A new coarse fishing season starts at midnight on Saturday, when diehard anglers will be out on the banks.

I am told the Environment Agency are going to clamp down on licence dodgers, so I trust you will have purchased yours already.

It really is not worth the risk or the hassle of being caught without a licence, and it could cost you a hefty fine.

Coarse fishing, of course, has been continuing on stillwaters throughout the closed season, which only applies to rivers.

And there was big story this week, with Stewart Roper setting the specimen scene alight by catching 19 double-figure bream in 36 hours.

Fishing Brogborough Pit in Bedfordshire, he had fish up to 16lb 9oz.

Stewart had spent a week on the pit and before he left, he took the decision to heavily pre-bait the swim ready for the next visit.

He put out on a gravel bar a mixture of corn, wheat, trout pellet, hemp and tares, hoping that the fish would move in.

When he returned a couple of days later, the fish were queuing up, and he started to catch from the off. He used a caster and corn cocktail presented on a size 10 hook, to 10lb hooklength and 15lb braid for his memorable catch.

Closer to home, Stoneacres at Lynch Hill has been producing some more large bream, this time to young Debbie Guise who caught fish of 10.4.0, 14.3.0 and a really nice fish at 15.2.0.

The big fish could become a national best caught by a woman.

Over at Linear Fisheries, near Stanton Harcourt, the carp are still being caught regularly.

Steve Sinclair from Clwyd had a nice 31.6.0 fish out of Smith's Lake on a squid and octopus pop-up fished in a PVA bag full of pellets.

The bailiff over at Orchid Lake, Dorchester, Pat McDermott, has been fishing the Lagoon with considerable success.

His latest stint resulted 28 fish, topped by a common weighing 31.3.0. He fished a small hole in a weed bed with Icelandic red pop-up boilies.