IT is rather disconcerting to receive a letter from a member of the public about finding an assortment of food litter wrappings mixed with discarded fishing tackle on the banks of Embsay Reservoir.

The letter was received by the secretary of the Skipton Angling Association who have enjoyed the fishing rights on the reservoir for almost 100 years.

The litter may have been left by a thoughtless member or it could have been a day ticket angler but it is up to the vast majority of innocent members to try and stamp this sort of behaviour out.

Firstly, by reminding anglers seen leaving litter and secondly by removing rubbish they find even though it is not their own.

It goes without saying that anyone caught in the act of leaving litter of any sort will be severely dealt with by the association and it is hoped that this warning will be sufficient to bring this sort of disrespectful and potentially dangerous behaviour to an end.

While on the subject of unsatisfactory behaviour by anglers, it has also come to the attention of the association that illegal baits and ground baiting has been used at Embsay and that members are beginning to park on the top of the banking at Whinnygill Reservoir again.

Only the fly, worm and spinning is allowed at Embsay and parking is only permitted in the small parking area just to the right of the main gate at Whinnygill.

On the subject of fishing, Whinnygill seems to be the most rewarding at the moment with catches of good-sized roach, perch, tench, bream and brown trout, the latter two species being well over the 1350g mark.

Simon Chenier has landed a good chub that tipped the scales at 1,193g, some 56g heavier than the present record fish. Photographs were taken of the weighing scales and the fish but the record has not yet been verified.

Recent rain has increased the flow in the river Aire and should help to provide some decent sport during the last month of the brown trout season which closes at midnight on September 30. Anglers have been reluctant to fish during the drought period but are now beginning to come back to the river.