MY REVELATION last week that, despite what you may think, this region has not had anywhere near as much rain as others over the past six months or so, was certainly tempting fate.

At least that's the way it seems for, just two days after publication, we subsequently had the most horrendous deluge that just about all rivers in the county overflowed, and even the canal spilled over into surrounding countryside.

I really am not to blame but, I must say, I'm being very wary of what I say this week!

Preceding the torrential rain of Tuesday, we endured some very unsettled weather, with the resulting gales making fishing very difficult and, in some cases, very expensive.

This was the case for the 63 anglers (certainly a few of them) who contested the latest round of the Hyndburn and Blackburn AA Teams of Four League. They gathered on Sunday at Clayton-le-Moors on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and, I'm sure, there were many who didn't fancy the five hours to come.

The vast majority chose to fish with a pole, despite the weather, and at least half a dozen had sections smashed and four others were simply blown into the water. Surprisingly perhaps, weights were not too bad. Caster was the bait for the better fish and, pegged side by side on the red bushes, Lostock Tackle's Kevin Nugent and Hyndburn MG Black angler Wayne Richmond enjoyed a terrific fish for fish battle.

Kevin eventually came out on top with 5-11-0 with Wayne weighing in a very creditable 4-7-12, unable to add a few skimmers to his roach as Kevin had done.

These two had the undisputed advantage of having pegs which needed only nine metres of pole to fish effectively, but there was an alternative.

Evergreen local matchman Kass Jedd, from Burnley - fishing for the Four Musketeers - used a six-metre long line rig from the concrete at Rishton and, using all his many years experience with this technique and breadpunch, managed an excellent small roach net of 4-4-3.

Chris Parkinson, Hyndburn MG Black, Dave Pezsel, Bolton Angler's Corner, and Walt Gregson of Hyndburn Messrs, completed the frame with 3-1-7, 2-11-1 and 2-6-1 respectively.

League leaders Rochdale GTI had a bad day, finishing fifth, but still managed to hold on to top spot as Bolton Angler's Corner, in second place, only made up two points.

You may have missed your chance at Silsden Boatyard with the daily pressure from pleasure anglers having split the large head of roach and skimmers.

Having said that, it does now mean that more pegs close by are likely to produce a decent weight, so it's still worth a visit.

So, though all the competitors for the Keighley AC match (42 of them) were looking for a plum boatyard peg, it was an angler disappointed at the drawbag who collected the big money - excellent! He was on peg 187, just above the boatyard, and Daz Watson, KL Tackle, used punch at only six metres for a fine 9-12-12.

At the time of writing the rivers are still carrying far too much water to be considered a viable consideration for Sunday, though big barbel are a distinct possibility and so my plans would be concentrated on the canal, or other stillwater.

Local stretches of Leeds and Liverpool should produce some decent catches despite falling temperatures.

Thousands of gallons of rainwater poured into the canal at Burnley's Barden Lane from enormous surface water drains (it was this section over-flowing) and this area may not be best tomorrow. The Wilkinson length at Daneshouse Road, is another kettle of fish however.

Double-figure nets of roach from here in recent weeks indicate a large head of fish present - and they shouldn't have moved. Caster over hempseed is the preferred method though if the colour has not gone from the water, breadflake may be worth a try.

At Blackburn I would look no further than the Tesco length, with similar tactics.

Anglers taking on the canal's pike population could have some success, and should look for the same hot sections as the roach anglers. Rishton/Clayton-le-Moors and the Blyth's section at Burnley may be added to that list.

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