FLY FISHING ON THE LORDS DAY: (An Anglers Apologetic)

---

The first 10 days of October gave us typically pleasant autumn grayling fishing and there was good work to be done on both dry fly and nymph. It was a fine time to be out and about with a fly rod. However, although the drought had been broken definitively enough with rain and high water in late September, it was surprising how quickly some of the streams now reverted to being low and clear. This was particularly true about the Lugg, a stream on which I tend to be happier when that famous greyish stain is apparent in the water.

Everything changed when Storm Callum arrived on the 12th, bringing high winds and several days of really hard rain. Floods arose everywhere, amber warnings were published and both main rivers burst their banks in places, the Usk showing a particularly dramatic spike in level. At one point the bridge at Abergavenny was closed with river water up to the top of the arches and even washing over the roadway at the town end.

Worse still for some, the river had crept over the beer garden and was invading the bar of the Bridge Inn! Meanwhile the unruly Irfon was causing trouble over at Llangammarch Wells, where the well deep in the cellar of the Cammarch Hotel erupted with water and flooded the beer cooling machine. Thus no drought ale was to be had in the village at all for a while; these were certainly troubling times! For the Usk flood see: Fishing on rivers was necessarily halted for a few days.

As the Usk dropped back I turned out on the 16th at the Breconshire Fishery for a last try with the salmon rod. Evidence of the recent flood was all over the riverside meadows where debris had been stranded in fences. Today the Usk was still high but not too coloured and it was falling fast, so fishing with a fast sink tip and a fair sized tube seemed viable. It was good to be out and casting, but in the end I desisted, mainly due to the number of out of season trout hitting the tube fly.

A good salmon was taken that day downstream at Glanusk Park and on the 17th, last chance of the season, PR of Shrewsbury had a super 38 inch hen fish on a Pot Bellied Pig at Abernant on the Wye. See his photograph taken with an admirable regard to fish welfare and a safe release. A 30 pounds fish was also reported from the lower Usk. What followed as the levels fell was another period of exactly the kind of autumn weather which grayling anglers hope for: And we did have some good catches although I was a little disappointed in the lack of natural fly on the water.

Possibly the previous drought and its effect on invertebrate life was to blame for this. Even now, and this does seem extraordinary, river levels fell off rapidly because the ground was still basically dry. There were afternoons of warm sunshine without a breath of wind, but very few late olives, willow flies or other insect life in evidence and not the ring of a single rise to be seen disturbing the surface over hundreds of yards of river.

Nevertheless, grayling could often be persuaded up by a well-presented dry fly and they would certainly take nymphs. While storms assailed mainland Europe, we finished the month with a sharp and frosty cold snap and our rivers low and clear. Incidentally, I have evolved my own system for measuring the dryness of the ground, although it may not be very scientific.

This is the old pit engine pond in front of the Mosely Green Rising Sun, a watering hole where I am quite well known, as my father was before me. Normally this pond, fed by nearby springs, is overflowing for most of the year, but drops by about a foot during dry summer months. On the last day of October this year the pond was still on mid-summer level and the gold-fish with a couple of carp were clustered in the muddy centre.

Let's go to the detailed reports beginning with a couple of late ones from September and the back end of the trout season. JH from Chepstow fished the Edw at Hergest on the 30th and recorded 17 small trout. On the same day WP from Presteigne fished the Hindwell Brook at Knill, and using a small Pheasant Tail Nymph with a tungsten bead had a fine 16 inch trout in his bag of 7 fish. You never quite know what's to be found in small brooks, do you, especially if they are not fished too often?

They used small dry flies although they were troubled at times by downstream winds. Next day Dave Collins was out on Cefnllysgwynne, where he found the number of rising fish rather limited 5 grayling recorded. What was really annoying for him was the spectacle of five canoes ploughing their way through the pools, quite illegally and without concern for the sport they were spoiling. There just isn't room for boating along with serious fishing on a river the size of the Irfon, but - have a care - this may be an example of what is coming for us all if the access law in Wales changes.

JD of Hereford fished at Abernant, caught 9 grayling to 10 inches fishing a team of wet flies and asked whether anglers object to recording their catches with metric measurements. Or is it perhaps an age thing? Might it even indicate a view of Brexit, I wondered for a moment? Let's not go there.

