THE removal or by-passing of the many weirs on the River Aire between Knottingley and Saltaire should see salmon return to the spawning grounds they last frequented before the pollution of the industrial revolution.

The weirs made their passage upstream impossible, but now that obstacle has been removed.

Before fishery owners begin to rub their hands with glee at the prospect of much enhanced rents for fishing rights, it has to be asked just how many salmon and sea trout will be returning.

Throughout the UK. salmon numbers have been on the decline for many years including most of the famous salmon rivers.

The situation has become so bad that very few salmon are actually removed by anglers for the table in an effort to conserve stocks.

Obviously as photographs show, salmon are already attempting to make the journey upstream.

Even on the other Yorkshire rivers that form part of the Humber catchment, salmon numbers have never been more than modest at the best and that’s on rivers that have not endured severe pollution or weir construction in the past.

The tale that the pre-industrial revolution apprentices at Leeds were fed salmon so frequently that they became sick of the sight of it is metaphorically speaking, is highly unlikely to materialise again.

This time round the apprentices will outnumber the salmon.

Recent storms and wet weather have helped to maintain a high water on the River Aire including more flooding into the adjacent fields and angling has continued to be rather uncertain.

One angler makes a beeline for the Aire on Heslaker Lane at least twice a week from Ovenden near Halifax but so far I have been unable to locate him on the bank to enquire of his success or otherwise.

Prospects do not appear to be too good at the moment with more rain in the forecast and a possible change to colder weather by weekend.

This may also interfere with the sport for this Sunday’s Skipton Winter League match on the canal either side of the Bay Horse road bridge at Snaygill.

This venue does afford a certain amount of shelter from westerly winds so the fishing may still be reasonable on the day.