Loddon Angler Billy Coote found that paying close attention can definately pay off after a visit to Topcroft.He had a run out to the fishery near Hempnall for a change to while a few hours away pleasure fishing, and fished well out on peg 10 with the feeder with no great success.

Loddon Angler Billy Coote found that paying close attention can definately pay off after a visit to Topcroft.

He had a run out to the fishery near Hempnall for a change to while a few hours away pleasure fishing, and fished well out on peg 10 with the feeder with no great success. However after an hour or so his eagle eyes soon noticed bankside disturbance and a colouring of the water. Donking his bait in just inches from the edge resulted in instant action at the end of his session.

Other anglers have caught smaller carp well on sweetcorn, but it is still a matter of locating the main shoal as silver fish are not present in abundance.

In spite of the closed season, over twenty holiday making anglers were seen fishing in the River at Beccles and when challenged by local anglers were very quick to point out that their Environment Agency does not dictate any dates for preventing fishing, merely siting some obscure reference to “Environment Agency Bylaws” and they thought buying a new licence dated from April 1 was all that was required of them.

Quite correctly they claim, no where locally can the aforementioned “Bylaws” be found displayed.

The common misapprehension now some thirty-odd years out of date pertains that fishing is still permitted at Easter, but of course there was not an Environment Agency Bailiff in sight to assist. Neither was there at Bungay Common on the River at Sandy where four people in spite of protests proudly took their catch of perch home with them, or on the Common Pond which comes under some Broads Authority mystique put upon Suffolk County AAA preventing angling there until June 16.

These breaches of the law look set to continue un-encountered by the appropriate authorities and are hardly the responsibility of either local anglers.

Better news is that a large shoal of bream spawned for three days at low tide in the cut off dyke mouth at Shipmeadow and another huge shoal is massed seemingly ready to do the same just into the straight of Diary Farm.

At Nigel Bales Ellingham Nursery Fishery, the main waters received an injection of fish from his stock pond boosting with not only mirrors between 3lb and 6lb, but some wonderfully grown-on genuine tremendously hard fighting carp around 3lb.

Ounce for ounce, these match the power of any barbel with their low slung streamlined bodyweight and are a great addition to the young angler's records of personal bests.

Advance booking of your ticket with a £10 deposit is the best move now for the Marsh Trail Lakes, Beccles two day Festival Match on the Bank Holiday weekend of May 5 and 6.

Based on a points score system for the winner overall, competitors will be fishing alternate lakes A and C over the two days.

This 40-peg event is set to payout 70pc in prize money, over £1,100.00 (subject to bookings) - making it one of the largest angling payouts for local still water matches.

The venue has a large stock of silver fish in A Lake and this may well play a substantial part boosting backing weights. Tickets for the weekend are priced at £40, for information /booking contact David Ragan on (01502 476219) or (07913 115610).