All the latest news from the local angling scene.

BRADFORD NO1 AA

AS has become the norm for river anglers over the past couple of months, conditions were poor for the Daily Mirror Cup on the River Nidd at Cowthorpe, with a high and rising river coupled with gale force winds and rain.

The winner was Howard Foster with 7lbs 10oz, while Ian Newby and Dougie Forkin shared second place.

Membership for 2020 will be available online from this weekend and in local tackle shops from early next week. Senior membership costs £55 for the year, with junior membership £5.

BRADFORD & DISTRICT SEA ANGLING CLUB

We will be having the Christmas cheer meeting on Tuesday, December 17, commencing at 8pm. Please don't forget to bring a raffle prize for the giant raffle. No prize, no winner.

Then meetings will be every three months after that. That will take us into March, which will be the presentation evening.

If anyone would like a trip, they can book a boat themselves and if four or more club anglers wish to go on that trip they could call it a club trip, but it will have to be self-financed.

The week's fishing holidays will still be run by the club and will remain.

That is, a week’s fishing on Clare Island in Southern Ireland in May 2020, the week’s fishing to Shetland at the beginning of August 2020 and the week’s fishing to Culdaff in Southern Ireland starting on August 9, 2020.

If you would like to go on any of these trips, let us know at the meetings, or ring the trip organiser Dave to book your place.

Finally, will all this year’s trophy winners please return them to the December meeting so we can get them ready for next year?

It only remains for me to wish all members a Merry Christmas and a great New Year.

IDLE & THACKLEY AA

The AGM decided subscriptions will remain at the same level for 2020. Membership books are now available at Eccleshill Angling, Tackle2U and the ticket and licence secretary.

BINGLEY ANGLING CLUB

This year's Christmas Cheer match is this Sunday on the canal at Crossflatts. The draw is at 9am at the top of Canal Road. To book on, contact Adi on 07783 332705.

SALTAIRE AA

There is a river match this Sunday on the bottom length. To book on call Carl Chadwick on 07955727079. Please avoid calling in working hours (7.30am-5pm) on weekdays, as the use of mobile phones is not permitted at work.

The draw will be held 8.45am at the Sir Norman Rae Pub, Market Square, Shipley, BD18 3QB. The entry fee is £15.

The 2020 yearbooks are now in the shops, making them a nice present for someone. The prices are the same as previous years with no joining fee. Adults £22, Juniors (18 and under) £11, Ladies £11 and OAPs £11.

A second rod permit is £5. Membership must be obtained before fishing any of our waters in 2020.

They are available from the following outlets only: Angling & Country Sports (Otley); Foresters Arms (Grassington); KL Tackle (Keighley); Eccleshill Angling Supplies (Eccleshill); W H Kershaw Domestic Appliances (Shipley).

LEEDS & DISTRICT ASA

Restocking has been carried out at Knotford, with 14 double figure carp weighing up to 18lbs. Also at Moor Monkton pools, where carp and F1s valued at over £2,000 have been split equally into the three pools.

The result of the Fur & Feather match fished on the River Ouse was: 1 R Bonas (5lbs 8oz); 2 N Chaffer (2lbs 14oz); 3 A Bradley (2lbs 7oz). The river was out of condition.

In the match at Kippax Park on Tuesday, December 3, the final standings were: 1 T Hewson (36lb 9oz); 2 J Brogden (30lbs 7oz); 3 S Armitage (16lb 11oz).

In the match on Saturday, the result was: 1 S. Pearson (41lbs 1oz); 2 A Broomhead (37lb 12oz); 3 P Kidd (33lb 5oz).

At Moor Monkton pools, the match held on Wednesday, December 4, finished: 1 M Green (92lb 3oz); 2 A Broomhead (13lb 3oz); 3 M Hare (11lb 7oz).

Finally, the end result of the match on Sunday was: 1 L Smith (146lb 3oz); 2 D Wright (99lb 15oz); 3 O Hewitt (90lb 13oz).

SKIPTON ANGLING ASSOCIATION

The River Aire was in a fishable state for about two weeks, before last Sunday’s inclement weather deposited 28 millimetres of rain and hail onto the already sodden ground, bringing the level up to bank top and putting the river out of bounds to anglers once again.

Since the beginning of September there has been almost continuous rainfall, with totals rising from 652mm to 1,134mm by last Sunday.

The river has been virtually running well above normal for three months and on six occasions there has flooding of the adjacent fields.

Minnows seem to soon lose their way and sometimes can be found in the fields 400 or 500 metres from the river, where they eventually perish from fish-eating birds or the water drying up.

The minnow population appears to be in trouble as there are far fewer of them and the average size of those that remain is noticeably less.

Chub, including fish up to around 1.8 kilograms, have been found together with pike around the 2.28kg mark.

Other species such as brown trout or grayling appear to fare better in flood water, although one or two big trout have been found dead on the bank after sudden flash flooding on the upper reaches of the River Wharfe in years gone by.

Luckily, there are the local reaches of the canal to fall back on when the river is unavailable and recently, the canal has been providing some excellent sport, with a variety of coarse fish including good pike, perch, bream and roach.

The Skipton AA’s Whinnygill Reservoir is also worth a try with roach, perch, ide, bream and even carp likely to turn up in catches.

Day tickets for both waters are available from the Skipton AA website, Pennine Cruisers, Archway Pet Supplies, The Paper Shop, Sunmoor Drive and Jackson's Tackle in Earby.