TWO fish and two new records in one day. That’s what Skipton AA member Malcolm Mawson achieved last weekend when he fished Whinnygill Reservoir to the east of Skipton.

The first fish he landed turned out to be a blue orfe which tipped the scales at 1,370g, beating the previous record by some 300g which was held jointly by John Nicholls and Graeme Waterfall.

Casting in again, the bait was soon taken by another fish which immediately stripped off approximately 40 metres of line in its first run.

Gradually the fish began to tire and after a struggle lasting about 15 minutes, the fish was in the landing net.

This time it was a common carp in excellent condition and weighed in at 2,670g which smashed the previous Whinnygill record fish landed by T Kelly in 2014 by 1,395g and the association record fish by 91g which was caught by Simon Chenier from Embsay Reservoir in 2015.

Mawson landed both fish on float fished worm fished close to the banking in about 1.5 metres of water.

The line was 1.5kg breaking strain and the hook was a rather small size 16.

The weather has taken its toll on fishing in the past week and anglers have had to dodge the heavy showers in order to wet a line.

Both Embsay and Whinnygill Reservoirs have continued to fish well when conditions have been dry.

The rain once again brought some extra water into the River Aire which reached a peak of about two thirds full but never came near to overflowing.

Anglers seemed to be put off by the extra water and only the odd one or two were to be seen in action where the worm accounted for brown trout to over the 900g mark.

The extra water is likely to remain for some time with the forecast of continued heavy showers or longer spells of rain.

This Sunday will see the penultimate match in the series for the Peter Hart Memorial Trophy when the venue will be Embsay Reservoir.

The draw will be held on the car park at 8am with fishing from 9am until noon. Members should note that only baits normally allowed at the reservoir may be used with no ground baiting.