Anglers fishing the river Aire since the breakdown in the hot and dry weather of the summer months will have been relieved to find that no harm has been inflicted on the fish population.

In fact it seems that the voluntary lay-off from angling can only have brought benefits to the river judging from reports received from anglers recently.

The length from below Skipton to above Inghey Bridge has been producing some excellent fishing, especially to the fly fishermen who have caught some really good brown trout to over the 1,800g mark.

Besides the quality fish, there have been numerous small fish caught from 18 cm in length upwards.

Bait anglers have also been amongst the fish with a regular attendee catching 44 brown trout over three afternoon sessions in the same size and weight range as those caught by the fly fishermen.

Besides the trout, a few grayling up to about 1000g have also been landed along with quite a few smallish chub plus a specimen approaching the 2,270g mark.

Since the 2015 restocking ban on the introduction of diploid brown trout, the river has had to restock itself from its head of native fish.

It has virtually always done this as far as grayling are concerned since very few farmed fish have been introduced by the Environment Agency and none by angling clubs.

Thousands of diploid brown trout have been introduced over the years from before WW2 and some of their descendants will now be part of the native fish population.

Concurrent with the 2015 ban, most Aire angling clubs introduced a “no fish to be retained” policy to ensure that there would be fish available each season to spawn in late autumn.

From the latest evidence on the Aire and rivers elsewhere, it shows that this policy is working and in future years the quality of the fishing will continue to improve.

The final match in the Skipton AA’s Peter Hart Memorial series will be fished this Sunday on Whinnygill Reservoir with the draw at 8am and fishing from 9am until noon.