I trust that all weekend anglers are now in possession of an Environment Agency rod licence, the previous one having expired at the end of March.

Bailiffs will be out and about in force this weekend and their patrols will no doubt take them to a number of fisheries in the York area.

With the continuation of the foot and mouth crisis many anglers have been turning their attentions to urban fisheries with some excellent results.

Plenty of fish are to be had at Rawcliffe Lake with a number of species feeding well.

The water levels have dropped by around four feet in recent weeks, following a clean up of the Blue Beck. This is making pole fishing very difficult in most pegs as anglers are struggling to find more than a foot of water within pole range.

Waggler of feeder tactics are the options at present with most favouring the former.

The lake, although relatively shallow, generates quite a tow when the wind blows and I would advise fishing well over depth with some shot on the deck to counteract this.

Pegs on the point are proving most consistent with roach, chub and perch providing the bulk of catches with the odd tench and crucian just beginning to awaken from their winter lethargy. Caster and maggot will score but bread is the bait of choice - remember though no groundbait.

Another city fishery worth a try is the restored and restocked Chapmans Pond in Dringhouses.

With the lake now significantly shallower than in previous years the water should warm up more rapidly leading to better sport.

Most of the York Amalgamation venues are fishing well with all stillwaters with the exception of Claxton Pond, which is still open for business as usual.

In the Troutmasters area heat fish-off at Maran Lakes at Long Marston, ten anglers competed with the winner only going on to the next round.

The weather as always intervened good conditions in the morning giving way to showers with quite a stiff breeze through out the day.

The results for the day were John Ramsay one fish, Glenn Lowther four fish, John Rudolph one fish, John Sutton one fish, Nick Halstead ten fish, with four anglers not making contact at all.

The tactics for the day by Nick Halstead were fishing the margins with both a yellow gold head buzzer (tungsten) and blood worm patterns under the sight bob.

Halstead worked the margins no further than three to four yards out laying on, or put another way letting the buzzer rest on the bottom for the foraging trout to find, which they did, fishing depth varied according to the depth but never exceeded about four feet.

A controversial method indeed but used properly it catches fish I might be tempted to give it a try myself one day just to prove I can do it, but congratulations to Halstead and best of luck for the next round.

Updated: 11:43 Friday, April 06, 2001