Gary Spong took top honours as Braintree and Bocking Angling Society fished the fourth round of the Regan Cup on Ash Grounds at the Fennes.

The fish were in typical winter mood, with bites suddenly switching off for no apparent reason, but in spite of that, weights were still good and bream provided the winning weights.

Spong, who was on peg 58 and was fishing maggot on the hook, had the day’s top weight of 19-13-0 on the pole.

Matty Gould also had bream, with one F1 for second and a win on A section on the bomb and Jim Loosley, third overall and B section winner, also had bream in his 14-0-0.

A thin layer of ice confronted most of the competitors for the Club Sweep on the same venue.

Alan Luetchford drew peg three and caught for most of the six hours, landing roach and small skimmers on his bloodworm hook bait to finish well clear of the others with his 19-7-0.

Sections (excluding winner): 1 J Derry 7-5-8, 2 P Thompson 7-9-8, 3 J Daniels 2-8-0.

The weights on the Notley Friday Sweep also took a plunge in the cold weather and Loosley won with three skimmers and a roach for 1-3-8 to beat Kevin Howell who had exactly the same catch but only weighed 0-14-8.