TWO junior members of the Lymington club stole the show during the Wessex Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers annual meeting, held at the St Leonards Hotel near Ringwood, where they were presented with the division's two major junior awards.
Eight-year-old Brad Smith, who attends Pennington Junior School, collected the junior of the year award after amassing nine points during the division's junior fish of the month competition throughout the year.
Not to be outdone, 12-year-old William Peckham from New Milton, who attends Arnewood School, was awarded with the junior fish of the year trophy for landing a 5lb 4oz specimen mullet from the shore - an excellent feat of angling for a youngster.
More than 30 club delegates attended the meeting, which saw Norman Jones once again selected at the president of the division, while Geoff Knight remains at the chairman.
Chris Holloway from Poole was voted in as the new vice-chairman, while Eric Gerry from Southampton remains as secretary and treasurer. Kim Bowden remains as the assistant secretary and minute clerk.
The handbook co-ordinator will be Ray Ashby from Christchurch, while Chris Clark remains in the post of publicity officer and Dave Oliver has the task of the personal members' representative.
Joining the nine existing committee members are John Dunster, a member of Christchurch Shore SFC, and Mark Derham, a member of the Bay Angling Society.
On the freelance front a couple of quality fish have been landed during the past few days with Terry Knight from Southampton beaching a 2lb 10.5oz flounder from the Hythe section - a superb fish for the time of year.
The 29-year-old labourer used ragworm presented in a size one Aberdeen hook to tempt the specimen during a flooding tide. He also landed two smaller flatties during the same sessions.
Slightly further afield, Jason Barnes from Netley travelled to Worbarrow Bay for an evening session where he landed a 4lb 7oz spotted ray along with a smaller ray, a number of pouting and a brace of doggies.
Fishing the centre section of the bay, Barnes used sand eel to tempt the rays and doggies with ragworm picking up the pouting.
The stretch of shoreline running between Double Dykes at Hengistbury Head and the boundary board at Muddiford Spit is the setting for the first round of the four-a-side Neptune Interclub League on April 11, with fishing from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
The event is open to all clubs, but anglers must have third party insurance through the NFSA or by other means.
On the night plaice, pout, flounders, silver eels and a few early wrasse can be expected.
For full details contact Simon Barber at Wessex Angling Centre, who will be organising the first of the nine matches which are always held on the second Monday of the month, on 01202 668444.
Lee-on-the-Solent section was the setting for the latest Rovers catch-and-release pegged midweek open.
Chris Clark from Lymington won the overall length category with 19 fish worth 349 points to get the better of Tony O'Grady from Fareham, who had 17 fish worth 314 points.
Tony O'Grady won the pools for the longest fish with a 49cm thorneback ray.
The next round in the series will again be held at Lee-on-the-Solent on April 21 with fishing from 8pm to 11.30pm.
Tickets, which are strictly pre-book only, have been set at £5. Full details from Rovers Tackle 01329 220354.
Anglers will be heading to the NEC at Birmingham this weekend for the annual Go Fishing show, which gets under way on Friday. This is a great chance to check out all the latest tackle and clothing. Call 0870 730 0062 to purchase tickets in advance.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article