THE heavy rain last week gave the River Aire a good flushing out and with the river remaining within its banks, at least this season’s fry will have stood a good chance of survival.

By the weekend the river had fallen to a good angling level although not many anglers appeared to have taken advantage of the situation.

The upper reaches received most of those who wet a line and some decent fishing was enjoyed with trout and grayling falling to the fly.

Lower down the river in the Skipton length the best fish landed was a good brown trout weighing around 1,820g.

Once the river settles down to normal level there should be a good chance of getting among the chub which seem to be making a comeback.

One or two big fish have been caught recently and in the last couple of years there have been plenty of fry about after spawning.

These fish should be around 25cm in length now and possibly well distributed so may turn up anywhere.

Last year’s “Act of God” fish kill showed that the river contained a surprising number of gudgeon which had hardly ever featured in catches on the Skipton water in recent times.

Luckily not every fish appeared to have died and the majority of fatalities were mainly upstream of Cononley Bridge.

It could well be that they may soon turn up more frequently at Skipton in the near future and create an added interest to the general angler.

The last time gudgeon were present in shoals at Snaygill, some of them weighed up to 50g and were around 15cm long.

A few of them in a keep net soon added an appreciable weight to a catch which in them days, probably also included two or three roach, a perch or chub and maybe even a bream.

This Sunday will see the second match in the Skipton Angling Association’s Peter Hart Memorial Series of four matches.

The venue has not been announced yet but should be somewhere on the association’s length of canal down Broughton Road.

Further details may be obtained from the Events Secretary, Simon Chenier, or on the Skipton Angling Association Facenook Groups pages.