The River Aire

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Sat 02 Aug, 2008 5:36 pm

How deep is the Aire as it passes through Leeds city centre?I have heard comments that it is no longer dredged like it was when it was a "working" environment, so presumably it's not as deep as it once was?

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sat 02 Aug, 2008 9:40 pm

raveydavey wrote: How deep is the Aire as it passes through Leeds city centre?I have heard comments that it is no longer dredged like it was when it was a "working" environment, so presumably it's not as deep as it once was? I was listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 last Thursday and there was an item about Cas. Apparently the Aire at Cas has fish in it so perhaps the same applies at Leeds Bridge.

Post by **chameleon** » Sat 02 Aug, 2008 10:21 pm

Trojan wrote: raveydavey wrote: How deep is the Aire as it passes through Leeds city centre?I have heard comments that it is no longer dredged like it was when it was a "working" environment, so presumably it's not as deep as it once was? I was listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 last Thursday and there was an item about Cas. Apparently the Aire at Cas has fish in it so perhaps the same applies at Leeds Bridge. The water quality in the Aire at Leeds has been so dramatically improved that fish are indeed present and can be seen. A recent investigation reported that Salmon have been found making their way up stream and provision is being made at some points to enable them overcome the weirs along its route.I would be interested to know its depth, I supect deeper than we might think in the centre of the chanel, though it'becomes quite shallow and faster flowing at the Dark Arches.

Leeds-lad · Post by **Leeds-lad** » Sun 03 Aug, 2008 12:03 am

Fished this Regularly down near the Armouries for the last 8 yearsFull of Roach Bream and Chub,depth down near the Armouries at least 8-10 feet normally,anything from 15-18 feet in floodChub been in the Aire nr Kirkstally Abbey for the last 20 years to my knowledgeUsed to catch Gudgeon in the Aire at the side of the footbridge on Canal Rd over 40 years ago, the river was absolutely filthy with Industrial Foam(whatever it was) floating down probably from the Power Station

wiggy · Post by **wiggy** » Sun 03 Aug, 2008 2:18 pm

Leeds-lad wrote: Fished this Regularly down near the Armouries for the last 8 yearsFull of Roach Bream and Chub,depth down near the Armouries at least 8-10 feet normally,anything from 15-18 feet in floodChub been in the Aire nr Kirkstally Abbey for the last 20 years to my knowledgeUsed to catch Gudgeon in the Aire at the side of the footbridge on Canal Rd over 40 years ago, the river was absolutely filthy with Industrial Foam(whatever it was) floating down probably from the Power Station i used to fish the canal as a boy and now and again we would fish the aire...there was NOTHING in it then,except tannery juice and dead dogs.as i recall it traced at bout 8ft or there abouts.theres lots of fish in it now and that brown foam is long gone.

sundowner · Post by **sundowner** » Sun 03 Aug, 2008 8:59 pm

Leeds-lad wrote: Fished this Regularly down near the Armouries for the last 8 yearsFull of Roach Bream and Chub,depth down near the Armouries at least 8-10 feet normally,anything from 15-18 feet in floodChub been in the Aire nr Kirkstally Abbey for the last 20 years to my knowledgeUsed to catch Gudgeon in the Aire at the side of the footbridge on Canal Rd over 40 years ago, the river was absolutely filthy with Industrial Foam(whatever it was) floating down probably from the Power Station Hi Leeds Lad there were good fish in the river at the outlet from Kirkstall Power Station i think it was the warm water that made them thrive that would be in the sixties I used to fish the dock at the side of w here the Armouries are now in the late fiftys water dark brown but still held fish .The river is now in very good condition plenty of fish in the river at the back of the Asda Offices.

Lilysmum · Post by **Lilysmum** » Mon 04 Aug, 2008 12:30 pm

Just txtd my brother who is a police diver and according to him in the centre of Leeds in the middle it's between 2 and 3 metres deep, and he does spend a bit of time in there!

grumpytramp · Post by **grumpytramp** » Mon 04 Aug, 2008 12:50 pm

Trojan wrote: I was listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 last Thursday and there was an item about Cas. Apparently the Aire at Cas has fish in it so perhaps the same applies at Leeds Bridge. Nice wee record here of Salmon trying to run the weir at Knottingley ....... which suggest that if the locks and weirs provided suitable fish passes that Salmon would run the length of the Aire once morehttp://www.wildyorkshire.co.uk/naturediary/docs/2008/1/29.htm

johnnyboy · Post by **johnnyboy** » Thu 07 Aug, 2008 2:58 pm

It cant be all that deep it only goes arf way up the ducks

sundowner · Post by **sundowner** » Thu 07 Aug, 2008 9:07 pm

grumpytramp wrote: Trojan wrote: I was listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 last Thursday and there was an item about Cas. Apparently the Aire at Cas has fish in it so perhaps the same applies at Leeds Bridge. Nice wee record here of Salmon trying to run the weir at Knottingley ....... which suggest that if the locks and weirs provided suitable fish passes that Salmon would run the length of the Aire once morehttp://www.wildyorkshire.co.uk/naturediary/docs/2008/1/29.htm Does this mean we will have pay a fortune to fish our river the fishing agency dont want to know when its polluted the minute there are fish the bells start to ring next thing you know its private.