River really on its bones now on the upper and middle beats.  Somewhat conflicting reports on numbers of fish coming in though the quality seems good.  Should be plenty of 2sw fish around now but apparently not;   Nice fish for Mike Sutton at Goodrich a couple of days ago and a fish this morning, 15lbs from Wyesham on fly.  One other fish upriver at Luggsmouth and that's pretty much it recently, though Bigswier are seeing fresh grilse and two have been caught.

Was reading the recent edict from WUF re care for out tributaries.  Seems to be re writing history as isn't this what they have been doing at vast expense over the last 20 plus years.   Didn't work it seems in spite of what we were always being told.

Had a day off yesterday and went through the upper Wye up past the closest you get get to the source by road.   To say its a trickle is an understatement and I was struck by the amount of forestry felled on the steep hillsides.  Covered in wooden debris, bare soil and open to the next big rainfall event which will no doubt dump some of it into the river.   Similar to the Welsh villages swamped by last summers storms and now attributed to similar tree felling by  NRW   Who else.!!!   Plenty of cattle in the river too.

Worth a read below but much of the same has been said before by many other bodies.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57682243

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Well we think we have it bad Enough but read the below and see how our New Zealand fisherman are faring with the pollution of their rivers and lakes and the seemingly similar inaction by their Government.  we are not alone and much of the world faces the same threat.

NZFFA June 2021 Newsletter   Welcome to Your Newsletter   The Federation's  Executive: President: Peter Trolove (Rakaia) Treasurer: David Haynes (Nelson) Secretary: David Haynes (Nelson) Committee: Steve Gerard (Central South Island), Andi Cockroft (Wellington), Larry Burke (NZ Salmon Anglers), Zane Mirfin (Nelson), Brett Bensemann (Otago), Casey Cravens (Otago), Colin Taylor (Nelson), Grant Henderson (Auckland), Rex Gibson (Canterbury) Life Members, Tony Orman, (Marlborough), Sandy Bull (Gisborne), Ian Rodger (Auckland) and Ken Sims (Manawatu) are automaticaly on the committee Co-opted:  Alan Rennie (North Canterbury)

 

Brief Report from NZFFA AGM, June 2021 Anglers are due to descend upon Parliament to tell government to call the Department of Conservation off its proposed takeover of Fish and Game. At the annual general meeting of the NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers (NZFFA) held in Nelson in late June, it was unanimously resolved by delegates to send a delegation to Parliament to tell the government that the organisation opposed government representation on fish and game councils and that all 150,000 licence holders should be consulted. The proposals referred to, came from newly released recommendations of the Fish and Game review two person panel set up by Eugenie Sage when she was Conservation Minister. Minister Sage said the review would deal only with governance matters but the agenda seemed to have changed to a restructuring which proposed government appointees on both the national and all regional councils said NZFFA secretary David Haynes of Nelson. “It is tantamount to state intrusion and a strong measure of government control of what were totally democratically elected fish and game councils,” he said. There were other aspects to proposals such as reducing the number of fish and game regions. Critics of the proposals say if implemented, trout and salmon anglers and shooters will inevitably be faced with big licence fee increases said one delegate. The Department of Conservation which would provide the government appointees came in for strong criticism and its failure to support fish and game river conservation protection orders. At he annual meeting delegates president Peter Trolove of Canterbury told of  NZFFA’s nitrate testing of rivers particularly in Canterbury where nitrate leaching from widespread intensive dairying had resulted in nitrate levels toxic to fish life - both trout and native species. Nitrate levels were so high as to be above safe levels for human health.  High nitrate levels in aquifers have by comprehensive overseas studies, been linked to bowel cancer rates. Canterbury has one of the highest bowl cancer rates in the world. That is according to Federation of Freshwater Anglers, which has been testing the Selwyn River and has found polluting nitrates have increased by up to 50 percent in the space of just 22 months. Peter Trolove had been monitoring the Selwyn River  and other rivers near Christchurch with a nitrate tester. The Selwyn, which people could no longer swim in, was once a top trout fishing destination. "If you go back before World War Two, it was considered one of the top half dozen trout fisheries in the country. And they had fish counts of over 200,000 trout going up the river, and it's fallen to, well, I don't know if they find any trout now." The blame lay fair and square with the Canterbury Regional Council and its decision to allow intensive dairy farming around the Selwyn and across the plains, he said. Peter Trolove was re-elected as president with David Haynes (Nelson) secretary-treasurer.

