See below. Whichever way you paint it the season was a disaster. Never more so on the poor old Usk

Wonder why the seasons catch figure and breakdown was not even mentioned at the recent annual meeting.

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WUF Salmon Fishing Report October 2014 Many, including ourselves at WUF, will have breathed a sigh of relief when the rod fishing season finished on the 17th (25th on the upper Wye). High water finally arrived just as the season ended on most rivers and the frustration of this late arrival neatly summed up the whole season. October continued along the same lines as September: the odd fish being caught here and there but no weight of numbers moving as yet. As ever, we have very good catch data for the Wye and this showed a total 2014 catch (with most beat details already to hand) of 563 (66 in October). By section, this was made up of 51 above Builth plus 3 from the tributaries; 136 Builth to Glasbury; 68 Glasbury to Luggsmouth; 121 Luggsmouth to Monmouth and 184 Monmouth to the sea. The lowest section suffered the worst compared to their 5 year average while above Builth actually exceeded its 5 year average (full Wye details here). Estimates for the Usk suggest a total catch in the region of 350. Usk seldom does well with a dry summer and autumn but nonetheless, this year is well down. Tywi was a bit more fortunate with the autumn rain and the two best beats, Abercothi and Golden Grove reported catches of 85 and 42 respectively. These are closer to their 5 year average. It is easy to forget that these celebrated sea trout beats would be good autumn salmon beats in their own right even if there were no sea trout! Judging by results across the UK, Norway and Iceland it has been a consistently poor year. Declines in stocks across such a wide area must surely be due to global changes in conditions. Notably, the grilse run seems to have been the greatest casualty while early large springers might even have performed better than in the recent past. Tay and Wye are two examples, both with March catches ahead of average. Is this an early sign of a shift back to early running fish? We know that over time cyclical changes took place but who knows over what time frame these events took place historically and if change is underway again? Putting all that aside what we need right now are water conditions that allow the fish to spread out over the best parts of every catchment, steady flows between a series of moderate spates and enough rain to recharge reservoirs, ground sources and springs. If it's not asking too much, a cooler mid-winter and a progressively warming and wet spring. Go on....and next year some summer rain please, with no prolonged dry spells. On top of that, we should have the benefits of the changes to abstraction licences and spate boosts. All of that will really help! All the best from WUF. p.s. please do come along to our Autumn Riverwalk. It's a great chance to see the work being carried out on the rivers and, if we're lucky, spawning or migrating salmon. Above and below: Autumn salmon from the Usk. Salmon struggling to ascend Dayhouse weir on the Lugg last winter Sep