A HUGE ground swell put a damper on the third round of the Isac Open Pegged League which was staged at West Bexington where less than half of the 100-strong field returned fish to the scales.

At the final count 63 dogfish, one flounder, three poor cod, 14 pouting, 23 rockling, one sole and a solitary silver eel together weighing 88lb 10oz were recorded with Colin Richards winning the match and A section with seven dogfish and a pouting weighing 9lb 4.5oz.

The runner-up in the section was Rob Marshall with 7lb 11.5oz followed by Lee Cullen from Netley with 4lb and Chris Snow with 2lb 12.25oz.

The top performer in B section was Alan Gilbert with 3lb 14.25oz to nudge out Ant Buik 3lb 12oz, Joe Arch 2lb 11oz and Ian Dancey with 2lb 10.75oz.

John Van Crugten took top honours in the C section with exactly 5lb to edge out Dave Lane 2lb 9.25oz, Dave Chidzoye 1lb 7.50oz and Jim Baldwin, John Lintern, Darren Phillips, Chris Read and Malcolm Stote who all finished with 1lb 4oz.

The final section was won Mike Kempster with 2lb 8oz ahead of Steve Ruff 2lb 6oz, Tony O'Grady 1lb 13.75oz and Mike Taylor from Southampton with 1lb 10.5oz.

The next match in the series will be held at Lee-on-the-Solent on April 23. Details from Trevor Sutch on 023 9220 1696.

Action was pretty good during the annual Chesil Championships which attracted over 170 competitors with 50 catching a mixed catch of wrasse, plaice, smoothhound and dabs.

The junior section was won by nine-year-old Daniel Stote from Lymington who is a member of the Lymington club with a small dab caught midway through the six-hour fixture.

The Lymington Junior School youngster used lugworm presented on a size 2 hook to tempt the flattie and collected a large armful of goodies for his efforts. The day's best specimen was a 3lb 8oz ballan wrasse landed by Alan Slater from Andover while the heaviest flatfish, a 2lb plaice was recorded by Chris Equal.

Overall winner in the senior class was Barry Codling with a solitary early season smoothhound weighing 5lb 9oz closely followed by Joe Arch with three doggies, a plaice and a dab together weighing 5lb 7oz.

Flounders dominated during a monthly shore competition staged by Bells Tackle shop along the Calshot section where Alan Boomer was victorious with a solitary flattie weighing 1lb 12oz. John Mills also landed one flattie weighing 1lb 9oz to come second and nudge out Paul Town with a flounder weighing 1lb 6oz.

Members of Swanage & District SAC are to stage a pegged catch and release charity open on April 23 with fishing from 6.20pm to 10.30pm along the local town beach.

The match which has a £200 top prize is going to be restricted to just 50 pegs so early booking is recommended to avoid disappointment.

The event is strictly pre book only. Details from Jay Jarvis on 07763 235208.

A rare catch has been made from the Christchurch based charter boat "Danny Boy" skippered by Terry Allen in the shape of a tadpole fish during a trip just three miles south of Hengistbury head.

The aptly named tadpole fish, which in many respects looks like a giant tadpole, found in garden pond frequents rough ground where there is plenty of kelp, they are jet black along with a striking white jaw. They are normally considered to be a mini species with fish up to the 1lb mark the norm although reports of bigger fish have been made by commercial fishermen.