WAVENEY VALLEY: Up and down form on the river continues to plague outings. The man to beat the trends has been former Waveney Star golden oldie Colin Davey from Kessingland.

Up and down form on the river continues to plague outings.

The man to beat the trends has been former Waveney Star golden oldie Colin Davey from Kessingland. Finding that the perch at Beccles Quay were present in enough numbers to boost one of his bags on a day the skimmers would not feed to get him in the frame, was well noted.

For the next veteran's highly competitive mid-week excursion it was an all-small worm attack on the long pole. After a barren first 20 minutes, stripeys in their football jerseys continued to thump the float down throughout the entire session, having found the potted-in free samples and fed with a vengeance.

With the biggest fish nearing 10oz the rest of his perch, from 1oz upwards, made an amazing 25lb bag to win in a way that has not been seen for around seven years, since maggot ace Rodney Finch put together a couple of similar winning perch only weights.

The roach continue to elude everyone refusing to enter the Marina and ranging from around the green hut on the yacht station right down to the Aldeby Swing Bridge remains where Peter Lawday from Lowestoft took a great pair of pike at 26lb and 27lb on deadbait twitched across the bottom from the stanchions.

Those looking for proof of otters in the Waveney area received good factual evidence recently when on the same Sunday morning anglers unable to fish the Beccles Quay saw one female and two cubs running on the ice for around 20 minutes. On the same morning, up at Bungay on the Falcon Dykes two adults and three cubs were witnessed together three times in an hour by another club.

Commercial Fisheries were largely fishable at the weekend and those venturing forth have had some surprises among the generally hard going, with even the normally prolific Weybread Middle Pit a grueller.

Five casts in five hours was a trial of patience with his big imported Canadian Lobs for caravanner Alfie Waters at Bales Nursery Fishery Ellingham. The float seldom moved and two bites, although sail-away scorchers, seemed scant action, but the results from them were impressive - a pair of 3lb perch, both beautifully conditioned, every fin perfect and in high colour from the clarity of the water.

Marsh Trail is still rewarding too, even when a little thin ice has had to be drawn from the edges of A Pit.

Feeding fish in still water are hard to find of any species but where there are plenty of small silvers the odds are good and at least a satisfying run of bites arise.

The A lake there has provided a gratifying 25-30 small fish to 3oz, if nothing else, but the odd larger carp to 4lb has wandered into the swim to be taken.