ALL it takes is a spell of decent weather with reasonable temperatures and once again the fish are happy and in a feeding mood.

Well, that was the scene at Whinnygill reservoir last Sunday when the first four-hour open match was fished on the water.

A decent turnout of 15 anglers found the conditions quite reasonable and a few good weights were recorded.

Catches consisted mainly of roach with rudd and the odd perch also turning up.

At the end of the match the catch rate was just over 50 per cent.

Keighley’s Russell Heaton continued his fine form with a match-winning weight of 1,030g (2:4:4) consisting entirely of roach.

Dave Fenn and Jason Aldis shared second place with 500g (1:1:12) each of roach and rudd whilst Whinnygill regular, Kenny Wright was fourth with 420g (0:15:0).

Other leading weights were 5 Bob Fenn 230g (0:8:0); 6 Andy Wharton 190g (0:6:12); 7 Wayne Eason 140g (0:5:0) and 8 Simon Chenier 10g (0:0:6).

Another four-hour open match will be held on the reservoir on Sunday, March 5 with the draw at 8am and fishing from 9am. The entry fee will be £7 all in.

In spite of the decent weather only the odd angler was to be seen in action on the local reaches of the River Aire where the sport was mainly with smallish grayling that fell to a float fished small redworm. Most of the deeper stretches looked ideal for a spot of pike fishing but neither fish or anglers could be seen.

Prospects for this weekend looked to be stacked in favour of the still waters with a forecast of spells of heavy rain, gale force winds and a return to more seasonal temperatures.

Anglers may be surprised to learn that the tidal length of the River Thames holds a good head of bream, roach and dace.

In the last three years, the now annual Tidefest Championship match has yielded winning weights of 13640g (30:0:0) and the fourth championship match is scheduled for this September.

No doubt if the water takes on a brackish flavour the coarse fish hurriedly swim up river to the safer freshwater section.