Nigel Thorns from Shoreham was certainly laughing all the way to the bank after collecting the £1,000 top prize during the 17th Poingdestre's Open Beach Festival at Weston Shore.

Flounders provided pretty good action for 324 competitors who flocked to the event from all corners of the country.

Thorns landed nine flatties together weighing 7lb 6oz to win an event which saw nearly 250 fish weighing 239lb returned to the scales - the best weigh-in for many years.

Runner-up, who collected £500, was John Lintern from Somerset with five flatties weighing 5lb 6oz. He nudged out Richard Patterson, of the Shirley club, who were organising the event. Patterson had six flatties weighing 5lb 5oz - worth £250.

Andy Parkhill from Fareham came fourth with five fish weighing 5lb 2oz, followed by Steve Reynolds (4lb 6.5oz), Pete Easterly (4lb 5oz) and Alan Gilbert (4lb).

There was plenty of local interest in the junior section which saw Richard Oates, a members of the Fords club, carrying off the £75 top prize with five flatties weighing 4lb 3oz.

Gerald Nutbeam from Winchester collected £50 for finishing runner-up with 2lb 10oz, ahead of Raymond Nutbeam with 2lb 3oz.

Tanya Shepard travelled over from Newport on the Isle of Wight to win the ladies' section with five flatties weighing 4lb 12oz to collect £100 for her efforts. She edged out Viera Smith, who weighed in 3lb 5oz, which was worth £50.

The pool for the heaviest fish, worth £158, was collected by Alan Gilbert with a flounder weighing 1lb 13.25oz. He also took home another £59 for landing the heaviest fish in his section.

Variety was the key when Isac staged an open pegged league at Stokes Bay, where 39 of the 74 competitors weighed in two dabs, 13 flounders, five tub gurnard, four plaice, one poor cod, 49 pouting, two rockling, four silver eels and four sole. John Brown, a 34-year-old contact-lens laboratory technician from Southampton, romped to victory with six fish weighing 2lb 9oz to get the better of Josh Simmonds from Weymouth (2lb 2.50oz). Andy Parkhill from Fareham came third with 1lb 14.50oz, ahead of Dave Ware (1lb 12.25oz).

The day's best specimen was a 1lb 2oz pouting caught by Travis Webling from Southampton.

Poole Harbour has produced another cracking plaice with Neil Davey, fishing from his own boat, Doh, landing a beauty which tipped down the scales to 5lb 13.75oz. Davey was fishing over one of the deeper channels when the huge redspot picked up his ragworm bait presented on a size 1/0 hook along with an attractor spoon.

Hamworthy Royal British Legion SAC stage their pegged open at Baiter on November 23 with fishing from 4.30pm to 8.30pm. Tickets have been set at £15 inclusive of pools. The match, which doubles up as a Penn Point fixture, will be restricted to just 85 pegs so early booking is recommended. Full details and pre-book facilities are available at Wessex Angling Centre (01202 668244).

The Lymington club stage their open cod boat competition on November 30 - sponsored by BHG Marine of Beaulieu.

The event will have a £300 top prize, plus a £50 prize for the leading junior. Fishing times have been set for 8am to 2pm with registration getting under way at the club's headquarters from 5am.

Senior tickets will cost £12 while juniors pay £5. There will also be a two-man team event plus pools. Brian Ansell will have all the details (01590 672628).