John Brown from Hamble stamped his authority on the Lymington Christmas Fayre Open held around the Lymington & Pennington sea wall, where the 85 competitors sampled the best flattie action for many years.

Brown, a 33-year-old contact lens engineer used ragworm presented on a size one hook from the red section to apprehend six flounders along with a bass, together weighing 11lb 3oz to scoop the top prize, a giant Xmas Hamper.

Just for good measure, Brown also teamed up with Malcolm Stote from Lymington to win the pairs section with a combined effort of 13-8 ahead of Glyn Gates and Malcolm Gerrish from Blackfield with 10lb 4.25oz.

The pool for the heaviest round fish was won by Keith Panks, a 55-year-old woodman from Sowley with a 3lb 5.75oz bass, while Brown was just half an ounce adrift with a bass of 3lb 5.25oz.

The pool for the heaviest flatfish went to Brendon Archer from New Milton with a 2lb 4.50oz specimen flounder while that man Brown once again got in on the act to collect the pool for the second heaviest flatfish with a 2lb 3.50oz flounder.

The junior section was won by Ryan Hood from Lymington with a 1lb 7.50oz flattie followed by Stuart Humm, also from Lymington, with 14.75oz, and Russell Murphy from New Milton with 11.25oz.

The top lady was Wendy Chamberlain, who is a member of the host club with a brace of flatties weighing 2lb 7.50oz.

FULL RESULTS: 1 John Brown (Hamble) 11lb 3oz, 2 Malcolm Gerrish (Blackfield) 9lb 4.25oz, 3 Phil Morgan (Hordle) 6lb 4.50oz, 4 Neil Turner (Totton) 4lb 14.75oz, 5 Keith Panks (Sowley) 4lb 14.25oz, 6 Sam Ashley (Totton) 4lb 12.50oz, 7 Nick Ashley 4lb 10.75oz, 8 Gordon Penn (Bournemouth) 3lb 10.50oz, 9 Tim Bunday (Lymington) 3lb 5.50oz, 10 Ian Griffith 3lb 2.75oz.

With flounders showing freely around the Lyming-ton & Pennington sea wall, competitors should sample some excellent action during the annual Flounder open set for January 5 with fishing from 10am to 3pm when a £250 top prize is on offer.

The match, which often attracts a 200-strong field, will be held in three zones with tickets costing £7 plus pools. The booking in will get under way from 8am at the Lymington club house situated at the far end of Bath Rd car park.

Fifteen-year-old Steven Scutt, who is a member of Hansford Junior Sea Fishing League, romped to victory during the Portchester open, sponsored by Hansfords of Fareham, after beaching three flounders and a bass together weighing 6lb 11oz.

The youngster collected the £500 top prize during the star-studded event, which attracted 234 competitors with 64 returning 91 flounders and five bass to the scales, totalling 113lb 5oz.

Andrew Morley was certainly smiling all the way to the bar after collecting the £250 runner-up prize with a 4lb 6oz catch - he also netted another £462 in pools for the heaviest fish in the shape of a 3lb 1oz bass.

In third position and £100 better off was Ray Gattrell with a brace of flounders weighing 4lb 0.25oz.

With the final round of the Isac pegged open league held at Cogden now complete, a duo of Southampton based anglers dominated the overall leader table.

Steve Harder from Shirley becomes this year's champion, nudging out Steve Deathe, also from Southampton, and then Tony McDonald from Worthing.

The final match in the series held at Cogden had 64 members in action. Wayne Perrett from Eastleigh won the event with ten dogfish, one poor cod, three pouting and seven whiting, together weighing 18lb 9.75oz.

The runner-up on the night was Andy Parkhill from Gosport with 15lb 3.75oz, ahead of Steve Deathe 13lb 14oz, Nigel Bowditch 13lb 9oz, John Van Crusten 12lb 10oz and Dave Lane 11lb 5.50oz.

The first round of the new pegged open series gets under way on January 4 with fishing at Weston shore form 9.30am to 2.30pm.

Tickets are strictly pre-book only. Full details from Trevor Sutch on (023) 9220 1696

Nineteen youngsters turned up for the latest ABU Garcia Junior Flounder League held at Baiter, where Ben Cobb came out on top with four flatties weighing 4lb 1oz for a clear victory.

Alex Cobb was the runner-up with 2lb 13oz, followed by Joe Poole 2lb 4oz, Sophie Fisk 1lb 11oz, Josh Rushton 1lb 8oz, Emily Fisk 8.50oz and Marcus Christopher 5oz.

On the Isle of Wight, Steve Cooke carried off the £250 top prize from the Western Wight Christmas Open, which supplied some superb action with a 20lb 12oz catch of flounders proving decisive.

The pool for the best specimen went to Geoff Thorner with a 3lb 2oz flounder.

The junior section was won by James Butcher with 6lb 8.50oz while the ladies section was won by Tanya Elliot with 7lb 0.25oz.

The prize for the heaviest fish was collected by Jim Jolliffe with a 5lb 75oz bass.

The penultimate round of the Scotties & Ammo winter league was held along Norton Wall, where Nigel Cunningham collected £75 for a 5lb catch that included a 2lb 5.25oz specimen sole worth another £20!

Gareth Butt was the runner-up on the night with 4lb 6.75oz ahead of Gordon Pressey 3lb 12.50oz.