I had an email recently from a fisherman who was concerned by some of the Gallery pictures, where it is obvious that fish mats have not been used. This is a fair point and hence forward I shall be actively encouraging the use of fish mats for unhooking fish and also for pictures. So please, if you have’nt already got one, add a fish mat to your tackle bag and use it always.
February 15, 2012
Best Practice
July 30, 2011
Salmon plenty in Courtfield beat
After years of scarcity we are now seeing salmon all over the place on the Wye. July has seen Courtfield absolutely full of fish. I estimate there was between 60 and 100 fish spread through the beat with good sightings of many grilse as well. I caught a 9lb small summer fish in Legg meadow on the 16th before the river rose and a fish of 10lbs was caught by a salmon rod on the 25th. A good fish leaped clear of the water above the Wyebank crib yesterday while a likely small grilse was lost the day before and very small grilse have been showing along the bottom end of the Wyebank stretch. Our catch of salmon has now risen to a respectable 7 and 1 kelt for Courtfield and Wyebank.
Its early days but I for one feel confident that we are on the cusp of a major turn around, particularly with the evidence of the super small grilse which hopefully will be followed now by grilse of increasing size more typical of the late summer Wye fish.
June 8, 2011
Low Water Contradictions.
Yesterday I was horrified by a one foot drop of water below summer level over a period of 36 hours. Today I am resigned to the reality that we are looking at conditions similar to 75/76 and yet with a load more abstractors. Our nearest point of major abstraction is the Severn Trent pumping station which compensates flows accordingly from the Elan Valley. this means that upriver beats reap a dividend which we don’t. In practice it appears there is more water in the middle river as a result of the Lydbrook pumping station. As for the farmers, they all have permission to abstract until flows reach the appallingly low flow of around 133 million gallons per day at Redbrook, downstream from Monmouth. I can’t remember the exact figures I was given by the EA, but today there is around 197 million gallons flowing past Redbrook and so the river will have to drop by approximately 33 percent of its present flow in order for these pumps to be turned off. That in itself is a very worrying concept.
When I looked down on the wharf pool yesterday it was clearly unfishable due to the flow being cut off by the dropped river and the ranunculus, which was now all trailing on the surface. I went to bed depressed. Today I have cut the weed to reopen the pools and was astonished by what I found. The main fly channel is averaging 3ft with holes to 4ft 6″. The overhanging and trailing willows along the far bank are providing adequate cover with upto 2ft of good flowing water over gorgeous clean gravels, while the bottom pool is perfectly clear of weed and clean to a depth of over 5ft covering a flat rock slab floor in places and gravel and small rocks in others. The whole stretch of Wyebank is good clear well oxygenated water still providing a more than adequate habitat for the salmon.
My greatest surprise was to find two big salmon redds from last winter’s spawning and several smaller ones and sitting in the smaller ones I saw the biggest sea lampreys, with one as long as my leg and all of them as long as my arm. In other words they were upto their maximum given length of 90cm. In all I saw at least half a dozen sea lamprey spawning sites. I have seen the clear stones before, evidence of lamprey activity, but never have I experienced standing so close to these extraordinary creatures that I could put my foot under them and lift them up. Quite remarkable.
May 19, 2011
Fly Life bonanza Courtfield and Wyebank
Invertebrate Fly life along the Wye at Courtfield and Wyebank has been fantastic this Spring. The mayfly hatch has diminished today to a trickle and I suspect it will be over by the weekend after a month of pretty well continuous daily hatches from early morning till dusk. During the peak there were some fantastic afternoon hatches about 2.30 with green drakes pouring off the water. It should of course just be getting into the hatch at this time of the month. There was lots of spinner along Legg Meadow this afternoon with warm sunny spells to bring the mating mayflies out of the trees and bushes after the last few days of cooler weather.
