It's been a great week for local fishermen breaking personal bests but disappointing that they are all from stillwaters.

The only encouraging report from any of our rivers comes from the Thames. Tooting angler Peter Bartholomew fished the Sonning stretch and his trotted caster and loose red hemp brought him six chub from 3lb to 4lb 9oz and plenty of roach to 12oz for an estimated bag of 30lb.

Breaking your personal best barrier is hard enough but to do it twice in one day is very special. Paul Forbes from Reigate chose the Oaktree swim on his latest visit to Whytevane at Horsham and his luncheon meat offered tight to the margins brought him a superb 22lb common, 6lb heavier than his previous best, but he proceeded to top that one two hours later when the same bait and tactics rewarded him with a terrific common at 26lb 2oz.

Steve Granger from Kingston had never had a tench over the 2lb mark before this week's visit to Twynersh Lakes at Chertsey but he didn't have to wait long. Steve used strawberry sweetcorn fished a foot over depth under a waggler to tempt a rod-bending 6lb 9oz specimen.

Well done to Jason Landymore in winning the last round of West Ewell AC's Willinghurst Cup with 22lb. The victory makes Jason the outright winner of the trophy and I'm sure I speak for all the members when I say it's well deserved.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.