JD, I think it probably is an age thing and I admit I am one of those who take measurements in "old money," in my case using marks notched on the landing net handle. Young anglers, especially match anglers, are usually in the habit of giving metric measurements. Never mind, we have a conversion chart and we are happy to read either. Did you hear about the last salmon I caught? Fully an ell long, it was. That's a Scottish ell, not an English ell, you understand? IR from Leamington Spa was after salmon when he fished at Llangoed and Lower Llanstephan, but I note from his report how he was pestered by curious cattle where he parked his car.

Having seen what cows can do to a parked car, can I advise anglers who prize their wheels to use an alternative parking spot when stock are in a field? Sheep won't damage your pride and joy, but cattle or horses might well. I am sure it is only a matter of curiosity at something unusual in their familiar field, but typically they will slobber over it, defecate over it, give themselves a thorough scratching until they rub the mirrors off it, and finally award the panels a couple of good kicks before leaving. It's up to you, of course.

JA from Leominster reported a good day on the 8th with 22 grayling from Lyepole on the Lugg. However, he also reported "something odd in the water, and it turned out to be the leg of an otter. I should refer everybody to last month's newsletter on illegal hunting using more than two dogs and AP from Wirral's report on 29th September of so-called "mink hounds" working this part of the Lugg.

The Wye and Usk Foundation

Quite apart from the law on hunting with dogs, I'm perfectly aware that these days there is a section of the angling community who are not so much in love with the presence of otters in their waters. The impression I get is that while otters have to work pretty hard to make a living in rivers with wild fish, they can be very damaging to heavily stocked and enclosed waters. In some carp fisheries individual fish are worth thousands of pounds. We can have a debate as to whether, when and where this presently protected animal might be culled, but they delight me and I would always vote for restraint and a humane method.

The last time I saw the Lyepole otter alive and well was on the 27th when he was fishing just below the cottage - as I reported the same evening. Judging by the recent catch returns, he didn't take so many of our grayling, did he? On the more optimistic side, two live otters were spotted at Lyepole by anglers on the 10th, which raised the possibility that JA was mistaken and a mink was the victim in this case. It might even, we suppose, have been killed by otters who certainly don't get along with mink on their territory.

Natural England and West Mercia Police's wild-life crime officer for Herefordshire have been informed of the circumstances. Back to our fishing reports and also on the 8th Craig Llyn owner Shaun Watkins accompanied a party of three visitors from Normandy. Between them they accounted for 28 grayling.

The same party had 26 more grayling from Craig Llyn two days later. Apart from seeing Lyepole otters on the 10th, MB from North Shields and a friend recorded 26 small grayling. The next day Storm Callum came in and it really began to rain hard along with powerful winds. All our rivers rose rapidly, bursting the banks in places, and so fishing came to a halt for the best part of a week.

Despite the floods, there were those anglers who tried in difficult conditions. AG from Harleston fished at Doldowlod on the 15th and managed three grayling including a fish of 17 inches. He was fishing the edge of the flooded river with nymphs under an indicator. AG, who I think comes over from Norfolk every year to fish our waters, stayed on here for five days. MM from Aspen found the Lugg in flood when she came to fish at Eyton on the 17th, but she still managed a grayling - see photo. Was that the first grayling for MM, I wonder?

I don't think they have the species in Colorado although the trout fishing is world famous. Despite the water being still quite high, PB from Gloucester and 3 friends managed 18 grayling to 18 inches when they returned to the Wye at Doldowlod - also on the 18th! These were mostly taken on dries. AG of Harleston was on the Rocks and managed 9 grayling to 14 inches. On the following day he had 9 more to 16 inches from Cefnllysgwynne. Meanwhile LB from Bude with a friend fished the Colonel's Water upstream and they had 12 grayling on spiders.

DS from Dymock with 3 friends had 16 grayling between them from Craig Llyn on the 20th, the river still being quite high although now running clear. He mentioned in the by-catch part of his report an out of season 16 inch trout with a blue dye-mark, the usual identification for a stock fish on the Monnow. According to their website, Tregate Anglers immediately upstream have continued to stock with dye-marked fish in recent years, but in reduced numbers and only in the upper part of their water.

