MATT’S CHEVIN CHASE

THE biggest chub of the season has been banked from Hertfordshire’s River Lea by local rod Matt Hayes.

Matt, 43, quiver-tipped a piece of cheese paste into a far bank slack and in minutes the 8lb 2oz chevin latched on.

“It was so heavy I thought I’d hooked a barbel,” he said. ONE of match angling’s most popular stretches of river is to reopen to anglers this summer.

The Twyford Farm

Fishery, which once held regular 100-peg events, has been shut for years after owners decided to keep the banks private.

But the venue has now fallen under control of Manor Angling Ltd, who plan to return to staging festivals and big-money competitions.

THE Angling Trust has backed calls for a planned dam on the River Severn to be axed as it poses a threat to fish stocks.

The populations of migratory species such as salmon and eels are already precarious on the Severn and any damming is likely to cause further problems. A 20-YEAR quest for a big Thames barbel ended in style for Aaron Bentley when he bagged a beauty at 14lb 2oz.

Aaron was fishing a weir pool with a legered home-made boilie.

BREAM DAY OUT: Mark Fox, 52, went to the River Nene to catch chub – and ended up taking a string of bream legering a pinch of bread flake on a size-8 hook