Small spate on at the moment and carrying considerable colour below the Ithon. River has peaked on the upstream beats but will rise a little further on bottom beats.

Having been urged by Simon Evans that anglers should fish this weekend at beats such as,
 Abernant, Ty Newydd, Gromain, Llangoed, Hay Castle, Whitney Court and Red Lion are all free. I would personally be happy on any of those except perhaps Hay Castle, as I have a lower tolerance of canoes than some others. 
I have to say a more realistic approach was penned by another anglers. See below. I have to agree with him. With a 6 fish 6 year average, and some of the other beats far less, your taking a great leap of faith which the scenery no way makes up for. It;'s not called running the river down its called stating the facts

"Supply and demand

Supply of rods should be driven by demand. Catches drive demand.

To start the ball rolling, get some catches in the book and drive up demand somebody actually has to fish these beats for Salmon. If the rods aren't coming then why not look at the supply side and either bring the prices down or look at alternative ways of selling rods: 'Spring Permit' fish any day a week until June, 8 rods max etc etc.

Take Gromain it's a lovely beat with some excellent fly water; but it's £45 a day, for a 5YA of 6 fish a Season! Granted it will have been lightly rodded, but who's seriously booking that for the first time with a sense of optimism? Add on a near 2 hour drive from anywhere west of the M50 / Severn Bridge and add on the petrol costs and it becomes just enough to make me stop and wonder if I'm just pissing away £75 and a day off for some casting practice.

However, based on what you and others also more knowledgable than me have said, the upper river should be well on this weekend. It's May there has been good water....... it maybe worth it and you'll never know unless you...........

Good luck this weekend."

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The Red lion is not available on Saturday anyway. Whitney would be a decent bet though if it does drop.

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See below notes on recent look at what they call alternative mitigation work.  Someone is having a laugh.   This shoukld be everyday EA work to meet Water Framework directive.  Its not mitigation and if there is any surely it should be done on the upper river from where the mitigation stems.
As for having no money just look at the costs for what reward I wonder.  has there been any assessment as to the likely benefits (As long as its more realistic than the Monnow assessment)
Looks like the boys club are at it again with snouts in the trough.

NRW

River Wye: programme of alternative mitigation work

Note of field visit to upper Lugg and Arrow

Date:  15^th April 2015

Venue: upper Lugg and Arrow catchments

Present:

Jason Jones                        NRW

Stephen Marsh-Smith   WUF

Tony Norman                    Upper Lugg & Arrow Fisheries Association

Stuart Smith                       WSA

Mike Timmis                      WSFOA

Peter Gough                      NRW

Apologies:

Rob Denny                          Monnow Rivers Association

Simon Evans                       WUF

Seth Johnson Marshall  WUF & WSFOA

David Revill                         Wye LFG

Introduction

PG introduced the purpose of this visit which was an inspection of weirs on the Welsh reaches of the Lugg and Arrow.  A shared view of priority of tackling these barriers compared to other mitigation activities would then be developed.

Barriers to migration

The following weirs were inspected:-

Lugg

Boultibrooke Weir (also known as Saw Mill).  Number 26 (Lugg) on NRW listing

Concrete baulk constructed by WUF in September 2011.

Agreed that his facilitated salmon passage (and probably also trout), and difficulty rating lowered.

Weir still prevents passage of minor species, and is therefore not WFD compliant.

CONCLUSION – NO ACTION REQUIRED UNDER AM

Boultibrooke Bridge Weir.  Number 27 (Lugg)

Weir much lower than previously assumed, at about 0.8m.

Low priority for salmon (and trout).

CONCLUSION – NO ACTION REQUIRED UNDER AM

Dolley Green Weir.  Number 28 (Lugg)

Relatively high and broad weir that will clearly obstruct salmon in range of flows.

Salmon know to have reached this point, but no further, in recent years.

Recent attempt by WUF to amend weir lead to structural problems and weir was stabilised with no benefit to migration achieved.

Option identified:            interim lowering of weir crest, to be followed by assessment of upstream bank stability and fish migration performance.

                                                Subsequent weir removal may follow.

CONCLUSION – PRIORITY 1 FOR ACTION UNDER ALTERNATIVE MITIGATION PROGRAMME

Action:-                                Explore preferred option with landowner            ACTION: WUF

                                Confirm any heritage listing                                         ACTION: JJ

                                Confirm funding and partnership options             ACTION: PG

Arrow

Llanpica Weir.  Number 24 (Arrow)

Relatively low head, long diagonal stone-pitched weir.  Still supporting abstraction to old fish farm.

Salmon known to have reached this area in 2014, but failed to pass weir.

Weir is difficult for migration.

Options identified:          EITHER construction of half-width rock ramp, probably on LHS

                                                OR lowering of half of weir, probably LHS

CONCLUSION – PRIORITY 1 FOR ACTION UNDER ALTERNATIVE MITIGATION PRIOGRAMME

Action:                                  Confirm whether there is extant abstraction licence        ACTION JJ note there is a confirmed extant abstraction licence here, but permitting only a 50% abstraction

                                                Confirm any heritage listing                                         ACTION: JJ

                                                Open liaison with weir owner                                     ACTION: WUF

                                                Confirm funding and partnership options             ACTION: PG

                                               

Conclusion

The group concluded that we have 2 high priority weirs for action ASA)P: Dolley Green and Llanpica.

Prioritising works

We previously agreed that we need to prioritise the top 3 in each of the main categories of work.

As a first stab:-

Work                                     Site                                                                        Approximate Cost

Barriers                                                Dolau Green – rock ramp                                             £30k

                                                Llanpica – pre-barrage or removal                            £25k      

Crucorney – rock ramp                                                  £40k

KRC                                        Upper Ithon (JJ paper)                  £90k (can be spread across several years)

                                                Other KRC sites                                 £50k - £100k

Riparian management   sites tbc                                               £7 per metre

Instream habitat              Upper Irfon                                        £5k

                                                Other sites tbc                                  £5k per site

The group now agrees to prioritise the barrier works at Dolley Green and Llanpica, but to have a set of KRC sites as reserve projects.                            

ACTION: ALL TO PROVIDE ANY FURTHER COMMENTS ASAP

Next meeting

TBC