The Acomb Tackle York Winter League returns for the third round on Sunday with a field of 115 set to do battle on the Ouse below York.

Competitors will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the dour second round when there was an unprecedented number of blanks on a chilly river.

Conditions have warmed considerably since then and it should be a much better result this weekend.

The bream and skimmers that dominated last Saturday's penultimate match of the Yorkshire Winter League look set to rule the roost once again.

Most of the action was on the Fulford side of the river with bream along the Palace bend, in the pumper and the paddock.

The east bank also gave the day's top roach catch, John Haw bagging over 4lb of tiny fish from the stump hole.

Contestants in Sunday's event should be in possession of a 2001 York Amalgamation Year Book and will be asked to produce the number before drawing.

There are no other open or club matches booked on York venues this weekend, but there will be an open match on the Leeds water at Thorpe Underwood tomorrow.

The stretch has been in cracking roach form in recent weeks, with double figures normally required for victory.

Pegs one to ten have been most consistent as the fish shelter in the warmer comfort afforded by the deeper water.

The Ouse at Poppleton is still worth a visit, with roach reported from a number of pegs from the White Gate through to Church Farm. Pole or stick float with maggot or bread are the top tactics.

A similar approach will pay off at Sutton on Derwent, where plenty of roach are in residence among the boat moorings upstream of the weir.

Further upstream the roach and dace are beginning to shoal above the weir at Kirkham.

The day ticket water here can be brilliant on a low river when fishing pole and caster over groundbait should soon have dace the size of herrings lining up.

Last year was another poor one for the return of Environment Agency match return cards, despite them being a freepost item.

The information contained within the returns is a vital part of the Agency's monitoring programme, enabling it gain a fuller picture of species' numbers and distribution and helping in assessing where restocking needs to be prioritised.

A new scheme to encourage club secretaries to return results cards is currently being discussed.

It is hoped that the Agency's kind gesture of a donation to help improve fishing for local youngsters for each card returned will provide the added impetus required.

Top marks go to Local AC; New Earswick; Railway Institute; Royal Oak; Pudsey and York GPO. They are the only clubs out of 27 affiliated that regularly participate in the survey.

York Amalgamation Year Books are available from all the usual outlets and cost the same price as they did last season.

Day Tickets are no longer available from Nether Poppleton Post Office; Red House School and Swifts Tackle, Malton.

They have, however, been replaced by the Lord Nelson, Poppleton and the Wellington Oak at Canal Head.

The de-silting works on the latter section of the Pocklington Canal are almost complete and the large numbers of fish, including some specimen tench, will be re-stocked shortly.

Updated: 12:32 Friday, January 18, 2002