Some very big fish to 20lb-plus have come from the deeper pool at Railway Lakes and the smaller water has produced some excellent mixed bags.

This is an ideal water for those looking for plenty of bites and the chance of a double-figure fish.

On only his second visit to the water Tyrone Horn bagged an 11lb-plus ghostie together with 15 to 20lb of smaller samples on good old fashioned red maggot.

MATCH fishing is not always about winners and losers. Sometimes it is just great to be out on our local waters with your family and mates, having a laugh and catching a few fish is a bonus.

That's certainly the way the Hotpoint club look at their matches these days after the shock death of one of their leading lights, Barry Buckingham.

Barry never missed a match in the many years as a club member so to keep his happy-go-lucky memory alive, they will be running an annual event in his honour, the first of which took place on his favourite lake on the Decoy complex which was Lou's Lake.

In a strange quirk of fate his brother Colin and Barry's best mate Stuart Green won the match with 65lb off the peg that Barry had fished just a few days before his death.

STILL on the Decoy Lakes the JVAC lads, which included me, were all looking forward to a fish on the Beastie Lake but unfortunately the fish refused to feed in any numbers.

Just my luck, as on the day I drew peg 29 which had good form to it, but all I could catch were roach, skimmers and baby barbel!

Top rod from "hot" peg two was Lee Kendal. He fished the margins with meat and corn to finish well ahead of the field on 95lb 6oz.

Runner up was the in-form Martin Howard. He won the Thursday night open on Fields End Fishery and rounded off the week with second place from peg nine, putting 63lb 8oz to the scales. In third place was Adrian Wilde with 63lb 4oz.

FIELDS End Fishery was the venue for the latest Black Bull outing which saw Bas Duck out in front with a level 39lb.

The Whittlesey rod took all his fish on a pellet and paste approach. Paul Turner came second with 32lb 3oz followed by Richard Cook on 19lb 10oz.

WHEN the big fish are on the feed as they were in Saturday's Decoy Lakes Open you can always expect Amanda Barber to make her mark and she duly obliged bagging a cracking 115lb 8oz net of carp to double figures on a pellet and sweetcorn approach.

That was more than enough to see off the challenge of John Whincup who took second place on 98lb followed by Rod Arnold with 78lb 8oz.

WITH many of the pools seeing fish returning to spawning mode, anglers were reluctant to predict any substantial weights in Sunday's open on the Willows at Decoy.

As it turned out though the Willows fished well with Ian Chestney breaking into three figures finishing with an excellent 100lb.

The Wades Match Group backed rod drew peg one and started the match fishing pellet on the deck.