THERE was no fairy tale end to the Skipton Winter League’s season last Sunday when they fished the Xmas Cheer match on the Marina length of the canal at Barnoldswick.

Conditions were quite reasonable apart from remaining a little chilly but the bream failed to show and several anglers even failed to weigh-in at the end of the three hour duration.

The full results are not to hand but the winner was veteran Skipton angler Bob Fenn who caught two decent bream in the match for 2,300g (5:1:0).

Other leading anglers had much smaller weights and some competitors ended up with dry keep nets.

The next match will be the open event organised by the Skipton AA and will be fished on the Broughton Road length of the canal on January 1.

The draw will be at the much later time of 10am with fishing from 11am until 2pm. The entry fee is £7 and competitors should meet on the Magnet car park.

Anglers fishing the Skipton AA length of the canal recently have enjoyed some good sport with roach up to around the 450g (1:0:0) mark from the bowling club length of Broughton Road mainly on the bread punch.

At the basin in Skipton town centre, roach, perch and bream have been turning up on a variety of baits, including the tail end of a lobworm that has accounted for some perch approaching the 900g (2:0:0) mark and some decent roach.

At Whinnygill Reservoir, the recently introduced roach appear to have acclimatized well and are already turning up in catches from the popular southern corner pegs. Bags of over half a dozen fish have been caught on the bread and maggot.

Embsay and the River Aire have not seen many anglers recently and are likely to see even less with the forecast of a change to wet and windy weather over the Christmas period.

The Skipton AA’s annual general meeting will be held at the RAF Club, Shortbank Road, on Tuesday, January 17, commencing at 7.30pm.

All Members should make every effort to attend. Subscription increases and a series of rule changes are to be discussed and voted upon.