Occasionally you find one at Skenfrith. I suppose this one must have travelled a way in the other direction. Monnow Valley hasn't introduced stock fish since I have known the fishery. On the 25th JB from Tewkesbury had a very good day at Doldowlod, with 15 grayling including several big fish - 19 inches reported. JD from Porthcawl also found the Rocks fishing well, and took 15 grayling to 15 inches. He was fishing the duo method and saw quite a number of rises. NW from Bromsgrove fished at Lyepole the next day for 24 grayling to 42cm.

AP from Wirral also fished at Lyepole on the 27th, catching 10 grayling and seeing a salmon on the beat - good news of course. If I read the report correctly, he also shared the fishing during the afternoon with two rod and line poachers, which is not at all good news. Unfortunately a report after the event does little or nothing to resolve the problem - see the end of this newsletter on poaching. Congratulations to the fishery management for replacing the "wonky" stile at Ty Newydd, plus also building a new stile arrangement to get us over the next fence upstream - we more elderly anglers will appreciate these repairs a great deal!

Incidentally, if you haven't visited Ty Newydd for a while, you will see that the old fishing lodge, the one which we used to know affectionately as "the Scout Hut," has been replaced by a modern Scandinavian-style wood building as a holiday let. It's quite impressive if you fancy a riverside holiday with views as well as fishing - see here. Meanwhile, anglers now have their own parking at the bottom end, as you will see from the directions.

You will find when you get to the top end that there is now a path with a couple of stiles running down to the right just above the bank; this gets you through to the mouth of the Clettwr at the top of the beat without disturbing occupants of the holiday cottage and its garden. This has proved to be another grayling dry fly season in which "white hackle flies" worked for me at times.

That should not to be taken to mean that I am going to turn my back on those old fly box standards such as Red Tag or Grayling Steel Blue - far from it. But there were certainly days and times when the fish were getting nervous and a switch to something like a Sturdy's Fancy or a Grayling White Witch produced an immediate and positive response. The lesson I keep in my head at such times is that if the shoal you have in front of you is no longer ready to rise freely, work through the fly box and ring the changes. On one occasion I visited a pool once in the morning and caught a few before they switched off, but then went off to have lunch, fished elsewhere for a bit, and then came back for a second try at the original spot with a few different flies and in fact did significantly better.

There also seemed to be quite a few days this autumn when grayling proved difficult, the rises being "short" or aborted at the last moment, so that few fish were hooked. Quite apart from changing flies, I proved to my own satisfaction again - should proof be needed - that this problem can often be solved by casting downstream or across to the fish, rather than taking up a conventional position below and casting diagonally upstream. No lesser authorities on grayling than Reg Rhygini and more recently John Roberts recommended these tactics, the important point being that the fly should lead the tippet down over the fish rather than the other way round.

Using a parachute cast downstream, you should be able to create enough slack in the leader so that the fly will trot downstream about 10 feet before drag sets in, at which point you lift off and re-deliver the fly further up. Other points to bear in mind with grayling is that the best fish usually lie at the leading edge of the shoal, and also that if a shoal is unduly disturbed, it will tend to move slowly upstream. I happened to be there with a client that same day and PB was quite lyrical in expressing to us his support for the pattern.

Nobody could have been more pleased than I to hear this, because it is also a great favourite of mine. It was invented in Derbyshire during the s by the legendary fly dresser Roger Woolley, but I probably would not have come across it had Reg Righyni in his famous book Grayling not suggested it along with a handful of others for both dry and wet fly use. I can't think of a better recommendation than that. The GSB has much to commend it: Now here's another one, almost as good, again from the Derbyshire school of bumble-style palmers, probably originally designed by David Foster and again recommended by Righyni.

As always, use a cock hackle for dressing the dry fly version and hen hackle for the wet:.

Follow by Email

Yellow Pearsalls silk no 4 Body: Palmered light blue dun. Halford in his day seems to have modified these old bumble patterns by reversing two materials, making the body from the silk and using a single peacock herl or peacock sword as a rib. I can't see the reason for the change which hardly makes for a long-lived fly; I like the version described above and like to think it is probably the original. It works for me - why not give it a try. Meanwhile, if you want to try out some modern grayling flies, Paul Proctor gives a good list of patterns in the November edition of Trout and Salmon.

Good news for trotting enthusiasts! After a hiatus in supplies, Drennan have the revised version of their float fishing nylon back on the market. This should stay quite happily on the surface all day without the need for greasing or spraying it with silicone, and thus making for easy pickup on the strike.

