BRADFORD No 1 AA

Tickets for the Dudley Hill & Tong Cup Open on Sunday on the River Ure at Roecliffe are available from Simon (01274-571175) for £15. Widdington will also be closed tomorrow and Sunday for outside bookings.

Anglers fishing the River Nidd at Cowthorpe over recent weeks have been rewarded with catches of chub on float and maggot from pegs all along the stretch.

Membership for 2017 is available from the club website (www.bradfordno1.com), most local tackle shops or the ticket secretary (077140662783). New members are very welcome, with prices starting at just £5 per year for juniors, which gives them access to more than 70 waters around Yorkshire. People who were members for 2016 have until the end of 2017 to renew without having to pay the joining fee, but subscriptions must be paid before fishing.

SKIPTON AA

As always at this time of the year, the weather plays a big part in what sport an angler can expect to find on virtually any type of water. Flooding usually puts rivers out of bounds, while sudden temperature changes can kill off sport just as well as a severe frost can ice over canals and still-waters, preventing any sort of fishing.

At the moment the local stretch of the canal seems to have been affected by a combination of heavy rain, temperature changes and icing over, which have collectively knocked the fishing for six. Several well-known canal anglers have experienced several blank days over the last two weeks, and those that have met with more success have not had all that more in the way of catches.

Our open match on New Year’s Day was probably a victim of the keen overnight frosts a couple of days earlier, followed by a mild day and then more low temperatures on match day. The attendance was commendable but only one competitor managed to hook a tiny roach, which dropped off the hook while it was still over the water. None of the rest even enjoyed the pleasure of seeing a bite.

Only the basin in Skipton town centre has produced fish, and even then it has been a struggle. David Fenn fished for three hours in decent conditions without catching anything, but as he began to pack up, his float went under. The result was a good canal bream of about 1590g (3:8:0), which took a lobworm fished just off the bottom. Further efforts resulted in two more bites and two more good bream but both managed to shed the hook.

Skipton AA members who have fished Whinnygill Reservoir over the holiday period have found the fish to be quite responsive with decent roach and bream turning up in catches. The bream have been landed from six metres (20 feet) of water using a swim feeder loaded with maggots, while float-fished maggots have accounted for half a dozen roach or more and the odd skimmer.

Future prospects will depend upon the weather but if the River Aire remains at a decent level then good grayling fishing should be available on the Skipton lengths for both the fly and bait angler, according to local reports.

LEEDS ASA

Result of the Tuesday match at Kippax Park: 1 A Broomhead 51lb 12oz, 2 S Armitage 43lb 11oz, 3 B Rymer 41lb 7oz. Result of the match at Moor Monkton Pools: 1 M Dodsworth 82lb 14oz, 2 R Worsnop 42lb 3oz, 3 I Bradshaw 36lb 3oz. Result of the second match at Moor Monkton Pools: 1 A Bolton 48lb 1oz, 2 A Carol 46lb 1oz, 3 O Hewitt 39lb 6oz. Result of the Henry Barras Trophy, fished during the holidays at Hunters Lodge and Linton on the River Ouse: 1 A Hampson 5lb 4oz, 2 R Bonas 4lb 15oz, 3= R Knox, D Armitage 4lb 3oz. Kippax Park has been re-stocked with a further 400lb of trout to keep match weights up during the winter. The platforms at Cyprio Lake at Moor Monkton Pools have now been completed. However, work is ongoing at this complex, and platforms will also be erected on the other ponds. Membership books are now being dealt with in order of the applications being received. The membership office is now open on Monday and Fridays from 7pm-9pm.

LISTERHILLS AA

Membership books are now available from all of the usual tackle dealers. Applications for Leeds Amalgamation membership are now being accepted by filling in the form on page 25 of our membership book. Send directly to the Leeds Anglers Club with a cheque for the right amount, prices and full details are on page 24. The next members’ match is on Sunday, January 8.

BINGLEY AC

Anyone wishing to fish club waters should now be in possession of a 2017 yearbook. There is a working party at Coppice Pond on Sunday to carry on with the planting and fencing.There will be an open match at Myrtle Park on the River Aire in on Sunday, January 22. To book on, contact Tony on 07971-428678.