DIFFICULT fishing conditions continue as south Wiltshire's rivers steadily rise after more heavy rain, giving them an appearance more akin to oxtail soup.

The Avon has overflowed its banks in many places and anglers must be careful when walking over flooded meadows and banks.

Salisbury Angling Club's Sunday match on their Stratford stretch attracted 29 competitors and considering the conditions, weights were better than expected. The Avon was rising slowly but the colour was not too bad. Cliff Carbus weighed-in five chub he caught on sweetcorn from the Horse's Field stretch and won the competition with 17lb 7oz. Andy Palmer was second with 12lb 12oz of roach from a swim near the city's fire station and Dave Docherty was third with 8lb 9oz from the stretch off the board walk, which included a surprise 2lb 8oz chub.

Anglers have struggled on the London AA fishery at Britford with the main river flowing fast and coloured and both the carriers highly coloured. Some grayling, dace and a few roach to 1lb have been caught but it has been hard going not helped by days of rain and high winds.

Lake anglers have fared little better and most fisheries report only a handful of hardy anglers.

A mid-week open match on Cottage Lake at Witherington Farm Fishery was won by Ian Goodfellow with 39lb 6oz with Gary Etheridge in second place with 36lb 5oz. A weekend match was won with just over 65lb. The few pleasure anglers that visited the fishery caught skimmers, silver fish and a few small carp.