Ben Dawkins from Dibden Purlieu is the latest youngster to make an impact on the local angling scene.

The 12-year-old, was on his first-ever trip afloat - on the Keyhaven-based boat Dulcet T skippered by Ron Bundy - when he caught a cracking end-of-season cod which thumped the scales down to 24lb.

Young Dawkins, who attends Noadswood Secondary School, boated the specimen a couple of miles south of The Needles while his dad, who is a seasoned angler, could only look on in amazement.

Under the watchful eye of skipper Bundy, the youngster baited a 6/0 pennel rig with four squid to tempt the cod, which took over 15 minutes to bring to the net.

Sam Deathe, a 16-year-old from Southampton, also put in a fine performance during the third round of the Isac Open Pegged League held at Southsea which attracted 111 competitors.

Deathe, who will be heading to Bridlington during the Easter break as a member of the England team for the World Junior Shore Championships, won his section as well as coming second overall. He used ragworm to tempt a trio of flounders weighing 2lb 1oz during an event which left many competitors struggling - including his dad, Steve Deathe, a former England international who was pegged just 80 yards further along the beach.

Local anglers dominated the event, which saw 63 competitors weigh in 43 flounders, one plaice, 67 pout, 14 rockling and six whiting.

Wayne Perrett, a 37-year-old HGV driver from Eastleigh, was the overall winner with eight pouting weighing 2lb 3.50oz taken from the fancied bus shelter section.

In third position was Mike Taylor from Southampton with a brace of flounders and a pouting together weighing 1lb 15oz, followed by Mike Kempster with 1lb 13.50oz and then Derek Thompson, also from Southampton, who landed a whiting and a flounder weighing 1lb 1.75oz.

After three rounds, Perrett heads the overall leader table with eight points, followed by Nigel Thornes from Worthing and Rob Ayres from Fordingbridge.

The next round of this open pegged league will be held at Cogden, towards the western end of Chesil beach on April 5 with fishing from 7pm to midnight when a few plaice should put in an appearance.

As darkness falls doggies, pout and poor cod can also be expected, along with the odd decent sole. Tickets are strictly pre-book only - full details from Trevor Sutch (023 9220 1696).

The third Rovers pegged evening open of the year held at Stokes Bay provided of plenty of action, with bass, plaice, flounders, pout, rockling, whiting, dogfish and dabs all figuring.

England youth team member Daniel Mogridge from Fareham won with 24 fish worth 531 points, ahead of fellow England team member Lee Cullen from Southampton with 346 points and Del South with 281.

The prize for the longest fish was collected by Andy Baulf, with a 49cm doggie, followed by Darren Phillips with a 26cm bass and Lee Cullen with another bass.

The next round of this pegged open series will be held on April 3 at Lee-on-the-Solent, with fishing from 8pm to 11.30pm. Tickets, which are strictly pre-book, are £5. Full details from Rover Tackle (01329 220354).

Whiting, pout, rockling and flounders provided most of the action during the annual Dean Cup six-a-side interclub fixture held at Steamer Point and Avon Beach

Top specimen was an 8oz rockling caught by Daniel Hendy.

Poole Dolphins match team won the event with 7lb 4.5oz to get the better of Christchurch & District FC with 6lb 14.25oz and Bournemouth & District SAA with 6lb.

Bay Angling Society and Christchurch Shore SFC were next.

All eyes will be on Southsea on Sunday when there is a £1,000 top prize up for grabs during the annual Allan's Marine Open which will be restricted to 200 competitors.

A plaice topping the 4lb mark should be enough to secure the giant top prize during the event, which also offers £500 for the runner-up and £200 for finishing third.

There will also be a very large prize table.

Apart from plaice, a fair number of flounders should also figure along with a bass hopefully. For last minute details, contact Allan's Marine (023 9267 1833).

Two very important meetings are being staged over the next few days.

The Wessex Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers stage their annual meeting on Friday evening (7.30pm) at the Sea Farers mission near the eastern docks in Southampton.

All clubs should send at least two delegates. Individual and personal members are also welcome.

Next Monday evening a meeting has been arranged to discuss the future of the Neptune League and the dates for this year's competitions.

Fifteen clubs normally take part during the four-a-side fixture. They are all asked to send at least two representatives. New clubs are also welcome.

The meeting will be held at the Mariner club (7.30pm).