NEW MILTON'S Greg Woodford defied the odds to come out on top at the Lymington Cod Championships.

Adverse weather conditions meant that boats were restricted to the western Solent, and so it was always going to be tough for competitors.

However Woodford heaved a huge specimen over the gunnels of his own small boat, which thumped the scales down to 22lb 6oz.

Woodford, a 41-year-old plasterer, used squid to tempt his match-winning heavyweight to land the £200 top prize, which was sponsored by BHG Marine at Bucklers Hard.

Lee Molyneux was the runner-up with a 14lb 14oz cod, also caught on squid from the Lymington-based Ton Lat, skippered by John Skeggs.

In third position was Glen Grieves from the Waterside with just 4lb 8oz.

The finals of the CIU boat four-a-side knockout competition held out from Weymouth was an all-Hamble affair with Hamble A, comprising Ray Ashby, Tony Spridgeon, Rob Shattock and Colin Searles, romping to victory with 263lb, while Hamble B could only muster 155lb.

Rob Shattock was the top individual with nine whiting, 26 dogfish, six pouting and a 35lb conger, while Ray Ashby and Colin Searles both landed 41 fish.

Spidgeon did the captain's job by propping up the table.

The total catch of both teams, which was all returned alive at the point of capture, consisted of two conger, two thorneback rays, one pollack, 40 pouting, 154 whiting, nine scad and a brace of poor cod.

The Albany 22-hour roving Charity shore fixture raised over £800 for good causes but the fishing was also average with Spencer Simpson winning the event with a brace of conger and two bass beached along the Western Wight, which weighed in at 54lb.

The prize for the best catch was collected by Pete Striplings with a 2lb 12oz flounder caught from the Medina, while Christen Bennett won the ladies section.

West Bexington was the setting for the latest Chesil League, where anglers pegged to the right of the car park had a real bagging session with lots of quality whiting.

Competition in the two sections to the left really struggled with very few whiting recorded.

Trevor Spencer from Havant won A section with 5lb 14.50oz followed by Rob Marshall 5lb 6.25oz and then Ian Golds with 2lb 2.75oz.

Reg Clough from Salisbury was the top performer from B section with 2lb 8.25oz, followed by 16-year-old Lee Cullen from Southampton with 2lb 5.50oz and then Ian Dancy with 2lb 5.50oz.

Julian Shambrook from C section was the overall match winner with 41 fish weighing 24lb 7.75oz, followed by Nick Green and then Andy Parkhill from Fareham with 17lb 2.75oz and 14lb 6oz respect-ively.

The heaviest round-fish was a 2lb 2.25oz whiting bagged by Andy Mills while Geoff Gay won the flatfish pool with a 2lb 0.50oz sole.

The next match in the pegged series will be held at Abbotsbury, where dogfish, pout and whiting will supply most of the action along with a codling on December 22 with fishing from 6pm to 11pm.

Tickets for the event, which is pre-book only, have been set at £11. There are no hidden extras; details from Eddie Painter on 01308 425925.