For grayling, I'm using the 3. If you can't find it elsewhere, try my local tackle shop in Lydney: Forest Tackle 01 We now have an update on NRW's proposed new regulations, or perhaps I should write "draconian regulations" as described by the Angling Trust, for salmon and sea trout fishing in Wales. The situation as detailed in the April letter was that NRW was declining to discuss the situation further with the angling community as the organisation had decided its position and would not budge from it.

Therefore the proposed new regulations regarding catch and release and hook types would be put before the Welsh Assembly during the winter and, assuming a positive vote, would become law in time for the season. Anglers by this time had a strong sense that NRW had made up its mind on the subject even before consultations and that their views were being totally ignored.

It now appears the Welsh Government, with good reason I would suggest, has become concerned about the apparent and growing rift between NRW and a large section of the general public it serves. Pressure has come from Assembly members and Westminster MPs to revisit the matter. Accordingly, there will now be a public inquiry into the proposed bye-laws, at which anglers will have an opportunity to re-state their views. The Angling Trust will take the leading rode in presenting the case for the salmon and sea trout anglers.

Here is a story from quite a long time ago. A man I will call Keith could usually be found in his favourite corner of the pub in a mid-Surrey village just below the North Downs, telling stories and accepting a pint from anybody who would listen. A dark, saturnine looking man in early middle age, he nominally earned money doing odd farm jobs, but this didn't seem to take up much of his time.

His rented cottage was around the corner; this was just before the place became completely gentrified and all the 17th and 18th century cottages were bought and restored by commuting stockbrokers, BBC producers and the like. Keith was a representative of the village as it used to be, not of what it was about to become. At home there was an old-fashioned kitchen with a wood-burner stove on which stood a large and blackened game pot which, according to legend, had been kept permanently simmering and unwashed for years on end. Now and then Keith would add some onions or chopped carrots, potatoes, pepper and salt, but mainly pieces of rabbit and pheasant to keep the show on the road.

A hare would be a nice treat. A plateful would occasionally be ladled out from the famous pot and more materials regularly added. When Keith talked about taking "one for the pot," he meant it more literally than most. In the kitchen, his dogs would be curled up on the stone floor and his old 12 bore stood against the brick wall, ready to be tucked under his arm as he went out. However, Keith was taking and selling a lot more game from the surrounding fields and woods than was needed for his pot. According to his own account, he knew exactly what to do with nets and snares.

His involuntary benefactor in the acquisition of marketable and edible game was the owner of the local estate, a nationally known millionaire - you would recognise the name - who had made his money in the hotel and catering industries. It was a proper shooting estate, with serious efforts under way to raise large numbers of driven pheasants, and two keepers to look after it all. Keith, I imagine, must have been quite a thorn in their sides. A typical story he would relate in the pub might be about the last time he was had up in front of the magistrates at Guildford: Both the keepers were there to give evidence against me.

But the keepers, they stayed behind at court to claim their expenses. I got a taxi straight back here and shot more than 20 birds before they showed up. It's a very curious and rather illogical thing, this attraction the figure of the traditional poacher has for the British public. Perhaps it's the idea of the little man showing the finger to authority, something of the charm of Charlie Chaplin's antics in the silent films.

Nearly a century ago, Lilias Rider Haggard, who was a girlhood friend of my grandmother's, edited or more likely ghost-wrote I Walked by Night: City people love this sort of stuff. In the countryside, quite a number of people will happily tell you about their poaching past, assigning a more or less heroic role to themselves. Nowadays they will even boast about it on social media.

I was going to write that, oddly enough, I never came across an East European poacher, a figure much discussed these days, although I have known quite a few English and Welsh ones in my time. However, just recently I came across three Russians so they claimed to be spinning our Forest pool, lobbing small Mepps spoons at our rainbow trout.

They hadn't realised it was private, they explained, although they had walked past two signs making it clear that it was. They left amiably enough. I suspect that, unchallenged, they would have made a good job of emptying the lake. A less savoury incident which made it to the national news recently was the case of a commercial fishery owner, according to his own account with his patience tried to the limit, who put up a sign effectively reading: No dogs or Eastern Europeans.

