WITH no rain to colour the water and put some depth into the rivers, anglers are continuing to find sport hard going.

Places where there is slightly more depth or cover in the crystal-clear water, fish can be tempted as fishermen visiting London AA's Britford fishery and at Fordingbridge Park, found.

Several quality roach have been caught from Fordingbridge Park, including rumours of a superb specimen weighing 3lb. Anglers fishing the upper stretches of the old river on the Britford fishery alongside the Southampton Road, at Salisbury, may have had to face water little more than a foot deep, but using a stick float and red maggot, they caught good bags of grayling and dace. Similar bags were also caught on other stretches of the Avon between Salisbury and Ringwood.

The Britford fishery's carrier stretch is being plagued by shoals of minnows and dozens of hungry pike. Best chub of the week is a lovely specimen weighing 7lb 10oz from Redbrook, near Ringwood.

Salisbury Angling Club hosted its annual Teams of Four Open competition, on Sunday using both the Avon and Nadder and some weights were better than expected, given the conditions. Nineteen anglers entered and the winning team on the day was Test Valley, for the third year running, with 30 out of a possible 36 points. Melksham were second with 26 points and Ceefax Select third with 25 points. Top individual angler on the Avon was Salisbury's Steve Trevett with 11lb 14oz, comprising dace, grayling, small roach and minnows and on the Nadder, visitor, John Stewart, who fished a deeper swim near the Old Mill at Harnham and banked a creditable 24lb.

Despite the continuing mild weather, carp fishing has started to slow down according to Witherington Farm Fishery's James Moody but one favourite autumn fish has started to put in an appearance on the fishery's lakes – perch with one angler catching several with the best at 2lb and a handful over 1lb. Skimmers continue to give sport and silver fish but the overall picture from the region's lakes is that sport is generally getting harder.