WITH the prospect of some warm and settled weather for at least a few days, anglers should see an improvement on all the local waters where sport lately has generally been on the poor side.
Fly Fishing Yorkshire held their first meeting last Sunday on Embsay Reservoir, where conditions were quite good but the fishing could have been better.
Hatches of hawthorn fly came and went throughout the day with the trout responding accordingly.
Catches consisted of rainbow trout apart from a solitary brownie with the match winner Steve Williams landing three fish.
Organiser Michael Ickringill had two fish along with Joe Renolds and Chris Pearson had just one fish.
Other anglers were fishless although quite a few trout managed to slip the hook.
On the River Aire there has also been some good hatches of hawthorn fly to give the trout something of a feeding bonanza.
Other flies have also been hatching and anglers have been having trouble matching their flies to the ones in the hatches.
A few decent sized brownies have been landed and for once, grayling have been taking a rest from rising with only a single fish being reported.
The water level is now quite low, but the riverbed is still clean and anglers are getting some good fish on the upper Heslaker Lane stretch by fishing the worm.
A good number of anglers have been in action all along the river in the Skipton district.
Whinnygill Reservoir saw a slight drop-off in sport last week due to the colder weather, but some decent fish were still coming to the net.
Roach, ide and bream continued to be caught and there have been reports of perch beginning to be caught in significant numbers.
On the canal, it seems that bream are massing for spawning and if you are lucky enough to be able to drop on a shoal, then some excellent sport can be the outcome.
Last week saw the capture of a fish reported to be near to the 2.3kg mark.
With the weather now improving and with the forecast of temperatures up to 20 degrees C, all waters should see an improvement in sport although the low water on the Aire may eventually make fishing difficult for the bait anglers.
JOHN W PRESTON
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