Mark Plowman was on record-breaking form during a trip to Pagham where he beached a monster thorneback ray which thumped the scales down to 15lb 2oz.

Plowman, a 38-year-old sign erector from West End, Southampton, used peeler crab presented on a 1/0, 3/0 pennel rig to tempt the specimen which is an exceptional fish for the area.

The big ray was a real surprise for Plowman who was targeting early smoothhound. After weighing and photographing the specimen was returned alive.

Mark Barnett from Gosport has also got among the heavyweights, beaching a cracking smoothhound from West Selsey, which weighed in at 22lb. Again this is a superb fish for the time of year. It fell to peeler crab baits along with a number of small fish around the 8lb mark during the evening session.

Members of the Southampton-based Red Deer SFC have once again sampled some cracking sport while fishing from the Lymington-based boat "Sundance 11" skippered by Roger Byazand.

Included in the catch while fishing over a mid-channel wreck were cod up to 23lb and some excellent pollack touching 17lb. Dave Havers was the top performer with nine cod and five pollack worth 265 points to get the better of Phil Reed with six cod and five pollack worth 255 points. Ralph Jones came third with five cod and six pollack for 202 points followed by Pete Stotsbury 198, Ken Rosindell 108, Chris Lovall 108, Gary Lister 105 and Malcolm York 91 points.

The Wessex Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers is delighted to announce that Hansfords of Fareham have once again stepped in to sponsor the Divisions Junior Fish of the Month award. All club secretaries are requested to send in all the top fish caught by their youngsters so they stand a chance of winning a tackle voucher. Entry forms are available from either the secretary or the Divisions junior representative.

A 3lb 2.50oz plaice bagged by John Bedford, a junior member of Emsworth SAC, was the highlight when the Division held a heat of its Champion of Champions boat competition which had to be restricted to Portsmouth harbour because of adverse weather conditions.

The youngster qualified for the final after landing the quality plaice in difficult conditions. Other competitors landed just a few flounders and undersize bass. Chris White, who is also a member of the Emsworth club, also qualified with nine points along with Ray Ashby who was representing the Pokesdown club with 18 points and also Barry Foster from Stamshaw Lake who was the top points scorer of the day with 24.

On the National front, the NFSA has a new chairman with Ted Tuckerman taking over from Mike North from Portsmouth at the federation's recent general meeting.

Mr Tuckerman began fishing as a junior member of the Lymington club before moving to Torbay several decades ago. He said that the Federation is campaigning for anglers on two fronts, firstly to ensure coastal communities understand the substantial contribution sea anglers make to their local economies through the money they spend in local shops, hotels, garages etc.

Secondly, the Federation is actively working to preserve and regenerate fish stocks so that angling is sustained and local economies will continue to benefit from it. The Federation is open to all anglers where they are in clubs or just individuals who occasionally go fishing but it is extremely important for them all to join the Federation so that it has the strength and resources to protect the sport of sea angling.

The action was pretty good during the latest round of the Gale Force Open League held at West Bexington where Malcolm Stote from Lymington put in an excellent performance from B section.

He landed four smoothhound and a number of doggies together totalling 20lb 6oz for a clear victory. The runner-up in the section was Dave Lane with 17lb 10oz followed by Pete Hegg with 17lb 4oz, the heaviest fish was a 4lb 3oz smoothhound bagged by Ina Dancy. Ben Stockley won A section with a 16lb 8oz bag of doggies.

Bass, flounders, pouting, silver eels, wrasse and rockling provided the action during the second round of the four-a-side Neptune League, which saw 13 teams in action.

Members of the Christchurch & District team ran out winners on the night with 7lb 7.50oz to narrowly beat Bournemouth & District A with 7lb 3.25oz.

Others: 3 Boscombe & Southbourne A 5lb 5.50oz, 4 Wessex Anglers 2lb 15.50oz, 5 Pro A 2lb 2.50oz, 6 Wessex Wanglers 2lb 2oz, 7 Castaway 14.50oz, 8 Pro B 7oz, 9 Bournemouth & District B 6oz, 10 Boscombe & Southbourne B 3oz. The remaining three teams failed to land any sizable fish.

Cogden is the setting for the Wessex Spring open shore competition on Sunday with fish from 11am to 5pm. Tickets, inclusive of pools, are £15. Last minute details from Wessex Angling Centre on 01202 668244.