By Kingfisher

MOST anglers went home happy last weekend, with both coarse fish and trout responding well to relatively high temperatures.

Some waters were affected by the heavy downpour, and that could be a problem this weekend also. The weather forecast does, however, give good cause for optimism and you should expect reasonable catches wherever you go.

Not all 'put and take' trout fisheries have opened their doors for the new season, though some have been open for some time. As usual at this time of year you should expect to take fish well down in the water.

This really is bonanza time for the fluff flingers, as anglers using rapidly stripped lures are often called, to catch a limit bag, at smallish waters, every time they go out. All the usual and some very unusual, patterns will probably catch fish.

This is not really my game but, I suggest, that a pattern closely resembling a pellet will be responsible for good action at recently stocked lakes. I know that lures need to be stripped back very quickly very often, but these pellet patterns can be almost legered. If you haven't much clue about rainbow fishing you need to make the most of early season, for it soon becomes more difficult.

As I observed last week, most coarse anglers who might be chancing their arm in the past, with the trout, are still chasing roach and bream - and with reasonable success. In fact many local stretches of canal are fishing quite well at the moment, with the warm weather responsible, and some bream are beginning to show.

I still favour caster as the number one bait right now, though big bread punch is also picking up some decent roach and bream.

If the water has any colour at all when you get to your peg then the bread, fished down the middle over an initial feed of liquidised crumb, could be your best choice.

Some Burnley stretches are well worth consideration with that known as Wilkinsons quite popular. This stretch is accessed mainly from Daneshouse Road, where there is a very nice tarmac car park right by the canal.

There have been no recent reports of trouble with local youths round here (perhaps they have grown up), so it should definitely be on your list. Barden Lane in the town has not been so productive, but you might give the Weaver's Triangle area a go.

Rishton will definitely produce fish of all types and sizes, and Clayton-le-Moors is right up there in the same league.

Why not give a virgin stretch a go? Perhaps one where you caught plenty many years ago and, when it stopped producing, found somewhere else - never to return. You may well be pleasantly surprised. Certainly the 27 members of Hyndburn and Blackburn AA were, when they weighed in at Shorrock Lane (Blackburn) last weekend. The event was the initial leg of the series of five matches for the Ian King Memorial Cup (what a nice fellow he was), and was marred only by strong winds.

I hope you read all about this event in Wednesday's Lancashire Evening Telegraph, when Steve Tinniswood produced a superb picture feature.

If you did I won't bore you with all the details. For those of you who didn't see it however, you must be told that this previously unused stretch produced excellent results.

Paul Robinson won with a net of decent caster caught roach, plus two good bream, for 5-10-8. Ray Ayre also took a good bream in his 5-5-0, whilst Shaun Dempsey was happy with an all-roach 4-9-10.

A number of local anglers were amongst the 42 entrants for the Keighley AC Open at Silsden, this being one of the stretches often affected by rainwater.

Weights were low, but I think the good catches of the previous midweek (for pleasure anglers of course) were also significant. Only the pegs on the old gasworks length produced much, and Colne's Dave Wells (Tri-Cast Calder) used breadpunch at seven and nine metres to take 3-0-0 of skimmers.

Despite this disappointment I would definitely not write this section off as a weekend possibility - the fish are definitely there. If you fancy a bit of a drive, and perhaps a practice for your forthcoming Irish bream-bashing trip, consider Semerwater (near Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales).

Regulars here have been enjoying some tremendous sport, with redworm and caster cocktails taking the bigger specimens from pegs near the stream-mouth and Low Blean bank. Tactics are simple, just a lighter version of your Irish feeder setup. Only a 30-40 metre cast is necessary, and red maggot will definitely produce many more bites - but from smaller fish.

The Leeds-Liverpool Canal at the Liverpool end has however, caught my eye. Some outstanding bream catches - over 30lbs - from the Haskayne to Maghull stretch cannot be ignored.

Not all pegs are capable of this, but roach and tench are also feeding. Both breadpunch and caster are producing results and, with day tickets available on both Liverpool and Wigan club waters, you have plenty to go at.

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