Vernon Everitt from New Milton carried off the £300 top prize during the Lymington Cod Open - but even he had to take a back seat to 11-year-old Martin Smith.

The Hythe youngster stole the show when he heaved a huge undulate ray over the gunnels and it thumped the scales down to 16lb 8oz.

Young Martin was fishing from the Langston-based boat, Topkat, skippered by Steve Goulding - along with five other juniors from the Lymington club.

He caught the huge specimen on a double squid bait presented on a 6/0 hook. The monster fish, which rates as 137 per cent of the specimen size, took over 15 minutes to heave to the surface.

Goulding, who had steamed down from Langston on the day of the match, provides his boat free of charge to local youngsters as long as there is some adult supervision.

Everitt won the match - and the £300 top prize sponsored by BHG Marine at Bucklers Hard - with a single cod weighing 23lb 4oz. He was fishing from his own boat, Just Lucy, when the hefty specimen came along.

Everitt's fishing partner, Greg Woodford, was the runner-up with a cod weighing 18lb 8oz. Paul Mapes came third with a cod weighing 14lb 3oz, followed by Chas Gillard 12lb 5oz and Lawrence Gillard 7lb 8oz.

Apart from the cod, there were plenty of other quality fish landed, including a 40lb 11oz conger caught by Alan Mapes from a mark just off Sowley in the western Solent while Chris Tsouli bagged a 30-pounder, followed by Derek Smith with a 24lb 6oz eel.

The prize for the best specimen landed by a senior was picked up by Martin Godfrey with a 13lb 6oz thorneback ray while Phil Moran collected prizes for the heaviest pout and bass with fish of 1lb 15oz and 7lb 2.75oz respectively.

The team event was won by Vernon Everitt and Greg Woodford followed by Chas and Lawrence Gillard.