He was rightly made to take this offensive sign down. I need to pick my words carefully here; it's easy enough to be accused either of racism, or, alternatively, unwarranted political correctness. The fact is that angling is perceived differently in some other European countries, where even coarse fish are still routinely taken for the pot.

Restaurants in Central and Eastern Europe commonly serve smoked carp or eels as a delicacy, and even pikelets, perch, roach and tench are available on occasions. So too they were once in the UK, where Victorian anglers would even slaughter bream for the pot.

The catch and kill issue is a matter of evolving differences in culinary and sporting customs, and I would suggest that few are quite as conservative in their views as British game anglers. I do remember inviting some refugee friends from Bosnia for carp fishing on a Surrey pool some years ago and they were deeply shocked when I caught and returned the first one. They had brought the barbecue all ready. Meanwhile, much work has been done to translate and explain our somewhat arcane laws on fishing rights for visitors to our shores.

In Poland, for example, fishing laws although strictly applied are much simpler to understand. Fishing is extremely popular in Eastern Europe and many sporting immigrants living and working here have taken to conventional angling under British rules with alacrity. Eastern Europe over the last few decades has certainly taught us a series of new ways to fish weighted nymphs in heavy water. At the last count, 29 "migrant anglers" were working in the voluntary bailiff scheme see below and 2 more as full-time EA enforcement officers. Back on the subject of the home-grown poachers, I'm reminded of a gentleman I will call "Old Tom," who happily admits to a long history of salmon poaching offences recorded at Monmouth Magistrates Court before it closed.

Tom claims to be retired now and therefore to be considered an honest man, although other anglers call him "the old reprobate" to his face. Now he haunts the Usk clad in a battered oilskin and armed with a well-used spinning rod. He takes his fish legally today, although in fishing terms he certainly comes right to the point.

And the whole and only point of fishing, as far as Tom is concerned, is to catch more and bigger salmon than anybody else. There are none of these silly ideas about "there is more to fishing than fish" with Tom. Nor would he waste time on any of this falsely polite "you take the pool first" nonsense, because Tom always makes darned sure that he gets the pool first if he can manage it.

In that sense, Tom is still a poacher. A typical meeting with Tom is that I have just started with the fly rod down from the head of the pool, fishing systematically and with anticipation towards the well-known hotspot half way down. The club rule is that fly-fishers have precedence and any late arrivals should step in behind those already fishing. But what is this I see in front of me?

Tom with his battered hat and ancient coat suddenly appears from the bushes half way down my own bank, right opposite the hotspot, and lobs a Toby lure straight to the crucial lie.

And he does it again and again, until I catch up with him. Whereupon Tom does a theatrical double-take and with a look of angelic innocence on his face says: Didn't see you there mate. Somehow I never have the heart to be angry with him. So much for poachers and their supposed charm. There is really a much more serious and unpleasant side to it. My father didn't fish but he was a sometime shooting man and, in his day, shooting in the Forest was fairly relaxed. Anybody was welcome to shoot vermin such as grey squirrels and good luck if you could find a rabbit or a hare in neighbouring open spaces.

There were always a few half-wild pheasants around in the woods. But today, in a more controlled and safety-conscious environment and with many more visitors about, poaching has become a serious matter in the Forest of Dean. It takes place at night and fallow deer and now feral boar are the main targets. Even in 27, acres of woodland the sound of a rifle in the night has become too much of a give-away to the police and so a cross-bow is often used. Do you imagine that injured animals are followed up humanely?

The likely clues to be found in the morning are a pile of eviscerated guts, maybe some blood and a head, and the van's tyre tracks in the mud. It's hard to see the charm in business of this kind. Once, while walking along the Camel estuary in Cornwall, I saw a man fishing in what seemed to be a strange way. With a powerful rod he was casting a very heavy weight across the channel, before wrenching it back along the bottom in a series of violent sideways strikes.

When he saw me watching from the other side, he took off. It was explained to me later that he was probably "snatching," or attempting to foul-hook salmon and peal with a line of big hooks fastened above the lead. NRW will remember the case of the net which we found stretched across the tidal section at the bottom of our Loughor waters a few years ago.

It contained some 20 dead salmon and sea trout and it emerged that the perpetrators had come up from the estuary on jet skis in order to set it. Again, on an early November day I was making up tackle ready to go grayling fishing on the Irfon.

