BRADFORD CITY AA

THERE has been a lot of rain over the past week and the rivers, which have been high and dirty, only became fly-fishable on Thursday. The forecast is for a lot more heavy rain across all the Dales today and Sunday, which might well make the rivers unfishable again. Game anglers will be disappointed not to be able to get out as the end of the trout season approaches, but the river anglers chasing barbel and chub will be better pleased. However, anglers must take care on wet, slippery banking when the rivers are thundering through.

Our coarse-fishing still-waters at Staveley, Shipton and Oakworth will continue to be open, however, and trout anglers can visit Colne Water AC reservoirs at Laneshaw and Churn Clough until Sunday, September 30. Our fly-fishing members can buy a heavily-subsidised day permit for £10 for these fisheries through our online shop via www.bradfordcityaa.co.uk.

Both still-water and river anglers have been reporting catches. At Skir Beck on the Ribble, Steve Brown had some decent-sized trout and a fair few smaller chub to his net, and met another angler telling of a chub of over 8lb taken on a salmon lure. Fishing with Steve, 10-year-old Harrison Price netted his first trout, caught on float-fished maggot. On the Swale at Topcliffe, anglers have returned to fishing now that the seal has been removed. Despite fears to the contrary, good catches of barbel, chub and perch are still coming to the net, suggesting that the stretch hasn’t been too badly affected after all. Fish are also being caught below Asenby Island, where Andy Bogan reports catching barbel of 7lb-9lb on each trip.

Staveley, Shipton and Oakworth all continue to produce fish. Oakworth top pond has seen carp, tench and roach, while Wayne Mellor had a carp of 19lb 12oz overnight at Shipton. Mark Bradley also reported a solid six hours of non-stop bites on Staveley small pond, fishing caster and corn to produce a nice bag of silver fish, plus a dozen carp to 1.5lb. Also at Staveley, Carl White had a new personal best, with a fine carp of 20lb 2oz.

Trout anglers have also been successful on our river stretches. Pete Wormald visited the Wharfe at Buckden, finding some good river levels and a few needle flies showing. On the same water, Phil Bailey and a couple of other fly committee members had fish on Elk Hair Caddis and small Pheasant Tail nymphs in the small runs and under the trees, noting the excellent river work undertaken by the Yorkshire Dales River Trust and the WTT. Advice is for anglers to be stealthy and to wait for the fish to show before casting to them.

After a couple of months lay-off due to illness and very low water levels, riverfly counts have resumed this month. Chris Tribe found most bugs to be quite small downstream of Silsden Bridge, with gammarus shrimps the main species and bullheads also featuring. Further upstream at Gargrave, ranunculus, transplanted earlier in the season, has taken hold well, with many kingfishers and a dipper also seen. Invertebrate counts were, however, generally low: good numbers of mayfly nymphs but caddis and stoneflies still the predominant species, with olives and heptagenids also featuring towards the top of the section.

Our members are again reminded that our annual meeting is on Wednesday, September 26, and everyone is urged to attend if they can.

Result of our match at Salmon Hall last weekend on a wet and miserable day, with very low weights and most anglers plagued by pike: 1 Matty Prudhoe 2lb 14oz, 2 Graham Brammer 2lb, 3 Steve Young 1lb 13oz. The next match in our calendar is the Gertrude Sykes Cup on Saturday, September 22 at Staveley. Further details to follow.

BRADFORD No 1 AA

Simon Freer had a red-letter day to win the Hirst Cup on the River Nidd at Cowthorpe, hooking an incredible 20 barbel on maggot and landing 14 for 64lb 2oz. There were plenty of big shoals of barbel seen throughout the stretch but the low and gin-clear conditions meant that they were easily spooked, and only Simon managed to capitalise. Other placings: 2 Pete Vickerman 16lb 8oz, 3 Carl Chadwick 12lb 12oz, 4 Fred Prudham 12lb 8oz). Aggregate weights (with one match remaining at Raskelf): 1 Simon Freer 76lb 4oz, 2 Nick Michael 54lb 13oz, 3 Fred Prudham 50lb 1oz.

Tickets for the £500 Calder Championship Open Match on Sunday, September 23 are available for £15 from Simon on 01274-571175.

All members are invited to this year's annual meeting on Wednesday, October 10, where a number of proposed rule changes will be discussed and voted on, as well as the committee being elected and prize presentations being made. Full details can be found on page 16 of the yearbook, which will be required for entry.

