Alf Stokes is bringing big time angling to Chelmsford's River Chelmer.

He is running a 100+ peg open match on Sunday, March 4 and hopes to attract some of the big names in the angling world and made it a regular event on the Angling calendar.

To enter it will cost £15 all in, and there are no bait bans for the match and it will be fished from Broomfield's Valley Bridge Road, down to the Riverside centre in Chelmsford.

The draw will take place in the Springfield Hall car park at 8.15 am and fishing will be at 10 am until 3 pm.

Access for disabled and able-bodied spectators will be excellent as there is a good tarmac path all along the river through all the sections, so there will be lots of chances to see some of the country's top angling stars in action.

Tickets for the match can be obtained by telephoning Alf Stokes on 01376 521430 or (mobile) 07761652073.

The closing date for entries is February 28, so book in early to avoid disappointment.

Rayne Lodge, Braintree's fishery still maintains its form despite the cold weather.

Wednesday's match was another double figure winner for Dale Smith (Browning Trent Tackle), as fishing on the long pole with Pellet and Caster he netted 30-9-0. Second was Trevor Hayden, (Billericay) with 21-14-0, with third placed Peter Binks (Clacton) only one fish behind with 21-12-0.

Mickey Hood, (Romford Angling Centre) was fourth with 14-4-0 and fifth placed Jim Hedges, (Rayne Lodge), 9-4-0, just beat his father, Peter Hedges (Rayne Lodge), who had 9-0-0 for sixth place.

The weights were down but close for the Sunday match on the top and middle lakes.

Mick Godfrey, (Viscount Ipswich Wasps), was first with 16-14-0, second was Dale Smith (Browning Trent Tackle) with 16-9-0 and third was Darren Clark (Anglia Ground Baits), 11-3-0.

Fourth place went to Kevin Sweeney (Viscount Ipswich Wasps), 10-14-0, just beating Peter Binks from Clacton who had 10-1-0. Sixth place was taken by Steve Scopes, (Anglia Ground Baits), (7-13-0).

There were no matches at the Fennes Fishery, Braintree, as the Lakes were frozen over.

Hockley Angling Club have held three matches on their waters, and on Wednesday the sweepstake was won with 18-0-0 of quality Roach by Geoff Long.

Second place went to Peter Roue who had a similar bag of fish and weighed in 15-12-0,whle third placed Richard Mansfield had 14-4-0, and fourth place went to Paul Abrams with 12-6-0.

The next anglers to visit the water was the Barking & Dagenham Disabled Angling Association and wheelchair bound Richard Vane won outright with a catch of 26-15-0 of Carp. Second place was taken by Daniel Burham with 11-8-0, Dave Martin was third with 5-2-0 and fourth was Alf Burns with 2-15-0.

At the next match the lake was frozen, but after breaking up the ice the Roach showed again in abundance. Paul Abrams was the winner with 12-8-0, all caught at three metres.

Alan Batress was second with 10-8-0 and his catch included a Mirror Carp of 0-0-0 which he caught just two minutes into the match.

Third place was taken by Mick O'Leary with 7-12-0 and Paul Barker was fourth with 6-8-0.

At Gloucester Park, Basildon, the hard frost on Saturday night may have put some anglers off, but not Belfairs High School's Peter Circus, 12, who waited for the ice to go and took a personal best Common Carp of 8-8-0.

He fished off Cockle bank using the light pole and caught several Roach on Maggot but changed to small cubes of luncheon meat to get his Carp which he played for over an hour.,

Luckily Circus's size 20 hook held and he then had to get it into a small match landing net, but despite all of this he got his fish.

While Peter was still struggling with his fish another group of hardy anglers were fishing a match further along the bank and the clear winner was Dave Hemmings with 14-3-8, who, fishing at ten metres, used Caster and chopped worm to take his net of Roach, Perch and a Tench.

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