As I did so, a chap was on the other side of the car park loading a van. When he was finished he came over for a chat. My antennae pricked up, because somehow I didn't think he meant grayling at all. I had an idea from the beginning this would be an uncomfortable conversation. No, we have finished with them at this time of the year. But I let it go. However, my interlocutor kept on talking and pressing for information, which is a valuable commodity if you have designs on the spawning salmon running up into the tributaries.

Eventually, he couldn't resist taking out his mobile phone and showing me a photograph of a large cock salmon, maybe 20 pounds and very definitely dead, hung from a beam with a rope round its tail. The colour of the fish was almost completely black.

I'm one of those. And believe me, NRW are well informed about the problems of the area. It seems a depressing thing to conclude, but I think as long as our rivers have a salmon run there will be those who try to take them by any means foul or fair. The fish are at their most vulnerable when the rod and line season closes and they make their way into the thin water and pools of the tributaries.

If you fish for grayling during the winter, you will certainly become aware of just how vulnerable they are because on November and December days, you may find yourself at close quarters with the big fish busy with their family arrangements. They come close because in these circumstances they have lost much of their fear. Learn to move away to avoid undue disturbance and tread carefully where there may be redds. In a very real sense the sight of spawning salmon at close hand should be a privilege.

I remember that years ago I was home on winter leave and with the then quite new Foundation's help, fixed up some fishing at Llangurig on New Year's Day. This was in the era of cold winters and the upper valley of the Wye, when I got there after a 90 mile drive, looked bleak and ice bound, a haunt for buzzards and ravens. The water was low and clear. However, I did manage to catch a few grayling, which pleased me tremendously.

Then wandering the beat with the afternoon light already beginning to fade, I found myself looking over a boulder into a deep and still pool. As I watched, a pair of enormous fish glided into view just below me, keeping close together. The hen fish was in the mid-teens of pounds, but the cock salmon was significantly larger, easily in the twenties I would guess. I could clearly see his deep red colour, the individual spots on his flank and the hook of his jaw.

I held my breath, feeling I had been granted something very special with this meeting - an audience with the king and queen of the river. While the rest of us worry about the decline of salmon and sea trout runs affected by a long list of threats and while we agree to restrict our fishing in various ways and work out what else can be done to improve the situation, maybe donate money for the benefit of the fish, the poacher continues as if the days of plenty were still here.

The evidence of what goes on is clear enough: Last year a man wearing a face mask and in the act of introducing a white powder from a can to an Irfon pool ran off when surprised by an angler. An idea still lingers among some on the upper reaches that there is a kind of moral right to take salmon after the season closes, simply because there are no local chances for a fish earlier in the year and that there is a long community tradition of doing so. They would be less likely to do so if confronted with the reality of what is involved.

By that logic, some Cornish communities would have a right to take up ship-wrecking again. Poaching has led to violence in the past, not just during the "daughters of Rebecca" social unrest of the s, but much more recently. During the 19th century, Usk proprietors employed several Scottish keepers to watch the river. These were reportedly tough characters who could be relied upon to resist local pressures. J Arthur Hutton, one of a number of owners who worked to improve the Wye during the early 20th century, in Wye Salmon and Other Fish wrote: On one particular night in on the Ithon over a hundred men were out, armed with spears and gaffs, with which some of them assaulted the Bailiffs.

It is a mercy that no one was seriously hurt or killed. I am glad to say that the Bailiffs succeeded in catching fourteen of these scoundrels. But the worst of it was to come. In spite of the strongest evidence of serious assaults made on the Bailiffs, the Bench of Magistrates at Llandrindod inflicted only nominal fines, and one of the magistrates went out of his way to make a short speech afterward, which could only be regarded by the poachers as an encouragement to continue their illegal practices. The photographer J Allen Cash, who travelled down the Wye with his camera in , could be put down as one of the apologists for the poaching tradition.

In The River Wye he wrote: A handful of men go out after dark, armed with long slender poles with large hooks or gaffs fixed to the end. One man carries a light in a large reflector, either acetylene or electric. At night, when the salmon are spawning, they go up into such shallow water that their backs often show above the water. The light, shining across the water, discloses the salmon, whereupon the hook end of one of the poles is dropped into the water, upstream from the salmon.

