THE mild weather has resulted in the fish feeding well and that is good news for the 100-plus anglers who will be lining the banks of the Old Nene, through March, for the fourth town open on Sunday. With plenty of colour in the water, I predict that 20lb

THE mild weather has resulted in the fish feeding well and that is good news for the 100-plus anglers who will be lining the banks of the Old Nene, through March, for the fourth town open on Sunday.

With plenty of colour in the water, I predict that 20lb will be needed to win the match and most of the 10-peg sections will be won with 12lb or more.

Again, the best areas will be Nene Parade and, if its not too windy, the bypass section could produce good weights.

There will be some top anglers taking part so if you are not fishing, it's worth walking along the river and picking up some tips from the likes of Bob Nudd, Mark Pollard and Pete Hazel.

The draw for the match is at Whitemoor Function Rooms at 8am and fishing runs from 10am to 3pm.

The third round of the Chatteris Winter League took place on the Horseway sluice section of the Forty Foot on Sunday, and yet again the section performed well.

It has fished well all winter and an average weight of 10.5lb was returned by the anglers taking part. But it was Dave Priestley who came out on top after landing 450 roach for a winning total of 17lb.

Dave, who fished pinkie over groundbait on a 3m whip all day, was followed by travelling partner Greg Brown who finished second.

The next league match takes place on January 21.

The Manea pike boys were back on the Old Bedford, at Welches Dam, on Sunday and for the second week running, the pike were in a feeding mood.

The top three anglers all landed in excess of 30lb but Tommy Boswell won with 34lb 8oz and the biggest fish of the day went to Phil Turner, who weighed in one specimen for 14lb 5oz.

On Sunday, the pikers will be back on the same stretch of water with a 7.15am draw and fishing from 8am to 1pm.

Mill View Angling Shop will be running the Angling Times pike qualifier on the Twenty Foot on January 21. Anyone interested in taking part should contact Mark at the shop or call 01354 660366.

Elsewhere, the Raverley drain is fishing reasonably well and 15lb was needed to win the local club match on Sunday.

Over at Spalding, the River Glenn fished well in the first round of the Bourne Winter League and 10lb was required for a top-10 finish.

Steve Winters was the individual winner with his net of 14lb while Essex County took the team honours.

However, the place to be is the River Wensum, in central Norwich, where bream to 7lb and roach to 2lb are feeding. The best area for bream is the turning bay and if you are looking for big roach, head for the stretch behind the factories.

The sport has not been quite so good on the lakes but Nigel Baxter still needed 50lb to win Sunday's open at Decoy.

Mill View were also at Decoy on Sunday and Doddington's Alan Owen won the match on the Horseshoe Lake with a catch of 32lb.

The club will be back at Decoy on Sunday and they will be fishing two of the new lakes in the next round of the Winter League.

One lake that is seeing plenty of sport is the Cross Drove Lake, where Chatteris angler Jay Richardson won Sunday's match with a net of 43lb.

Finally, any March and District Angling Club members wishing to fish this year's national on the tidal Trent, the Angling Times Clubman Cup or the HJACS Winter League should attend a meeting at Station Hotel, March, from 8pm on Wednesday (January 17).