THE weather has taken a turn for the worse in the last few days and the latest forecast has suggested that the wet and cool conditions may be here for at least a couple of weeks due to the position of the jetstream.

Even though last week and particularly Friday/Saturday was quite wet, the River Aire only rose about a third of a metre whereas the Ribble and the Wharfe were in spate conditions.

Sunday proved to be the best day for fishing and the local reaches of the Aire saw a few anglers in action, especially on the upper length below Inghey Bridge and down to the Funkirk.

Sport on the fly was poor with few brownies being caught. Bait anglers faired a little better with fish up to around the 450g mark taking the worm.

This Sunday sees the start of the traditional coarse fishing season although nowadays it only affects the rivers in Yorkshire as most canals and still waters no longer have a close season.

On the rivers, the only difference is that all legitimate baits may be used and fish may be retained in a keep net, although spinning and fishing for pike is frowned upon during the summer months.

Whinnygill Reservoir is still fishing well in spite of the weather and anglers have been enjoying some excellent sport with quality roach, ide, skimmers and perch.

The western bank around the pipes is proving to be a very popular spot whilst the lillybed corner is good for perch.

Tench and carp fishing is very quiet at the moment and is likely to remain so until summer reappears.

The first match of the season encountered the double gremlins of rain and poor sport, which kept catches and the attendance low.

Simon Chenier had an easy win with 1250g, some 525g ahead of John Leatt with 725g.

Malcolm Mawson was third with 665g and Russell Heaton just managed to weigh in with 20g.

In Sunday’s match at the same venue, Leatt got off to a fine start for the P.R. Hart Memorial Trophy with what was thought to be a new match record weight for the water.

However, on checking the records, his weight of 4130g was well below Michael Cockshott’s record of 6100g set in 2011.

Other leading weights were 2, Malcolm Mawson 1620g; 3, John Heaton 1450g; 4, Simon Chenier 505g; Ernie Ramsbotham 365g and 6, Russell Heaton 225g.

JOHN W PRESTON