WEST NORFOLK AND FENS: Springside Lake, off the Dersingham by-pass, has made a strong start, with plenty of bream in the 2 to 5lb bracket, carp from pasties to 16lbs and quality roach all featuring.

Springside Lake, off the Dersingham by-pass, has made a strong start, with plenty of bream in the 2 to 5lb bracket, carp from pasties to 16lbs and quality roach all featuring.

Maggot has been doing well, but fishery boss Mick Cornell said you have to feed heavy to choke the bits off. Otherwise pellet and corn are bringing bites, along with meat which is allowed as a hookbait only.

Tickets at �6 a day adult/�4 junior mean you can easily have a good day on here for less than a tenner. I went float fishing on there with a �20 kid's float rod and a borrowed reel last spring after a gruelling pike season and loved it.

Those little carp pull like trains and with margin fishing the most productive tactic it was fun fishing, like of which I hadn't experienced in years.

You literally don't know what's going to be on the end when the float goes under on there. Plenty of bits mean youngsters and newcomers stand a chance of landing few fish as well.

Shepherd's Port saw less anglers on the banks than expected over the bank Holiday weekend. But with a howling north-easterly blowing for half if it, that's no great surprise.

Mixed bags were the order of the day on Shepherd's Lake, with tench and silvers on the go. Queen's Lake produced a couple of carp to 10lb and a few bream. Things can only get better up there as the water warms. Queen's is an out-and-out bream water with a choice of three methods - feeder, feeder or feeder - for the bigger fish.

Pentney's seen a few carp to mid-twenties out now the bivvy brigade are beginning to wake from their winter hibernation. Pocahontas Lake, up at Heacham, has also produced a clutch of 20s, with a 23lbs ghostie the best of late.