The current carries it down, and when the hook is opposite a salmon, the pole is swiftly dragged into shore. If properly done, the fish is hooked and dragged ashore, despite often fierce struggling. This is said to be a deadly way of poaching, and a good many spawning salmon never find their way down to the sea again as a result of it. The light cannot but attract the attention of water bailiffs or police, but it serves also as a weapon of defence.

The technique is to turn the light fully upon the intruder as soon as he is heard approaching. The man holding the light must stoutly stand his ground, blinding the keeper while his poaching friends make a get-away. Then the light will suddenly be turned off, and it is up to the man behind it to get clear away before the intruder is able to see again in the darkness. I was assured that this was a most effective scheme, without any known defence. Further downstream and in more recent times, keepers had a hard time of it in defending the Wye's salmon.

I know an estate where most of the council houses are said to have been privatised on the profits of salmon poaching, where salmon nets not illegal to own in themselves used to be hung between the houses drying, and where on occasions sewage workers were called to unblock drains choked with salmon guts. In this case the conflict in the darkness also became distinctly rough: Hutton in his day had great sympathy for the bailiffs charged by the Conservators with watching miles of streams during lonely winter nights at a time when locally "every man's hand is against them.

It would be nice to think that they can rely on that support. Even if the scale of poaching reduces, it should be remembered that every fish which survives to spawn is now more valuable and more needed. I have described some large-scale poaching operations from the past, but we still have our share of individual chancers. It's generally known where the problems exist and probably none of our riverside towns are without a few characters with a history of offending. I would suggest that today the motives are generally not financial, even though I still hear that well-worn story about poor working men looking for some way to feed their families.

I'm afraid I don't believe that for a moment. Dark salmon with encroaching fungus taken in the act of spawning can be of little food or commercial value. I am utterly convinced that these days it's done for sheer devilment and I never met a poacher who didn't like boasting about his own exploits in the pub. If you want to join the circle of amused and admiring listeners, go right ahead!

Apart from the professionals you also have the rather slimy individuals who are just too mean to pay for their fishing. These are the so-called "rod and line poachers" and probably the ones we are most likely to meet on the river. Some of these individuals do very well out of legitimate day-ticket anglers who are too polite or nervous to object when told the age-old story: Dinas, Abercynrig and Ashford House are all vulnerable.

Some are also ready to break the rules about methods; it isn't uncommon to come across somebody with a spinning rod on the Usk in spring. A while ago I was fishing high water on an Irfon beat when I came across a character float fishing with a worm. As this was a fly fishing only beat and I had the only ticket, I suggested he leave. He objected that he had permission from the owner.

As I knew as he surely also did that the owner had died a couple of months before, I mentioned that his widow was in right now and why wouldn't we go round the corner and check with her? At that point he took off. I found out later that, rather than an impoverished individual, he was a lecturer at quite a famous Welsh college. The EA and Angling Trust have organised a voluntary bailiff scheme, NRW also relies heavily on information, and of course fishing clubs absolutely rely on patrols by their own bailiffs.

Police are paying more attention to "wild-life crime" these days, but not all police officers are adequately briefed on laws which are actually quite complicated. To put the situation as simply as possible, poaching is theft. Fish in enclosed still-waters are effectively treated as "live-stock," so the crime of removing them without permission comes under the Theft Act Fishing without permission is more or less the same thing, in this case "theft of fishing rights," but also covered by the Theft Act Fish in rivers and streams whether stocked or not are considered "wild," but fishing for them without permission also constitutes "theft of fishing rights" as covered by the Theft Act Police are directly responsible to prosecute for offences against this Act.

Help is needed to combat poachers, but all those involved will ask you to ensure you do not put yourself at risk. There is much important information here but the vital advice is that, if you see poaching happening, make the call to the authorities at once, while the crime is actually being committed, thus vastly increasing the chance of a successful prosecution later. If you don't have a phone signal, drive to where you do. The numbers to call are on your fishing ticket and should be on your phone.

Police can be informed directly on , asking for the Wild-Life Crime Officer. Police at a recent fishery law enforcement seminar also advised that if the crime is actually in progress, it's perfectly acceptable to use the number to report that theft is being committed. Have all the details to hand. November can be a good grayling month, although days are becoming short. Also there may not be many days left when the dry fly can be employed - although when grayling are seen rising naturally it usually works better than any other method.

