LAST weekend saw the Chatteris Winter League moved from the Horseway Sluice section of the Forty Foot drain to the bypass section of the Old Nene. The Forty Foot had gone gin clear and the fish were very hard to locate but it turned out to be a good move

LAST weekend saw the Chatteris Winter League moved from the Horseway Sluice section of the Forty Foot drain to the bypass section of the Old Nene.The Forty Foot had gone gin clear and the fish were very hard to locate but it turned out to be a good move as once again, everybody caught fish.Alex Bates came out on top thanks to two tench that boosted his winning weight to 12 pounds. Alex also had some nice roach taken on pinkie over groundbait. Rob Graves opted for a bread punch approach and landed 9-2 of roach and a nice skimmer of 1-08.Third place went to Greg Brown who was on the end peg and found the going hard until the last 30 minutes, when he switched to his chopped worm line and hooked two tench which boosted his weight from two pounds to 8-05. I managed fourth place with 6-8 and John Roper was fifth with 6-02.A week last Wednesday the Whitemoor Prison fishing section held a match on the Old Bedford river at Welney but for poor Mick Evershed, the match only lasted 30 minutes.After hooking a pike that had broken his pole, he lost his balance and fell in to the river. He lost his seat box and had to be rescued from the river because he is unable to swim.Paul Ringham went on to win the match with eight pounds of roach and perch.This weekend sees the fourth out of the six Old Nene open matches take place and with the weather a lot milder at the moment, the fishing should be good.With more than 90 anglers lining the banks, somebody will need 20 pounds for first place. This could come from the Nene Parade section or the bypass section of the river and I think eight pounds will be needed to win any of the 10 peg sections.The Manea Pikers only travelled to their club lake on Sunday and Steve 'Nutty' Newell took top spot with five pike for 28-12.His biggest fish pulled the scales around to 16-11 but the biggest fish of the day went to second placed Barry Linney. He landed two pike for 21-8 and his biggest tipped the scales at around 17-12. Third place went to Billy Pope with three fish for 12 pounds.This week sees the pikers travel to the Twenty Foot river at Shepperson's Bridge. The draw time is 7.45am with fishing from 8.30am to 12.30pm. Elsewhere on the Twenty Foot, this Sunday sees Channel 12 below the new footbridge and the Hajac Winter League take place both sides of Chainbridge.Pat North has informed me that the river Wissey at Hilgay is worth a visit as roach to one pound are being taken on bronze maggot of groundbait, in catches of 20 pounds plus.I fished the Twenty Foot last Tuesday between the bathing sheds and the new footbridge and caught roach all day on pinkie over ground bait.The river Welland, which runs through the centre of Spalding, is worth a visit as is the river Ouse in the centre of Ely.Both venues are producing good catches of roach that are responding to maggot or hemp as hook baits.