A FEW days of settled weather brought about a slight improvement in sport for river anglers with the Avon fishing quite well around Salisbury.

It was good news for Salisbury Angling Club as they entertained Ringwood AC for a match on the club’s town stretch, running from the city up to Stratford-sub-Castle. As a bonus, Sunday’s weather was quiet, with sun all day and slightly warmer temperatures than of late.

And this showed in the result, with the top weight of 20lb 8oz – comprising mainly roach – going to the home team’s Marcus Crook. Ringwood’s Ian Sansom was runner-up with 19lb 13oz and Salisbury took third and fourth spots through Andy West (19lb 2oz) and Cliff Carbus (17lb 13oz). The match attracted 34 anglers and weights were good for many of the competitors.

Further downstream at the London Angling Association's stretch at Britford predators have made the news and some big ones at that. The carrier section yielded pike of 25lb 6oz, 22lb 8oz as well as several jacks whilst the main river provided one angler with a 17lb-plus pike. All of them were caught by three anglers using static deadbait.

Other anglers caught some roach to the pound mark, a few grayling and the odd chub. The carrier is still fishing the better of the stretches but it is still hard going.

In the Ringwood area it is a similar story, with the Avon producing some chub, bags of dace and pike from the sidestreams.

Lake fishing has not been good with ice still a problem up until Sunday.

Dandy’s Ford Lane Fishery at Wellow, report reasonable weights between 40lb and 80lb and pleasure anglers finding fish but conditions are not easy.