By KINGFISHER

THE weather has been glorious again and the fishing excellent.

Pleasure and match anglers alike have been making the most of a great summer and all the signs are that the autumn to follow will also be one to remember.

It is nice to see that local youngsters have been making their mark in the world of match-fishing recently.

Blackburn's Lee Atherton who weighed in a magnificent 69-0-0 won the Wednesday Junior match, at Greenhalgh Lodge.

Other Blackburnians framing in the same match were; James Holden with 32-2-0 for third and Mark Naylor, who put 24-8-0 on the scales for sixth place.

Chorley's Trevor Corbett weighed in only 1-10-14 in the Wigan DAA Junior match, at Birkacre lodges and sponsored by Octoplus, but it was enough to secure the runner's up spot and a very nice prize indeed.

That 69lbs, to win the Wednesday Junior match at Greenhalgh was mightily impressive and is a great indication of the form of this Fylde fishery.

Not, however, as good an indication as the 109-8-0 that was needed to win the Monday Junior match at Bradshaw Hall, with over 90lbs needed for second place!

The young anglers concerned used both pole and waggler, with pellet and corn, to take carp to 9lbs.

That was in the 13-16 year old category, but the winner of the 12 and under category also managed to get amongst the carp, weighing in over 60lbs. No pole for this young man however, as he relied on 'old fashioned' waggler tactics, with rod and line, to present corn.

Heading the local seniors honours list again this week, is Hyndburn's Dave Pickering and, yes! you are right, Greenhalgh Lodge was the venue.

His 106-11-0 was the best of a long list of good weights in this match, as over 80lbs was needed to get into the six-man frame.

Dave decided to forsake the pole and used a block-end feeder rig, presenting hair-rigged pellet/paste close to the island.

He took a succession of carp to 5lbs (by no means the best in the water) but there were enough of them.

The runner-up did in fact latch on to fish well into double figures, using banded pellet up in the water, but there were just not enough of them and he failed by a meagre 3lbs to top Pickering's weight.

John Jones, teAMS H&B, was putting his undoubted Brookside expertise to good use again at the Stretton fishery, putting together a mixed bag of exactly 30lbs to take sixth place in Thursday's match.