It’s looking good for the opening day of the season

And, for a change, I think getting out on the opening day of the new season will be worthwhile.

The weather for once has been kind to us with lots of rain at the beginning of the week which is sure to colour the rivers up and in particular the River Nene.

It may not be roach fishing conditions though on light floats and small baits. I have a feeling it’s going to be a feeder day for the bream.

Thankfully early season bream fishing on our local river can be really good with hotspots such as Alwalton, Orton upstream and my choice Orton downstream the sections to head for.

The North Bank is yet another renowned bream water and the lower Nene, although not my favourite section, can hit top form right from the very first day.

The trick is to find them though. Peterborough & DAA work parties have cleared pegs so a lot of the hard work has been done for you.

Barbel fishing has really taken off on the River Nene over the past few years and once again those out at Castor and Alwalton backwaters stand a really good chance of early season action. If the river is still up and coloured though make sure you have a good supply of smelly fish attracting baits and as always a large landing net, unhooking mat and robust tackle as these are hard fighting fish.

The Fen Drains exceeded all expectations last season and there is no reason to suggest they will not get even better this year.

The likes of the Twenty Foot and Forty Foot drains will be popular for those fishing for both bream and tench. The roach action usually begins a little later in the month.

Ferry Meadows is now an all year round venue. It has not been at its best since the turn of the year, but just like the river it’s going to benefit from the heavy rain we had earlier in the week so expect some huge bream weights from now on.

I have been told all the local club books can now be purchased from your local tackle shop and indeed club bailiffs also sell them and day tickets on the bank.

They all represent such great value for money so pick one up when you get your week’s bait and angling supplies along with great local advice from the shops.

HOTPOINT

It was a very strange weekend for those out last Saturday and Sunday.

Wind and driving rain on Saturday gave way to a mini heatwave on Sunday. In fact I was out fishing the mighty Beastie Lake on the Decoy complex in the Hotpoint match and really caught the sun, unfortunately not much else.

Matchwinner was Pete Sanderson fishing on ‘hot peg’ 30. He put 77lb to the scales, all caught on a small feeder fished close in.

Second from peg 21 was Colin Buckingham with 67lb 5oz followed by Josh Knight with 66lb 3oz.

DECOY OPEN

Those fishing the open match on the low numbers on the Beastie showed us how it should be done.

Matchwinner Jack Gill put 196lb 5oz to the scales from peg two, catching most of his fish up in the water with pellet.

Second from peg nine was Wayne Shepson with 182lb 4oz, followed by Steve Pell with 123lb 5oz.

OVER 55s

Steve Dorks won Friday’s Over 55s match on the Beastie.

He caught very well late on in the day down the edge of spit peg 12 on worm over maggot with some big carp showing to boost his weight to 137lb 12oz.

Next came Chris Saunders on peg 30 with 127lb 12oz and Roy Whincup on peg 26 with 115lb 8oz.

MAVER MATCH THIS

The huge midweek Maver Match This Qualifier was fished over most of the lakes at Decoy and Chris Barley turned in a masterclass of fishing shallow from peg 30 on the Beastie to top a quality line-up with a huge 363lb 15oz - a record weight for this massive national event.

Barley admitted afterwards it was his favourite peg as he took his place in the £50,000 grand final.