ALTHOUGH the brown trout season is less than a month old, coarse fishing is still taking place on waters where a close season is not enforced such as the local stretches of the canal and the many ponds and still waters in the area.

Another local coarse fishery is Whinnygill Reservoir on the hill side to the east of Skipton and where the recent steady rise in temperature has seen the sport gradually improve.

This was the case in the last open match held on the reservoir which saw all of the competitors catch fish during the four-hour match.

William Raymond-Barker had a convincing win with 1,720g while Jason Aldis and Russell Heaton were much closer together to take second and third places with 1,080g and 1,030g respectively.

Other leading weights were: 4 Dave Fenn 800g, 5 Andrew Thomas 680g, 6 Simon Chenier 440g, 7 Kenny Wright 430g, 8 Bob Fenn 400g, 9 Malcolm Mawson 310g and 10 Andy Wharton 300g.

Three remaining anglers chose not to weigh-in and catches consisted mostly of roach with rudd, perch and bream also coming to the net.

Whinnygill will be the venue for another open match this Sunday morning when competitors will be hoping that the good sport continues.

The draw will be held at 8am with fishing from 9am until 1pm. The entry fee is £7 all-in.

The River Aire has also responded well to the better weather with some very good brown trout being landed from the upper reaches.

The best fish last week tipped the scales at 1,820g and was caught on ledgered worm from just below the old Inghey Bridge in the Bradford No 1 length along with two other good fish.

The Skipton AA fishing has also produced a 1,590g specimen to the fly and other members have enjoyed some good fishing above the stone bridge whilst fly fishermen have used the black and peacock spider to good effect at Embsay Reservoir in multi-fish catches.

The best at Whinnygill so far has been a 1,250g brownie landed by Philip Mawson using the worm.