The region's young anglers continue to make the news with 12-year-old Joe Fuccio from Southampton sampling some cracking sport just to the south of The Needles.

During an action-packed session, the youngster - fishing from the Lymington-based boat Tomkat skippered by John Skeggs - heaved a number of spurdogs over the gunnels which were returned alive before catching blonde rays weighing 16lb 2oz and 20lb.

The bigger of the two rays, which sets a new personal best for young Joe, took over ten minutes to bring to the surface for the overjoyed youngster while his dad could only look on open-mouthed.

Adrian Farley apprehended a cracking black bream which tipped the scales down to 3lb 14oz during a trip on the Langstone-based boat Torbay Belle skippered by Dave Adams. During the session 80 bream were landed mainly on squid, with most of them being returned alive.

Bournemouth pier was the setting for some superb junior catches with ten-year-old Billy Hambling taking a 1lb 7oz specimen garfish while float fishing. His younger sister, Emma, then went on to land a 1lb6oz garfish during an Albion SAC junior competition.

The fifth round of the Isac Open League held at Lee-on-the-Solent provided fairly disappointing catches although there were some quality fish taken with Ron Puzey, a 72-year-old retired building engineer from New Milton, beaching a cracking thorneback ray weighing 10lb 3.25oz for a clear victory.

Puzey caught his prize-winning fish after baiting a 1/0 hook with a chunk of cuttlefish which he found lying on the beach. After weighing the specimen was returned alive.

Generally the action was slow with just 45 of the 96 competitors returning fish to the scales.

Runner-up on the night was Mike Taylor from Southampton with an 8lb 4oz ray along with a brace of pouting together weighing 8lb 13oz. Tony McDonald came third with 5lb 2.50oz followed by Dave Lane 3lb 13oz and Mark Plowman from Southampton 3lb 2.50oz.

Hampshire-based anglers continue to dominate the overall leader table with England international Ina Golds leading the pack with 16 penalty points, ahead of Wayne Perrett from Eastleigh with 18 points and Mike Taylor with 21 points.

The next round in the open pegged series will be held at Abbotsbury on June 7 with fishing from 8pm to 1am. Tickets, which are strictly pre-book only, are £15 inclusive of pools. Full details from Trevor Sutch on 023 9220 1696.

Hansfords of Fareham in conjunction with Portchester SAC are once again organising a junior mini league for under 16s - parental consent will be required. There will be six matches with an angler's top four scores counting for the final results. The cost is £2.50 for each match and all competitors will receive a goodie bag.

The first contest in the series will be staged at Hamble common on May 18 with fishing from 12 noon to 4pm followed by the second fixture on June 8 at Stokes Bay.

The event is open to all youngsters in the area and there will be seniors available to provide coaching, castings tips and bait presentation etc. All the matches will be fished to the measure and release system. For full details and contact Claire at Hansfords of Fareham on 01329 280213.

The latest round of the Target Traces Junior League was held at Shankling, where Erica Williams put in a good performance to land three wrasse worth 66 points. In second position was Sarah Basham with a turbot and a sole worth 36 points, followed by Chelsea Humphries with 13.5 points. The next match will be held on June 14 at Brook with fishing from 7pm to 11pm.

The IoW Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers Open Shore competition has been set for Saturday evening with fishing from 7pm to 1am.

The weigh-in will be held at Southern Vectis club, Newport at 2am. The event has a £200 top prize along with £100 for the runner-up. The best specimen fish will be worth £150 and there will also be £50 on offer for the heaviest fish. Tickets are £10 available from most Island tackle shops.

The first round of the IoW Ladies' League gets under way on Saturday and will be held in conjunction with the NFSA open as above.

There will be six matches in the series which will all be held in conjunction with the open during the year with a competitors' top five scores counting for the end results. Tickets are £6 and are available from local tackle shops.