Two local youngsters carried off the major awards at the Wessex Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers' annual meeting in Southampton.

Ten-year-old Glenn Tracy collected the Junior Fish of the Year award with a cracking smoothhound weighing 14lb 15oz.

Catching a fish of this size is a tremendous feat for angling from the shore, even for an adult.

Glenn is a member of the Gosport club and caught the specimen from Stokes Bay.

Stuart Patterson, a member of the Shirley club collected the Junior of the Year trophy for a string of consistent catches over the past 12 months.

The much sought-after Peter Merritt Award, which is presented to the person who has deemed to enhance the sport of Sea Angling within the Wessex Region during the past year, was won by Ray Ashby from Christchurch. He has worked tirelessly for the committee and raised many thousands of pounds for children's charities by organising open shore competitions.

The meeting was one of the best for many years, attracting 46 delegates.

Personal members saw a number of changes on the top table with Eric Gerrey who has been the divisions treasurer for many years now also taking on the role as secretary while Teresa Williams is to look after the interests of the divisions junior anglers.

Geoff Knight from Blandford remains chairman of the division and Normal Jones from Southampton of Vospers club remains the ever-popular president.

Four new committee members were elected on the night, including John Fell representing Southampton SAC along with Chris Holloway and Tony Partridge from Poole and Scott Titt, the chairman of the Swanage club.

For the first time the monthly meeting will be held alternatively between Hamble and Ringwood with the first meeting being held at Hamble on April 28.

l Hordle Cliff was the setting for the first round of the Solent Challenge series, which this year has attracted teams from five clubs.

The six strong team from Ashlett SAC ran out clear winners on the night with 143 points ahead of Hampshire Police SAS 74, Army Angling ASS 51, The Bridge Tavern SAC 27 and Calshot Activity SAC with 20 points.

On the individual front, Steve Hurst representing Hampshire Police SAC, came out on top with 1lb 6oz to nudge out Ted Yeates representing Ashlett by the odd ounce.

Others: 3 Gus Angus (Army) 15.50oz, 4 H Ryder (Bridge Tavern) 12.50oz, 5 Erni Cuthbertson (Ashlett) 9oz, =6 Ian Rowland and Geoff Wheeler 6oz.

l Malcolm Stote from Lymington stamped his authority on the Rovers midweek pegged measure and return Open held at Lee-on-Solent after beaching 17 pout and whiting worth 315 points.

The prize for the longest fish was collected by Chris Clark from Sway who beached a 61cm spotted ray followed by John Brown from Southampton with a nice plaice of 44cm. In third position was Trevor Hayman from Hillhead with a 31cm ray.

Rovers' next midweek pegged evening fixture will be held along the Clarence Wall on May 15 with fishing from 8pm to 11.30pm. Tickets are £5 inclusive of pools are strictly pre-book only. Details from Rovers Tackle on 01329 220354.

l Malcolm Stote was again in match-winning form during the fourth round of the Gale Force League held at West Bexington where he won his section and the match with 11 doggies and a solitary whiting together weighing 17lb 14oz.

Runner-up in his section was Mark Mogridge with 11lb 13oz which included a 1lb 9oz whiting followed by Ben Stockley with exactly 9lb.

The second section was won by Welsh international Joe Arch with 13lb 8oz closely followed by Ben Assititi and Josh Simmonds with 12lb 8oz and 10lb 8oz respectively.

Generally the action was good with smoothhound, dogfish, whiting, plaice, pout and dabs all figuring in the catch. The next round will also be held at West Bexington on May 9 with fishing from 8pm to midnight. Details from Pete Hegg on 01305 822833.

l There was plenty of local interest in the penultimate round of the Wessex Spring series held along the Durley Chine section where Ron Dartnall won A section with six fish worth 140 points.

He was followed by Chris Clark from Sway with 107 points and Dave Johnson with 73 points.

The pool for the longest flatfish was collected by Tony Ward Lymington SAC with a cracking flounder which measured 45cm.

The round fish pool was collected by Dratnall with a 40cm bass.

England International Ian Golds was the top performer in B section with six fish worth 132 points followed by Pete Christopher 102 and Colin Ross 71 points. The final match in the series will be held tomorrow evening with fishing from 7.30pm to 10.30pm along the Branksome section.