barry Mason came out on top with 23-06. Zak Wiltshire was second with 17-15 and Dave Moore was third with 15-09.

This Sunday, the March Club are back in action in the Hajac Winter League, fishing the Raveley Drain and Factory Bank at Ramsey.

The draw is at the Marex Inn, at Ramsey Mereside, at 8am with fishing from 10am-3pm.