See below from WUF .. Another success apparently. remove a few wiers or perceived blockages and miaclously fish appear from nowhere to populate them.  First time for 200 years.  Well when the wye was in its heyday it certainly didn't need these extra areas did it, it won't fill them now for sure..   Its not clear whether the 150 redds mentioned are salmon or trout.  If its salmon.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once again credibility is stretched and in view of dozens of previous false dawns I will wait and see.   The Arrow would be a prime site for a smolt counter to show what all these fish are actually producing to go to sea. They won't do it though will they as in other monitoring episodes the answer might not be quite the one they were expecting.

He the err director then goes on to say this on an internet forum.(See the below quote)  The most bizerre quote in this is the assertion that eggs and gravel during a spate do not get washed out.  No one said ALL do but has he never been out on the main stem after a big spate, or up the Irfon or Ithon too and seen whole sections of gravel which had been cut by the fish simply no more. Gone, Caput, Smashed. Finito.  Make you wonder if he ever leaves his office or ever seen a proper spawning redd.  Everyone on the river knows it happens,some years more often that other. If it didn't we would be knee deep in salmon from all the millions of eggs they lay down.  They select sites that are safe he says, what a load of old rubbish. Apart from flood washout we also have redds left high and dry if the fish spawned in high water and levels dropped away.  Many also get exposed and frozen in during severe winter weather.  Some spawn in acidic waters where offspring cannot hatch.  Not too clever were those!
Of course its happened for thousands of years but most of the time huge numbers countered the losses to provide enough juveniles and amongst other factors could be a reason for the big swing in Wye numbers from one year to the next/.  I'm surprised he has missed this excuse -sever washout in 20010/11 resulted in this years poor catch figures.  Why not -he has used up every other excuse.figures.

Add to this, Stocking is one of the great Wye myths -yet he did plenty himself when it suited his purpose.
Stocking didn't work on the Tyne according to him. All the evidence showed it did and doesn't he wish he had their rod catch in recent years.
Gravel washout is not a fantasy its a fact, he should know that but apparently doesn't.
There is only one nutter around here and he's dressed up as Father Christmas at Stalag WUF sending us a message that all is going well and lets just ignore the 550 odd rod catch. Still it is fantasy time.

Hope you liked that Mr Watkins, ex WUF Marketting Officer


Quote by Stephen Marsh Smith,

The reason why there are fish spawning up and down the Arrow is because 14 fish passes have been built allowing free movement to the various areas of spawning gravel. This is nothing to do with stocking. Its simply a case that the limiting factor has been removed, ie barriers to migration just as on the Tyne. Stocking is one of the great Wye myths.

There are some who actually believe that the planting once of 500 or 600 hundred fry from the Rhine 100 years ago created a run of large spring fish (but never explain why stocking with millions subsequently for 30 years during the great decline never worked)

Another myth is that every time it rains, all the gravel and eggs get washed out. You only have to look at redds afterwards to know this doesn't happen. Salmon have evolved to select safe sites. We have had spates and floods regularly over the last 10,000 years yet, I bet before long, some nutter will be claiming this has just happened, even though it has by Wye standards been a moderate flood.

If we cant explain that the Rhine stocking and gravel wash outs are just fantasies, how on earth can we tell people that there is no Father Christmas? NK

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Header Text Crossing the Border The recent heavy rain brought levels up by several feet on the upper Wye and Usk and caused the Wye to spill into the flood plain at Letton and downstream. This brought redd counting to and end for the time being at least. However, this was not before Seth had completed two days of counting on the upper Arrow.  Last year we completed two new easements to create salmon and trout access, the furthest of them at Mahollam, upstream of Kington, just on the English side of the border. Seth's count was upstream of here for the next eight or so miles, crossing the border just upstream of Milton. There were at least 10 salmon redds in this section and well over 50 made by trout, to add to the 150 redds found downstream. Salmon will have ascended 14 fish passes and covered about 125 miles to get here It is possibly over 200 years since salmon last spawned this far upstream on the Arrow. However, their upstream migration was halted by the the final weir at Llanpica.Throughtout this section there is ideal habitat and wonderful gravels and another 4 miles or so of equally good habitat above this weir. Needless to say we are absolutely delighted. Grayling fishing was also brought to an end by the rain but had been very good before that, judging by angers returns. Coarse fishing is very much in between the end of barbel and the start of pike fishing. Chub will continue to be active as the water goes down. The Foundation's online shop has been busy: You can buy: season wild stream permits, fishing vouchers and Humphrey Stanley's delightful limited edition prints. All these make excellent Christmas presents.  Finally we have added a button at the bottom of this enews for those wishing to donate to the Foundation. We really do make good use of your donations and the story from the Arrow above is just one example of the type of work we have undertaken. As you see opposite, there is plenty needed to continue future restoration on both our rivers. Comment. Does he really think that given a good spate a salmon could not access that wier at Llapica.  Best get a grant to take it out though -much more lucrative.. Salmon redd on the upper Arrow in Wales The final barrier: Llanpica weir near Newchurch on Arrow Seasons Greetings from all at WUF