WITH only one week to go to the new river season, which starts on June 16, all the drains and rivers in the area look spot-on after all the rain a couple of weeks ago. March and District Angling Club have a lot of water available to members. Adults can j

WITH only one week to go to the new river season, which starts on June 16, all the drains and rivers in the area look spot-on after all the rain a couple of weeks ago.

March and District Angling Club have a lot of water available to members. Adults can join for £12, seniors and disabled for £6 and juniors, £4.

The popular stretch the club control is the 20 Foot drain which runs from Goosetree Corner to its junction with the Old Nene, approximately three and a half miles. There are now six new permanent pegs at Hobbs Lot Bridge with off road parking, along with the 15 permanent platforms at Chain Bridge. Best areas at this time of the year are Goosetree Corner, the platforms at Chain Bridge or in front of the sewer works at Shepperson Bridge. All these spots are noted bream areas but tench will show on most pegs although the roach don't appear until about August.

The March club control the Old Nene above the bypass bridge for about half a mile. This can be good at the start of the season for tench. They also have four and a half miles of the Sixteen Foot Drain from Bedlam Bridge through to Three Holes Bridge. Cottons Corner is the hot-spot at this time of the year when the bream normally feed well but this drain is also good for tench.

The Reed Fen Club control two miles of the Old Nene on the outskirts of March. This is a very good bream water and pre-baiting works well. Tench to seven pounds are also quite common here. For more information on any of the waters I have mentioned, ask at Mill View Tackle.

Other local clubs which have open memberships and fish the rivers are Manea Angling Club, who control the Sixteen Foot Drain from Boots Bridge to Bedlam, the Old Bedford River and the River Delph at Welches Dam.

Chatteris Angling Club control a large section of the Forty Foot junction downstream to Boots Bridge. All these clubs have an open membership or sell day tickets for their water.

It has been a very busy week at Fields End Water, in both lakes. After last week's report of the new record 27lb 5oz fish being caught, the Pit has seen an increasing number of keen anglers hoping to match the efforts of Mr Johnson.

On the Pool, starting with the Thursday evening open match, Simon Easey did brilliantly to net a weight of 51lb dead in this three hour match, followed by John Buckenham with 45lb 8oz and in third place Lee Thornton with 40lb 12oz.

The Fields End Open on Saturday turned out to be a very successful match, with great weather conditions. Graham Deen was able to land 83lb 10oz of fish to take first place, John Buckenham took his second, second place in three days with 73lb 15oz and in third place was Dave Pearce with a 67lb 9oz bag.

On Sunday all anglers battled a little, with what we hope to be the last of the spawning. Phil Granger from The Dirty Dozen Club in March banked 32lb using the pole and catching amongst the spawning fish in the margins. In second spot was Steve Birt with 23lb and Mike Williams was third with 11lb 12oz.

Finally, the second match on the Pool on Sunday was Cherry Hinton and District Angling Club, which came from Cambridge to fish for the first time. All thoroughly enjoyed the sport and the good weather, especially Liam Haynes who took first place on the podium with a net of 66lb, catching on a proven successful technique in The Pool of pole and paste. Second spot was snatched by Dick Smith with a 62lb 7oz catch and in third place was Wayne Thomas with a very respectable 51lb catch.

If there are any late entries for the Pub Challenge, please contact Fields End Water on 01354 740373.