THIS looks like being the best August Bank Holiday, weather-wise, for many a year. That should ensure decent catches from just about all local venues.

Just a week or so ago it was as though winter had come early. Winds were in the North and East, and temperatures down to 14C - in the daytime.

This week we have seen, and enjoyed, breezes of a much warmer type in the south. Daytime temperatures have reached 22 degrees through the day and the night temperatures have remained high.

That has proved uncomfortable for us, but has ensured the fish have remained on the boil, so to speak. We are promised an excellent few days ahead, in fishing terms, and if you can manage only one day out fishing choose carefully.

Tomorrow may just be a little brighter during the day than is good for great catches. If tomorrow is your day you would be wise to choose to fish either early or late.

Monday promises to be a little cloudier, and is definitely my number one choice.

The lower temperatures of the preceding week had a definite detrimental effect on catches last weekend, of that there can be little doubt. If that statement gives you a reasonable excuse for a dry net then make the most of it - the same excuse will not do this weekend.

Wherever you choose to go you should catch. I fancy a bream catch myself from one of our local larger reservoirs, though the roach will be a temptation. A good quantity of casters will be necessary for the feed, and I will stick with a worm/caster combination on the hook. Though I'm sure the boat traffic will be noticeably less busy this weekend than throughout July and August, I'm afraid the local stretches of canal will still be too busy to be comfortable - for me anyway.

Nevertheless, those canal anglers amongst you should fare well with caster top bait for roach. For a change, and with the odd big bream in mind, you might try feeding with a decent quantity of liquidised breadcrumb and fishing a decent sized piece of bread-flake overdepth on a size 16 or 14 hook.

There were not many, if any, big bream landed last week in the Division Two National Championship. Bonus fish were in the form of chub and you had to draw a feature peg to have a chance of one.

The venue was a shared one, with anglers on both the Stainforth and Keadby Canal (which fished well) and an awful Aire and Calder Navigation.

It was, in terms of team fishing, a small fish affair. There were lots of them on the Stainy and canal teams were expected to do well, and some did.

Unfortunately, our local representative Hyndburn and Blackburn AA were not amongst them. The lines of attack were, according to winners Warrington, squatt at eight and 10 metres, big maggots at 14, and chopped worm as back-up. It was, in fact, the squatt lines which worked best for them. Other teams and some top individuals managed well with the chopped worm line only. Only 12 of the 984 anglers failed to weigh in, indicating a pretty fair match and I'm sure H&B are disappointed to finish 71st of the 82 teams competing.

H&B AA National stalwart Paul Robinson was top points scorer on the day, for his team, with 58 points. Fortunately the performance was just about enough to secure their place in Division Two, with Harleston Wortwell the last team to be relegated - from 76th place.

Hebden Bridge drew the biggest entry, 106, in the latest rounds of practice matches for the 4th Division National next month. Todmorden were probably disappointed with their 53 angler turnout - they they've already made lots of money for re-stocking I'm sure. At Hebden it was the Moderna section which led the way, with Hyndburn's John Dent taking two bream and a few roach for 8-3-0 on pole fished caster. Brian Pugh, Hodnet, was runner-up with two tench and a few perch on worm, from Brierly Short Pool, for 7-10-0.

Clayton-le-Moors angler Trevor James, ex-Hyndburn/Blackburn but now fishing for GTI Rochdale, framed yet again on the Rochdale Canal with exactly 6lbs.

Otley's Gary Lewis took three tench on caster for 6-5-8 from the Lorry Park section to win the Todmorden event.

It is no surprise, considering his recent run of frame places at the venue to find Todmorden's Simon Beswick at Pilsworth Fisheries last weekend.

The match, fished by only 35 anglers, was on the Carp Lake. Simon drew peg nine, in the trees, and used trout pellet at 11 metres to take four carp and four decent skimmers for 13-14-0 and a very comfortable win.

The next four to eight weeks are definitely the best time to get yourselves a big bag of fish. It will remain reasonably comfortable temperature wise, and we will get some rain to freshen up the river. Make sure you don't miss the action.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.