 

NZFFA Survey Results   As many will know, NZFFA has been running a survey the past month seeking Members' opinions on the Minister's review of Fish and Game.   Overwhelmingly, your results show opposition to government interference in operation of F&G, with many having mixed feelings about some of the less controversial suggestions such as limiting terms of office etc.   The results are on the website as Graphical Results here, and optional comments people left unabridged here.   The survey remains open, and you still have time for your voice to be heard. The results will be used in our meetings with Ministers and F&G.   Add to the NZFFA Survey here.

 

Press Release NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers Fish and Game Review Proposals Undemocratic   Hunters and fishers would largely be deprived from participation and management of their sports body, NZ Fish and Game, if recommendations contained in a recently released Government-instigated review of their organisation are adopted, states the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers (NZFFA). “It takes out the heart of ‘user-pays/user says’,” says NZFFA president Dr Peter Trolove. The review proposes control being passed to the Minister of Conservation and the Department of Conservation (DOC). “This so-called ‘independent’ review, called for by former Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage, highlights a glaring conflict of interest within a government department in which many see their role solely as conservators of New Zealand’s indigenous species – while condemning trout and salmon as ‘introduced predators’. Ironically DOC has a very poor record in managing and conserving New Zealand’s native fish,” Dr Trolove says. The review recommends that an elected or appointed salaried chair of NZ Fish and Game (NZFGC) should head and control the implementation of the review. The present chair of the NZFGC Ray Grubb told Radio NZ the organisation itself would now be implementing the recommendations of the review with the agreed approval of Environment Minister David Parker. “The minister has endorsed that approach by recognising that I will continue as chair of Fish and Game, and that Fish and Game will actually put in place the report itself rather than have it directed by the Department of Conservation,” Grubb says - maintaining he is the right person to lead the changes. Trolove says that could be viewed as a dictatorial undemocratic process being forced upon a sports organisation financed entirely by the annual licence fees that are paid for by individual fishers and hunters. “The New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers demand that licence holders and Fish and Game regional councillors have the opportunity to discuss and vote as to whether they accept the review and current Fish and Game chair’s intentions. Anything less would smack of dictatorship and a Government takeover of a public member-financed sports body.” The review’s proposed changes of government appointees occupying previously elected council seats, both nationally and regionally, would be seen by many as an agenda of government takeover, not unlike the government’s seizure of Environment Canterbury back in 2009, Trolove says. “This governance review is weak on positive governance recommendations. Diminishing democratic participation isn’t improved governance,” he says. Trolove says democracy has been a hallmark of Fish and Game to make it fully effective an automatic "opt-in" registration of all licence holders to vote in Fish and Game elections should be implemented. Currently on buying a licence an angler or shooter has to signify separately, his or her, wish to be an eligible voter. “Plus we would want more regular public consultation, especially on controversial topics like water policy or sustainable tourism”, he adds   Contact: Peter Trolove, President NZFFA Phone 03 324 2779 or 029 779 0295 © Peter Trolove - "a Government takeover of a public member-financed sports body.”

 

