ANGLERS seem to have put fishing on the back burner during the last week, perhaps due to the Christmas festivities or gloomy weather.

Few fishermen have been out and those that have ventured onto the river and lake banks have found sport extremely difficult.

A couple of hard frosts put fish down into deeper water and periods of heavy rains have left the rivers quite high and coloured.

Salisbury Angling Club’s annual visit to the Lord's Walk and South Mill stretches of the Avon at Amesbury, on Sunday, was a hard match with an abundance of small trout and few coarse fish showing. Dave Docherty won the competition with a bag of mainly grayling, weighing 10lb 8oz, Chris Opey was runner-up with 7lb 14oz and Steve Trevett was third with 7lb 4oz.

Barnmoor Lake at Witherington Farm Fishery is one bright spot as it is still fishing well for big carp despite the time of year. During the week, two carp were banked, one weighing 23lb and the other 21lb.

Reports from the London AA stretch of the Avon at Britford and club stretches further downstream, all indicating difficult conditions with few fish of any note about.