WITH the weather settling down again and temperatures on the increase, it is no surprise to find that the sport is improving as well.

One water that is certainly worth a visit is the Skipton Angling Association’s 3.5 hectare reservoir on the hillside to the east of the town.

The water is generally quite deep in roughly three equal sections of four metres, seven metres and 11 metres depth with a fine silt bottom and rough inset stone sides.

Access to the water’s edge is good but at a first glance it would seem that fishing could be difficult and indeed it is for certain methods of fishing such as ledgering where the weights often drop into the gaps in the inset stones. Float fishing is no trouble and it is this method and pole fishing that is currently the most productive.

In the last week or so there have been excellent bags of coarse fish and individual brown trout following on from the recent record breaking brownie of 3,000g.

The best fish of late was taken on the fly and weighed 2,500g whilst the single red maggot has accounted for a fish of 2,100g.

The same angler witnessed a large brownie attack a decent roach that was being reeled in and the fish made two more attempts to take the roach before deciding to swim away.

Several other big brown trout have been seen or have broken lighter tackle intended to catch coarse fish.

On the coarse fishing side, roach have provided the bulk of weights with fish to around 450g being quite common.

Skimmer bream, perch, rudd and ruffe have also been turning up frequently and a chub of 600g has also been landed.

The best method appears to be light float tackle fished close in and baited up with a single red maggot.

Fishing on the reservoir is reserved for members of the Skipton Club but day tickets are available but only for those accompanying a member. The access is controlled by a locked gate and keys are only provided for members.

Full details of how to obtain membership can be obtained for the Association’s website www.skiptonangling.co.uk