Trout Don’t See Eye to Eye With Us by Tony Orman I suspect, we trout anglers too often assume trout have the same perception and vision of flies as us. Perception is the key word. It is what the eye transmits to the brain and the brain’s ability that is so important. It’s nothing new. The English “father” of nymphing, G E M Skues, in “The Way of a Trout With the Fly” written in 1921, discussed trout vision and saw through it all. “The nature and needs of trout differ greatly from those of man,” he explained. “and it need not therefore surprise us if examination should lead us eventually to the conclusion that his (the trout’s) perception by eyesight differs materially from that of man.” Research many years ago, in the US examined the eye sight of frogs and said frogs do not actually see whole insects but detect “insectedness”. In other words, they perceived the “insectedness,” a term coined by a trout fishing writer in the US, Ted Trueblood, who I admired tremendously. As a youngster, I feasted on his articles because they were so practical, never pompously lecturing, never pretentiously using too big a words for a young or old simple fisherman and well he was just so down-to-earth. Scientists might recoil at the thought of matching a frog’s eyesight to that of a trout, but then, why can’t I? I’m no scientist but I’m a would-be fly fisher. Take a trout fly that we are trying to fool the trout with. There is a hook sticking out of the insect. Yet trout, that are being selective, take a fly, but do not see the hook. We do. It’s plain to see. Back to Skues, who wrote “The balance of probability, I think, leans to the theory that the trout is so obsessed by the pressure of appetite that he sees only what he wants to see - his supposed insect prey.” The reality may be that the trout only sees and perceives not so much what “he wants to see” but what he can see and perceive. It’s not so much that he doesn’t see the hook but he doesn’t have the perception via brain as humans have - and does not see the hook. The reality is a trout has a low intelligence and consequently a low ability of perception. Back in 1974 in “Trout With Nymph”, I wrote “If we fail to catch rising or nymphing fish, it is not the trout’s intelligence and cunning which causes it to ignore the artificial, but simply our failure to match the particular trout food at the moment.” I then went on to relate the comments of a Nelson fly fisher Jim Ring, who introduced the “supernormal” theory based on findings by animal behaviourist scientists such as Konrad Lorenz and Tinbergen. Jim told me “Simple animals such as fish do not look at the whole object-they see some special feature on it which they recognise.” The supernormal releaser is a feature in the fly that is the trigger for the fish to recognise it as an insect or that “insectedness,” as Ted Trueblood termed it. Ted Trueblood identified translucence as a key factor in a nymph and he rated dubbing as having that effect due to the mix of fibres and perhaps tiny bubbles of air trapped in the fur. He developed some simple patterns and invariably they comprised dubbing particularly seals fur. And they were tending to be simple rather than complicated to tie. The important thing is Ted Trueblood kept it simple and he incorporated dubbing on his “insectedness” angle.   © Hare and Copper Nymph with bead head

 

Postings From the Website Some of our more recent posts from the website (see https://nzffa.com)

 

Delaware Bay Access Group Could everyone do me and the Delaware Bay Access Group a big favour and sign this petition to Parliament about recreational boating access to Delaware Bay. The petition can be… Read more... Depletion of Kahawai Along Marlborough’s Coastline Published by courtesy of the “Blenheim Sun” The Marlborough Recreational Fishers Association has written to the government expressing deep concern about the heavy depletion of kahawai along Marlborough’s coastline. In… Read more... Government Makes 16th Power Grab of Fish and Game by Tony Orman Way, way back in 1974 I wrote to the Labour government and in particular the Minister of Internal  Affairs Henry May about a government proposal to reorganise… Read more... The Environment, Canterbury Hit after hit after hit…Just how bad does it have to get….?? Hinds River, Mid Canterbury, Surveyors Road Bridge, upstream view 25th April 2021 You would think that having a… Read more... CORANZ Press Release Government Power Grab For Public’s Fish and Game The government through the Department of Conservation seems to make a major play for state ownership of the public’s fish and game… Read more... Fish and Game Review Proposals Undemocratic Hunters and fishers would largely be deprived from participation and management of their sports body, NZ Fish and Game, if recommendations contained in a recently released Government-instigated review of their… Read more... The Canterbury Regional Council’s Freshwater Legacy. A Pictorial Essay When the Key government sat down with its MAF advisors in 2009 to double New Zealand’s GDP through ramping up irrigated dairy farming in Canterbury, it passed… Read more... Fish Deaths from Lethal Spray in Canterbury An estimated 600 to 1000 fish died as a result of a lethal spray being tipped into a Canterbury waterway, including common bullies, native kōkopu, brown trout, and koura or freshwater… Read more... Letter calling for urgent review of South Canterbury rivers rejected From Timaru Herald: Supplied Otop members Elizabeth McKenzie, Dr Phil Driver and Tom O’Connor say the Pareora River (above) has been “over-allocated.” An attempt to urge Environment Canterbury (ECan) to… Read more... Flow-on effect ‘Modest’ improvement to water quality from plan change Courtesy of Fuseworks: Horizons Regional Council has adopted recommendations that will allow some intensive farming operations to apply for resource consent – after a gap of three years. At its… Read more...