LEEDS ASA

Two important come into place with immediate effect – both to protect fish stocks. Firstly there is a keep-net ban at Knotford Lagoon, where there have been a few good catches of big bream, while the second is the limit of fish to be held in a single commercial keep-net (60lb).

Result of the match at Kippax Park on September 1: 1 A Broomhead 143lb 11oz, 2 A Rymer 132lb 11oz, 3 S Pierson 113lb 3oz. Result of the match at Moor Monkton Pools on September 2: 1 L Myers 139lb 11oz, 2 T Bainbridge 132lb 15oz, 3 B Fisk 132lb 1oz. Result of the Wednesday match at Moor Monkton Pools: 1 O Hewitt 155lb 6oz, 2 S Jeffreys 151lb 10oz, 3 L Smith 124lb.

Result of last Sunday's match on Cyprio and the match pool: 1 A Middleton 111lb, 2 J Roper 101lb 13oz, 3 T Bainbridge 88lb 9oz. Result of the match at Ulleskelf for the Wharfe Championship: 1 N Smith 91lb 4oz (21 barbel), 2 J Jordan 17lb 11oz (3 barbel), 3 S Thompson 13lb 11oz.

LISTERHILLS AA

Result of the last canal open match: 1 B Mason 3lb 4oz (mostly perch), 2 R Movley 1lb 12¼oz, 3 J Mason 1lb 9oz. Section winners: M Paton 1lb 8oz, E Harrison 1lb 7oz. The Ian Smith Memorial Open Match is being held on Sunday on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, with all proceeds to the British Heart Foundation. Further information from Richard on 07950-939171.

There is a reduction in membership fees from now until the end of the year: Men £6, women, senior citizens and disabled £4, juniors £1. Membership can be obtained from the following tackle shops: Tackle 2U (Otley), Bob-co (Horsforth) and the pet shop (Shipley Market Place). R East had a nice catch of quality roach from a weedy stretch of the canal at Rodley.

SKIPTON AA

The slightly unsettled weather with spells of rain have managed to keep the level of the River Aire a bit above normal, and both bait and fly anglers have continued to enjoy some good sport from Skipton to Gargrave.

Brown trout to around 1800g have been landed and, at the other end of the scale, there is a significant population of fish around 15cm. A good catch to the fly in the last week consisted of 22 brownies, two small jack pike and a few small chub, although none of the fish exceeded 500g.

Just over two weeks remains of the current brown-trout season on the Aire, which will close at midnight on Sunday, September 30. All the trout are in excellent condition, so there is still a chance of getting a specimen before the enforced closure. One trout has been reported at 51cm, which generally equates to over 2kg.

Our other trout fishery, Embsay Reservoir, is also fishing well, with some quality tiger trout falling mainly to the fly. Rainbows and brownies are also active, and a welcome capture of late has been a decent-sized blue trout.

Whinnygill Reservoir to the east of Skipton can be unpredictable at times, and this seems to be the case recently. Result of the final match of four of the Peter Hart Memorial Series last Sunday: 1 Russell Heaton 1680g, 2 Graeme Waterfall 670g, 3 Malcolm Mawson 160g. Overall standings: 1 Russell Heaton 68pts, 2 Graeme Waterfall 48, 3 Simon Chenier 36.

Simon fished the match but kept a dry net so he was determined to try again on the reservoir the day after. He was soon into some fish and landed a couple of roach before hooking into a good bream estimated at about 1800g. However, luck was not on his side and the fish cast the hook when being brought to the edge of the net. Simon persevered and ended the session with a good bag of bream varying in size from 450g to 1140g and totalling 6.5kg.

BINGLEY AC

The next club match is on Sunday, September 23 at Sunnydale, draw 1pm, fishing 2pm-7pm, contact Adi on 07783-332705 to book on. The Aire Rivers Trust are having a river clean up this Sunday (10am-3pm, meet Buck Lane bridge, parking on Roundwood Road, contact Nick Milsom on 07378-878857 for more details.

CENTRAL AC

Result of our match at Tollerton Lakes (Heron Lake) on Sunday, September 9 (our last of the season): 1 P Main 101lb, 2 S Worley 73lb 12oz, 3 M Davey 70lb 10oz, 4 C Davey 65lb.