Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Bit of extra water from the Elan valley dams though probably won't amount to much by the time it gets to the lower river. Much will have evaporated or be sucked out by the abstractors up and down the valley.

Juveniles in the Elan might have appreciated the extra water - were there any.  This major spawning stream still lies untouched and neglected despite promises of gravel enchancement etc.  Other useless streams in the lower catchment such as the Trothy amongst others seem to get more attention.  God knows why!!
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Thought some of you might like to read the attached lend to a letter written by Andrew Hurst to his local EA.
Andy is the Salmon and Trout correspondent for the Lune and he and other have fought long and hard against their local EA in respect of a Hydro Power system on one of Rive Lune's major weirs.
Although we don't have hydro power problems -yet -some of the other issues with the local EA are, in my opinion remarkably similar to our own and Andy's observations and comments are similar to concerns I and many others have too.

Its a long letter but as there is virtually no fishing at the moment then I suggest its worth a read, depressing though it may be.As I say many of his observations regarding the EA are relevant in our area too.

click here www.salmonriverdata.co.uk/PDF/ Letter to EA 2014.pdf

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See below the latest from WUF.  Good to see swims being cut out for coarse fishermen by the bankside clearance  'teams'. Has the growth REALLY been more than usual.  Pity the same consideration was not given to the salmon anglers beats and one has to wonder just who is paying for the work.  The owners or the taxpayers?  Who pays for the Rectory, Llanstephan and Gromain for instance?.



Wye & Usk Foundation News Update

News Update 15th July 2014

The good news is that the algal bloom affecting the lower Wye is clearing. The huge explosion of algae eventually exhausts the free phosphate dissolved in the water column, though not the 'reserve' lying with the silt all over the channel floor. A few cloudy days have also helped. Even the Ithon was affected by the bloom this year, highlighting the changes to farming in this catchment.
By way of a late arrival of the cavalry, the Elan dams were switched on yesterday to release the regulation flow. This is triggered when the gauge at Redbrook drops to a certain level. Because of the wet winter and the sustaining effect of ground water from the Lugg and elsewhere, it has taken some time to get to this point. However, the upper Wye has been at a dangerously low level, as low as our gauge goes at Llanstephan in fact. The dam water has put 3" on the river today, re-wetting some of the gravel bars that had appeared mid-channel.  
We have pressed for many years to get something done about this aspect of the rivers regulation: simply switching on the dams when the upper river gets too low with no success. Fortunately, the planned end of year changes to the abstraction regimen will ensure that in the future, the dams will be switched on long before the upper Wye drops as low as this.
Bank side growth has been huge this year and the following beats have been trimmed to create swims or make access easier: How Caple Court; Middle Ballingham; Goodrich CourtLlanstephan; Gromain and The Rectory; Upper Canon Bridge; Tresseck & Redrails and Preston Court. Some fisheries don't need much doing - mostly those with stock grazing the banks. Please keep the reports coming in; not just for the catches but also to direct our bank clearing teams.   
Recent reports include some salmon from the lower Wye at Redbrook, some unexpectedly good trout fishing and some excellent coarse fishing (see the link below for full reports). Apologies to those who tried to use the non existent link to
The WUF Llanstephan gauge yesterday at the lowest we've ever recorded. It's up to 5" today.
NRW's hydrograph at Elan showing yesterday's dam release.
Adam Fisher's June coarse fishing report from the last email. Hopefully you will have found the report on our website but for those that didn't, please click here.
 Don't forget Hereford Country Fair on Sunday 3rd August at Caradoc. We shall be there with casting and coarse fishing competitions (more details to follow).
We shall also be at on the Visit Wales stand at the CLA Game Fair this weekend and at the Royal Welsh Show next week. We look forward to seeing you at these events. It's difficult to pray for rain with all these shows imminent!
All the best from us at WUF.


Details of our Projects can be found here.
Click here for anglers' reports and here for monthly fishing reports.
For details of WUF's Consultations, Click here.
Environment Agency & Natural Resources Wales Emergency Hotline: 0800 80 70 60
Rainfall at Llanstephan 2014 to date:29 1/2"" (2013 total: 39", 2012: 47", 2011: 29")
Bookings and availability Tel: 01874 712 074
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