AN explosive session at Hurst Castle has produced one of the heaviest shore-caught bass of the season for 13-year-old Ryan Mapes from Milford-on-Sea.

Landing the huge 13lb 1oz specimen was no fluke for the youngster who attends Tyneham School at Christchurch. He is a dedicated bass angler, spending much of his spare time targeting the king of the sea with dad Tony who, on this occasion, drew a complete blank.

Mapes junior was fishing on the western edge of Hurst Hole, just where the water starts to rise onto the front sandbar, when he caught the specimen on a mackerel flapper bait presented on a 6/0 pennel rig.

Not content with this, the teenager went on to land another fish weighing 3lb during the evening session on a flooding tide. Other anglers have also reported excellent bass from Hurst Castle and along the Milford Shingle with mackerel seemingly to be the top bait.

The first round of the Wessex junior flounder league held at Rockley saw 11-year-old Alex Cobb come out on top with four flatties, weighing 2lb 7oz, followed by six-year-old Ben Cobb with three fish weighing 1lb 13oz. George Carter and Matthew Read were the other successful youngsters with flounders weighing 1lb 2oz and 5oz respectively.

The annual Shingle Bank Open, organised by the Lymington club, gets under way on Saturday evening with fishing from 7pm to midnight. The venue for the event, which has a £200 top prize, runs from Barton through to the first groyne at Hurst Castle. Tickets have been set at £7 plus pools and a two-man team event. There is a separate competition for juniors costing £2.

Booking-in gets under way at 5pm from the Needles Eye Cafe. With the area fishing quite well, some good weights can be expected. Species likely to put in an appearance include pout, dogfish, rays, smoothhound, pollack and sole. An early codling could also show. For details, call Robin Lane Tel 01590-676711.

On Sunday, the Weymouth club stage an open event along the Ferry Bridge section of Chesil Beach with fishing from 1pm to 6pm - booking on the day from around 11.30am.

The seventh round of the four-a-side Neptune League was held along the Milford Shingle bank during stormy conditions, but still a number of dogfish, pout, rays and silver eels were returned to the scales.

Wessex won with 10lb 15oz, their team comprising Simon Barber, Steve Lawrence, Neil Saxby and Phil Muspratt, who landed the night's heaviest fish, a 4lb 5oz small-eyed-ray. Pro Tackle A were the runners-up up with 9lb 11oz. Their team included Malcolm Stote from Lymington, who was the top individual on the night with 6lb 12oz.

Boscombe & Southbourne A came third with 9lb 2oz, followed by Pro Tackle B (3lb 4oz) and Bournemouth & District (11oz). All other teams failed to weigh in fish.

Lee-on-Solent is the setting for a Rovers Mini Midweek pegged open on October 26, with fishing from 8pm to 11.30pm. Tickets, which are strictly pre-book, have been set at just £5.

Pouting, whiting and a codling - if you are lucky - will supply the action. Full details from Rovers Tackle (tel 01329-220354).