The sedge flies are hatching in profusion, too many too identify without a net and a guide book and even then its pretty uncertain with a lot of species. The Alder fly is also once more making its friendly self apparent in a way unseen for many years
Yesterday evening there was a large swarm of Sherry Spinner (Blue winged olive) through the wood beat of the Courtfield on a par with the River Kennet, but extraordinarily early. Also large swarms of medium olive red spinner which I have’nt seen here in such numbers for years.
Bleak? in their multitude have been surface feeding along with dace, the occasional salmon parr, some large chub and the odd trout. Trout fishing has not been too good and most fish would seem to be feeding on nymphs and sub surface food. But then the water along Wyebank is now so low that the trout have had to abandon their bankside haunts and move into the faster mid stream flow. Also there has been virtually no fishing effort at all. Rather disappointing in that regard. Shad have been scarce so far and only the odd tiny twaite have been taken accidentally on fly whilst trout fishing.
Also exciting is the re appearance of spotted flycatchers after some years of absence.
So all in all it has been a prolific Spring at the waterside on the river Wye at Lydbrook.
May 6, 2011
Fly and Fish as river Wye drops
After another week of dry hot sunny days and dropping levels the river Wye at Lydbrook is some 8″ or more below summer level. Despite the heavy algal bloom, which diminished a little by the end of the week, and possibly the lowest levels at the end of April for decades, fly hatches have been increasing all week.
Mayfly hatches have been excellent. The green drake has been most prevalent early to late afternoon. Mid week saw a hatch along Legg Meadow of the Courtfield beat, which would have matched the Kennet at Hungerford in the 1970s. The hatch has been accompanied by some heavy falls of spent gnat. Blue winged olive was hatching well today along Wyebank amongst large swarms of silverhorn sedges. At 3pm today the Wyebank stretch was alive with fly life including sedge, mayfly, olives and yellow may dun.
For the record the mayfly hatch is normally expected towards the end of May running into early June and the BWO mid June to July. As with the grannom all species have been hatching remarkably early.
Looking down to wharf pool Wyebank
Rudi Lighert had a 10 lb kelt on Tuesday 3rd below the island at the top end of the Wyebank and Nicholas Briant fishing Wyebank for 2hrs in the evening on Thursday 5th hooked and lost a strong fish of around double figures in the wharf pool of the Wyebank beat. Salmon fishing is definitely still on along Wyebank which is still perfect for fly fishing.
Wharf pool Wyebank fishery still holding fish as at Friday 5th May.
April 24, 2011
Swan mussels, water snails and fly life
The low water has allowed me to investigate the state of the invertebrate and other populations in the river Wye along the Wyebank stretch this April. I should think that water snails, of which there are many species in the river, must be an important element of the fish’s diet, particularly barbel. Every larger stone is currently covered underneath with the gelatinous balls of water snail eggs. The nymphs of the Yellow May dun and Olive Upright are also everywhere and the freshwater shrimp, which was quite scarce a few years ago, is now again more common. Although the shrimp prefers clean water it can tolerate mild levels of pollution and is not the marker of pristine water that it was once thought to be. However the shrimp’s abundance is vital as a food item for fish, particularly salmonids.
Most satisfying is the abundance of swan mussel shells on the raised shoals of the far bank, which are now dry. This is a swan mussel site recorded in SSSI assessment of circa 1996 which by 2006 was virtually devoid of shells. The swan mussel lives in the sandy and silty gravel substrate, so living organisms are not seen. The presence of significant numbers of non eroded shells is indicitive of a healthy population.
Yesterday, Saturday 23rd, two days before St Mark’s day, was marked for me by the largest swarm of hawthorn fly which I have seen for years. Bibio marci, the Hawthorn or St Mark’s Fly due to its occurrence on St Mark’s day, has again been quite scarce in more recent years. As this is a terrestrial fly its abundance or otherwise cannot be blamed on river pollution! At Little Dean, on the eastern edge of the Forest of Dean, where hatches were immense over a decade ago their demise cannot be blamed on spraying as it is traditional dairy farming with little or no spraying of any sort. Whether there will be sufficient winds to blow the hawthorn onto the water to induce a rise of trout, only time will tell.