Superb double-figure bass have started to make their presence felt locally.

Paul Herriott from Hythe got in on the action when he went afloat Lymington based boat Tomkat II, skippered by John Skeggs to a mark off The Needles.

Herriott used a small joey mackerel presented on a long flowing trace to tempt a cracking specimen which tipped the scales down to 12lb. The hefty fish gave a very good account of itself and sets a new personal best for Skeggs.

Some good fish have also been recorded from local shore marks with Brad Coleman from the Waterside beaching a 15lb 12oz smoothhound from the deep water section at Lepe.

The 32-year-old quality control officer used peeler crab presented on a size 2/0 hook to tempt the specimen during the high-water period in an evening session. Five other smaller hounds were also landed during the same session. They were all weighed and returned alive.

Mark Spencer from Milford-on-Sea also got among some decent smoothhound from his local beach where he landed seven fish with the best tipping the scales down to 10lb 12oz. Again peeler crab did the business during an evening ebb tide.

The Lymington Spring Open beach competition staged between Hurst Castle and Hordle provided some exceptional action for the time of year with Southampton-based anglers figuring well.

The event which produced thorneback rays, small-eyed-rays, smoothhound, dogfish, pout, bass, rockling, silver eels, flounders, sole and pollack.

Overall match winner was Wayne Perrett from Southampton with 30lb 5oz. His catch included the night's heaviest fish in the shape of a 11lb 15oz thorneback ray.

Runner-up with 28lb 5oz was Mark Dibden from Portsmouth ahead of Chris Ellis from Lymington, who landed five smoothhound and a silver eel together weighing 28lb.

Paul Phillips, who moved from Southampton a couple of years ago, included a trio of small-eyed-rays in his 26lb 11oz catch to come fourth followed by Dave Mellars 19lb 9oz, Andy Parkhill 18lb 3oz, Adrian Smith 17lb 2oz and Ian Bowell 16lb 1oz.

The pool for the heaviest flatfish was won by Paul Binge from Shirley with a 10.75oz flounder while the pairs' section was won by Mark Dibdens and Andy Parkhill with a combined total of 46lb 8oz, closely followed by Chris Ellis and Adrian Smith with 45lb 2oz.

The top junior was ten-year-old Joe Chamberlain, a member of the Lymington club.

He landed a brace of doggies and a small-eyed-ray from the Hordle section together weighing 8lb 12oz. An excellent weight for a youngster.

The Ventnor Open shore competition, sponsored by Greys, provided some hectic action with 65 of the 126 competitors recording over 650lb of fish, including a wide range of species.

Grant Harper collected the £300 top prize with a 42lb 7.5oz catch of small-eyed-rays and dogfish taken from the Chale section to get the better of Liam Smith with a 37lb 1.5oz bag of bass, smoothhound and dogfish from the Island's northern shoreline. In third position was Nigel Cunningham with 32lb 9.5oz followed by Dave Abrook 31lb 4oz and Steve Barnaby with 31lb.

The night's heaviest fish and best specimen was a 15lb 2oz smoothhound bagged by Nigel Cunningham who collected two Greys rods for his efforts while Martin Corin picked up a Greys bass rod for landing the heaviest small-eyed-ray at 10lb 1oz.

Spencer Simpson also won a Greys rod for landing the heaviest conger at a mere 6lb 1oz while the heaviest bass, weighing 5lb 6.50oz, was recorded by Miles Downer.

The junior section was won by Max Samson with 3lb 4.5oz. He collected £50 for his efforts while Liz Cunningham once again won the ladies' section with a 9lb 12oz catch of dogfish and smoothhound.

The National Federation of Sea Anglers has a new leader at the helm with Richard Ferre taking over the role as chairman.

Former Lymington man Ted Tuckerman has stepped down from the job for a well earned retirement.

Geoff Knight from Blandford, who is the chairman of the Wessex Division, was re-elected vice chairman of the national body while Eric Gerry from Southampton takes on the role as the national administration officer. Chris Holloway, who is the chairman of the Poole Sea Angling Association, will head the Federation's new membership drive.