Head To The Aire For A Bag Of Roach

Anglers in Yorkshire are spoilt for choice when it comes to river fishing with a number of venues in excellent summer form this year.
The River Aire is one of them. Local expert Martyn Highe believes fishing on this river is as good as it has ever been with the roach fishing in particular being excellent: “The number of roach in our rivers in the north of England especially on the Aire is amazing, there are absolutely tonnes of fish in the 2-4oz bracket and they are easy to catch” he said.

One stretch which is well worth a visit is the Leeds and District Amalgamated Society of Anglers controlled water at Chapel Haddlesey near Selby. The fishing here has just started to switch on with anglers recording nets of roach, perch and bream to over 20lb.The pegs on the left bank from Selby Lock in the high numbers are the best for roach. The river here is quite deep (around 12ft), wide and slow moving and is best targeted by balling in with groundbait and fishing the pole over the top. Start with three big balls laced with caster and top up with a ball every half hour, thereafter. Fish a fairly static rig of say 2-gram with a size 18 hook and fish over the top of the feed with maggot on the hook for fish averaging 3oz. Using this tactic you can easily build up a weight catching a fish a chuck. There are also perch in here and these can be caught on maggot or worm.

The earlier pegs in the 20’s upstream, opposite West Haddlesey are the best for bream. These are much deeper (around 20ft) and are best targeted using the groundbait feeder with worm on the hook. The bream in here are not small with the majority of fish in the 4-7lb bracket so don’t fish too light.
Although the stretch is not available for day-ticket anglers, a Leeds DASA membership gives you access to dozens of other river stretches, including the stretch of the Aire at Beale. Weights here have been similar to those at Chapel recently with roach catches to over 15lb being taken on waggler and maggot tactics.

TIP: Red maggot is a hot bait on this river especially for roach. Try a double on the hook for a bonus redfin or big perch.

Prices: £50 a year, Leeds DASA
Contact: 01132 253366, www.leedsdasa.co.uk
Location: River Aire, off the A19, Chapel Haddlesey, Selby, N Yorks
Rules: No Litter, all fish must be returned