THE advent of chilly east winds over the past fortnight together with the occasional frosty night has taken its toll on angling on all of the local waters with the exception of the River Aire.

Although fewer anglers have been seen in action on the river, those that have wet a line have landed a few smallish grayling on either the fly or the small redworm.

Brown trout have also turned up when they should be turning their attention to spawning activities in the near future. Even the odd small chub has fallen to the worm on the Bradford City length on Heslaker Lane which has been one of the busiest stretches lately.

Relatively light rain has maintained the water level in the river at just above normal and good for fishing but far more is required to help the trout get up the tributaries for spawning. Leaves are also beginning to choke the side streams but have not been too much of a problem on the river.

The upper reaches of the Aire seem to be devoid of pike at the moment and there have been no reports so far this back end of even a single capture.

Even downstream at Snaygill none have been landed recently but at least it is known that nearly every lie more or less contains a pike. The best recorded last season was a fish of 8,180g (18lbs) with others from 1,820g (4lbs) upwards.

Sprats or sardines are generally the most popular and successful way of catching pike. Forget the treble hook. Use a size six or eight single hook on a wire trace and it which will just as successfully hook the pike without causing any damage to the fish. The days of using a trace of three large trebles needs to be confined to the history books.

Other local waters seem to have been affected by the cold weather which has kept anglers away from the water’s edge. A small match on the Broughton Road length of the canal last Sunday appears to have not produced a single fish in four hours of fishing

The next Winter League match will be fished on the hospital length of the canal at Skipton this Sunday with the draw at 8am. With a bit of luck the competitors may find the weather to be much milder than of late which should translate into better catches.