ANGLERS have had mixed fortunes fishing the region's lakes and rivers over the last week.

Waters have been coloured following several days of rain and with temperatures falling by day and night, sport has been sporadic.

Some days sport was reasonable whereas on other days no bites, no fish.

A lot depended on the swim and how it fished on the day as Andy Palmer, Jimmy Smith and Mick Keynes found when they fished Salisbury Angling Club's match on the Nadder and Avon on Sunday.

Smith was pegged below Harnham Mill and he won the match with a bag of quality dace weighing 19lb.

Smith, fishing off Deanery Meadow, caught four big chub and a few roach for a second place 16lb 1oz and Keynes landed seven chub for 15lb 14oz, also from the Deanery Meadow.

One fish that has started to make an appearance over the last few days is the perch.

The best reported came from Wedgehill Fishery, near Verwood, at 3lb 5oz and another of 2lb 14oz was caught by Mark Blake, from Sellwood Lake at Witherington Farm Fishery.

Another predator, the pike, is also beginning to feed as temperatures fall and so far a 21lb specimen was landed from Manor Farm and a 19lb from Spinaker Lake, near Ringwood.

Some small perch, a few chub and roach up to 1lb have been caught by anglers fishing the London AA stretch of the main Avon at Britford but overall, sport has been hard at the fishery with minnows proving to be a problem as well as coloured water.

Winning match weights at Witherington Farm remain around the 70lb mark with lower positions recording bags of 20 to 30lb.

Perch to 1lb are appearing more and more and carp are still feeding - although sport on the fishery's lakes, other than on the Snake which is fishing well, has slowed.

The Avon in the Ringwood area is producing chub to 7lb 1oz from Lifelands and from the river at Winkton, mixed bags of dace, chub and roach to over 20lb have been caught by several anglers.