Saw this statement on one of the Forums.  How very true it is.  Always believe what you see and experience and not how someone with an agenda tries to tell you how it is.

" Statistics based on data which may or may not be accurate or a true representation of what is actually happening is presented as fact with people "on the ground" reporting a very different situation based on a whole range of factors - catches, fish seen, redds, spawning activity etc.

Statistics do have a part to play in fisheries management but so do the observations and records of anglers, bailiffs, gillies etc who are very often on the river every week or even day.

Reliability of data, reporting of catches, variance in correlation between catches and number of fish in the river could all mean that such stats as a means of assessing stocks in a river in any year could be way off the mark.

As has been said before, only reliable fish counters where all fish have to run over the counter can really tell us how many fish run a river in any year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See below the WUF response to the NRW questionaire.


. Please click here to view thier response.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The below quote from that reply  interested me.  I was not aware that 3 degrees in oral human surgery had very much to do with the internal workings of the  mouth of a salmon.
   
"Trebles above the size of 10 should not be used for flies. Doubles are just as effective and can be left in situ if close to a vulnerable area (I speak with 40 years’ experience and 3 degrees on the subject of oral surgery!) This is not the case with larger trebles. "