IT’S just three weeks since I mentioned that Whinnygill Reservoir could contain a brown trout capable of beating the late Ronnie Burton’s 1946 record fish that tipped the scales at 2,380g.

Burton had just started work in Skipton and caught the fish during his one-hour lunch break and still managed to get back to work on time.

Now local man and Skipton AA member, John Nicholls, has smashed the record.

On the evening of April 18 he hooked and landed a magnificent trout weighing exactly 3kg.

The fish was in good condition being 64cm in length and fell to three pinkies fished on a size 18 hook and 1.4kg breaking strain line.

The trout was returned alive to the water after being officially weighed and photographed by Events Secretary Simon Chenier.

The fish can be viewed on the Association’s Group Page on Facebook along with its very happy captor.

Whinnygill was the venue last Sunday for the Skipton Club’s first Taster Day of the year when anyone wishing to try their hand at fishing can come along, receive expert guidance and hopefully catch at least a fish or two.

Apart from a sneaky wind when the sun went in, the weather was quite good and the event was well attended by a good assortment of juniors and a few adults.

Even the fish were in a feeding mood and plenty of roach, rudd, gudgeon and trout were brought to the net.

The best fish of the day was a good brownie weighing 1,590g with another couple not that far behind.

The Skipton Angling Association’s premier trout fishery is at Embsay Reservoir and even though the weather has been below seasonal average temperature for the last three weeks, members fishing the water have been enjoying some decent sport with brown, rainbow and tiger trout all falling to the fly or the worm.

The best fish was a rainbow of 1,640g while the brownies and tiger trout went up to around the 900g mark.