Both of last weekend's river angling matches on the Ouse were cancelled because of flooding.

They were called off the day before they were due to be fished because pegging was not possible.

Anglers might be rueing the lack of permanent pegging. The river was probably fishable on Saturday and definitely fishable on Sunday.

With the lack of river sport it was left to the area's stillwaters to provide the bulk of the action. With ice in the margins, the fish were lethargic for the 24-peg match at Raker Lakes.

Colin Plant (Anglers Corner) was on peg six on Horseshoe, where he fished pole and pinkie at 11 metres for three carp in the 2lb bracket plus roach, skimmers and perch for 13lb 3oz.

Russ Walker (Anglers Corner) netted a level 8lb of trout and chublets from peg 30.

Others: Dave Dennison (Pudsey) 7-12, Paul Kozyra (Anglers Corner) 7-5, Kev Harton (Anglers Corner) 6-0 and Dave Maddison (Anglers Corner) 5-4.

With the Wharfe at Smaws Ings at its best level in two months, the 53 competitors in Sunday's Tadcaster Open match enjoyed river fishing at its best, taking roach and dace on the stick float.

Dennis Gelderd (Boston Spa) led the way from peg 56 below the gauging station. Inching a single maggot through his nine-foot-deep swim he picked up small roach and dace steadily to compile a winning bag of 13lb 5oz.

John Allerton (Tricast) switched his attention from the carp ponds and revitalised his Kamasan challenge from peg 43 below the wires.

Using one of his sponsor's long rods he took quality roach to 12oz on stick and maggot finishing just short of a maximum four-pointer on 13-3.

Tom Gausden (Anglers World) took third from peg 69 below the arm chair with another all roach 12-7.

Others: Chris Stogdale (Bobs Tackle) 10-9-8, Chris Burton (Anglers World) 9-12-0, Mick Wheelhouse (Tadcaster) and Clive Stokes (Selby) both 9-8-0.

Odd chub provided all the top catches on a cold River Ure at Boroughbridge, where the 34-entry Geoff Scollick Cup match went to Trevor Hewitt (Hirst Tackle).

Drawn 22 in the rough field he fished caster feeder tight to the far bank trees finding two chub, one early the other late, for his winning 5lb 4oz.

There was a tie for second between Mick Shaw (Glen) and Colin Hood (Broughton), who both had 4-2. Mick had a chub and three roach on caster feeder from peg 58, while Colin netted a single pike on worm from peg 18.

Others: Martyn Highe (Hirst Tackle) 3-0, Vic Rookes (Glen) 2-14 and Bernard Nevison (Glen) 2-13.

The fish got progressively harder to catch throughout the week at Woodlands as temperatures continued to plummet and ice crept into the margins.

Wednesday's 52-peg match was won by Martin Leck (Bawtry Magnets) with 17lb 9oz. Drawn on Skylark 8 he went for quality rather than quantity, netting four carp to 8lb on maggot feeder.

Others: Ken Gollightly (MAP Elton) 14-4, Ian Hall (Redcar) 13-14, Peter Bachelor (Bradford) 13-12 and Derek Tyler (Rotherham) 13-10.

The backing weights were starting to fall away by Saturday when Steve James (Dave Parks Tackle) won the 64-peg match from Kestrel 9. Fishing a maggot feeder with flouro pinkie he netted small carp and orfe for 23lb 9oz. Lyndon Roberts (MAP Elton) took second from Skylark 9 with carp to 4lb in his 22-7.

Others: Pat Bailey (Peggy Tub) 12-3, Robert Wood (FAPS Bradford) 9-9 and Ian Thompson (Barnsley) 7-15.

By Sunday there were many blanks among the 63 competitors as the fish shut up shop early for Christmas. Dave Pimlott (Keenets NW) led from peg 31 on Partridge, where he used a small maggot feeder cast mid-pond for an all-carp 20lb 13oz.

England junior Ian Starbuck (GTI Wakefield) took second with 19-2 from Skylark 26.

Others: Andy Mackenzie (MAP Elton) 16-4, Richard Darfield (Headingley Angling) 6-14,Kevin Warburton (Elton Tackle) 2-12 and Richard Moore (Polaris) 2-11.