BLACK bream have started to make their presence felt extremely early this year, with some quality fish already recorded by anglers at Christ-church Ledge - some nudging the magical 4lb barrier.

Jan Tryska, a 45-year-old painter and decorator, took 18 fish up to 2lb 12oz on his first boat trip out of Mudeford only to return a few days later to take a similar haul, with his heaviest fish tipping the scales down to 3lb 14oz. The specimen was weighed and verified at Wessex Angling Centre.

All the fish fell to a combination of ragworm and squid presented on fairly small hooks. With bream now showing freely from Christchurch Ledge it will only be a matter of days before boats heading out from ports along our entire local patch start to pick up some quality fish including some real biggies expected for those going afloat from Langstone and Hayling.

Also, on the freelance front, Ian Caines from the Waterside beached an 8lb 3oz thorneback ray during an evening session along the deep water section at Lepe. The 37-year-old engineer used peeler crab presented on a size 2/0 hook to tempt the specimen which struck on the top of the tide. It sets a new personal best.

England youth team member Lee Cullen from Netley has once again been making a name for himself by winning two consecutive open shore competitions - one at Burham-on-Sea and the other a club competition the following day.

Cullen used peeler crab to tempt four codling and a 12lb thorneback ray together totalling 25lb to win the open event by a canter. He collected just on £100 for his efforts., The following day the youngster fished a Dorchester SAC fixture at West Bexington where he won the event after beaching with five doggies and a trio pouting.

West Bexington was the setting for the latest round of the Gale Force Open pegged league where dogfish, pouting, dabs, rockling and smoothhound supplied the action.

The overall winner in B section was Dave Chedzoye with 12lb 5.5oz with Ben Stockley just 2oz further adrift. In third position was Lee Cullen from Netley with 10lb 8oz. The top performer in A section was Bill Billings with 7lb 13,75oz followed by Rob Marshall 7lb 12oz and then Paul Phillips and Kevin Daly both with 7lb 8oz.

The next round of the pegged open series will be held on Friday evening at West Bexington with fishing from 8pm to midnight. Details from Pete Hegg on 01305 822833.

There are two major open competitions coming up during the next few weeks with the Lymington club staging their annual spring open on May 14 with fishing from 7pm to midnight between Hordle and Hurst Castle.

Dogfish, pout and small-eyed-rays are expected to dominate but there should also be a few smoothhound, bass, turbot, sole and silver eels.

Tickets for the event which also doubles up as a Penn Point fixture are £7 plus pools and a two-man team event. There will be a £200 top prize. Registration will get under way at 5pm from The Needles eye cafe. All competitors must purchase their own ticket before venturing onto the beach.

On May 22, Poole Dolphins SAC, in conjunction with Poole Sea Angling Centre will be organising a bream only boat competition out from Poole with competitors allowed to fish from a charter boat or their own craft.

Tickets have been set at £10 along with a £1 pool. There will be a top prize in both the charter boat and small boat sections followed by a prize table, depending on the entry.

The match is expected to attract well over 100 competitors who are only allowed to bring one fish back to the scales. Pre-book facilities and full details are available at Poole Sea Angling Centre or contact Andrew Robins on 01202 676597.