WHILE the fishing on the River Aire has continued to provide some good sport, even the recent slightly higher temperatures have failed to bring about any noticeable improvement on the still water fisheries.

Competitors fishing the third match in the Craven Summer League on the canal at Church Pool last Sunday, experienced some very poor fishing and the winning weights were low. Most of the anglers had small perch or very small tommy ruffe and two were fishless.

Conditions could certainly have been better with a strong and coolish wind blowing throughout the three hour duration of the match after an equally chilly night. The sky was clear and the sun shone throughout but without much warmth.

Brett Young was an easy winner with just 310g (0:9:0) which comprised a single decent sized perch and a ruffe.

Rob Thornton had yet another second place finish with 110g (0:4:0) whilst Ian Parker (14 ruffe) and Simon Chenior tied for third place with 60g (0:2:0). Fifth was Andrew Thompson 40g (0:1:8) and sixth Mark Bradley with 30g (0:1:0).

Last week’s first evening open match on Whinnygill Reservoir organised by the Skipton Angling Association provided some good sport but unfortunately, the brown trout did not count and had to be returned to the water. Coarse fish caught consisted of perch mostly falling to the float fished worm and conditions were windy, cloudy and cool.

Malcolm Mawson had a decent weight of 4 perch of 1,350g (2:15:8) to easily win from Graeme Waterfall’s four perch weighing 300g (0:10:8). In third spot was Simon Chenior with a single perch for 60g (0:2:0).

The reason for the poor sport must surely be connected with the rather poor weather over the past month or so. It has either been wet or windy or both but the temperature has generally been a few degrees below average for the time of year. This will have delayed spawning and the fish are probably still concentrating on that activity rather than feeding normally.

As stated earlier, the River Aire has continued to provide some excellent brown trout fishing both on bait or the fly. The best fish recorded in the past few days took the scales down to 1820g (4:0:0) and fell to the fly.

This Sunday will see the first Skipton AA. members only match on Whinnygill reservoir with the draw at 8.15 am and fishing from 9.00 am until noon. On this occasion brown trout of takeable size will be eligible to weigh in. Next Tuesday evening an open match will be fished on the reservoir with the draw at 6.30pm and fishing from 7pm until at least 9.30pm.