A SELL-OUT field of 90 will be hoping that the weekend's premier fixture lives up to its name.

Sunday sees York Amalgamation hold their annual Christmas Cheer match on all waters below York.

Such is the popularity of the event that additional pegs will be staked on the Bishopthorpe and Acaster water at the bridge field in order to accommodate all the contestants. As usual a huge array of festive goodies will be up for grabs.

The Ouse has been in great form in the last couple of weeks as fish have slowly adjusted to the onset of winter conditions.

Despite a far from ideal river last weekend some good weights of roach and bream were taken throughout the match sections and a repeat should be on the cards this time around.

Mid-week rain has kept water levels above the norm for the time of year and another bream-focussed contest seems likely. Fish were spread evenly along the sections last week with nearly five pounds required to win every section.

The only other match booked on York waters this weekend is at Fulford, where Star AC visit on Saturday.

My barbel fishing mates advise that their chosen quarry are still feeding in the Beningbrough sections. It can be a patience-testing pursuit at this time of year but those that can stick around until dusk are often rewarded.

Elsewhere on the Ouse, a number of good pike have been reported in the last week topped by a fine specimen of 21lb taken by

Clifton angler Colin Watts. Trolling a large lure in mid-river was the undoing of the monster predator that was lurking in the deep section

upstream of Clifton bridge.

Several good fish have also been taken from the Blue Bridge Lane area, where several double-figure specimens have fallen to static and wobbled dead baits around the Ouse confluence.

The Derwent continues to come up with the goods, although some flooding earlier in the week could prove problematic.

Prior to the arrival of the rain-water some quality roach had been taken from the Sutton section and chub were feeding well below Stamford Bridge.

Many stillwater fisheries continue to report good catches. Carp are feeding well at Raker Lakes and Carpvale, good mixed bags have been reported at Paradise fishery, Melbourne and at the Willows and some big bags of bream have been netted at Poppleton Lakes.

Updated: 10:29 Friday, December 09, 2005