Look out for large dark olives around the middle of the day. Otherwise it will be mainly nymphs from now on, with trotting a good option on those beats which allow it. We started the month off with all the rivers still low and not much sign of serious rain on the horizon. The general mood was therefore distinctly glum. Wye salmon anglers were picking off a few long-term residents from fast water in the upper river, while those with access to the bottom end tried for a few more which came in with the tide.

There was still very little good news about salmon from the Usk. Most sea trout anglers had by now given up for the season and Towy banks were overgrown and largely untrodden. On the other hand, the trout and grayling men were often still catching, mainly from the upper Wye and its tributaries, although of course low and clear pools rarely make for easy fishing. DD from Blakeney was one of those fishing the upper Wye on the 1st September, recording a dozen trout and 2 grayling, one at 1.

AS of Newent was fishing further upstream at Craig Llyn, where he caught 10 trout and 10 grayling from inches. Meanwhile BP from Pembridge was high up in the mountains at Llyn Bugeilyn, where he caught 15 trout, including one larger than usual. On the 3rd HW of Swansea with a companion fished using various methods at Craig Llyn for 6 trout and 20 grayling.

Dave Collins of West Herefordshire had a good day at Ty Newydd on the 4th, catching 6 trout, 22 grayling and a couple of chub. While fishing on trout tickets, DF and his son from Llandrindod Wells caught a salmon using an 8 weight rod and a Teal Blue and Silver. To reflect the situation fairly, we also had some reports from experienced anglers who faced tough days. PB from Gloucester with a friend had 8 trout and 2 grayling from Craig Llyn, but found a lack of rising fish with the water cold and level falling slightly.

Were fluctuations in dam release flows responsible? On the 7th MN from Bristol fished the Usk at Glan yr Afon and found the very low water difficult, although he did get a 16 inch trout in a bag of 8. Fly, worm and spinning are allowed on the main Taff at Merthyr and on the same day RO from London reported 20 trout taken with the spinner. On the 8th, AM from Dorridge with a friend had 2 trout and 18 grayling from Doldowlod on nymphs. There was drama on the 10th when MG from Littleborough, who was coarse fishing with three friends at Home Fishery, saw a Hereford calf in the river and in danger of drowning.

They managed to wrestle it out of the water and so the calf survived, but the anglers were left somewhat wet and dishevelled at the end of it all. I hope the farmer was grateful. PB from Leominster fished at Gromaine on the same day and reported an unusual for the upper river half pound perch. He caught 19 trout on dry flies. DE from Menithwood had 1 trout and 9 grayling from Lyepole. On the 15th AS of Newent found the low-water Irfon at Llanfechan difficult, but he had a pretty good result: A weather front came through on the 16th with rather more rain falling on the Wye catchment than had been predicted - thin, drizzly rain it was, but it lasted all day and the ground must have been slowly moistening.

Change was coming at last. The Irfon rose and coloured for a time I was chased by the conditions off the Colonel's Water as did the top of the Wye, coming up as far as 18 inches at Llanstephan.

A report came from MT of Evesham about fishing Llyn Gwgia on the 16th; he was much amused by the business of launching the boat which is a bit of a "plastic tub. This brought high water at last to the upper Wye and Usk, and produced sharp rises up to flood level on the Irfon, Towy and Loughor. However, there was no change yet to the Ithon, Lugg, Arrow or Monnow, where the graphs continued to flatline. One more very windy day on the 19th, and then another front with a second band of really heavy rain followed.

The ground now being well wetted, this time the rivers rose definitively and quickly, and the more reluctant streams, Ithon, Lugg, Arrow and finally even the Monnow, followed suit. The drought was over and, hopefully, all that dirty water pouring downstream represented the algal slime being flushed away from the riverbed stones. There was an understandable hiatus in reports for a while, although DM from Hereford with a friend avoided the floods on the 22nd by fishing the Elan tributary, which is a dam tail-water with relatively stable levels.

They recorded 14 trout and 10 grayling. Four friends DMSW from Hereford braved high water at Craig Llyn on the 23rd and managed 26 trout see the picture of a particularly nice one plus 12 grayling, mostly using French leader techniques. On the 25th CN from Berkeley encountered poachers encroaching on the Dinas water near Brecon, took photographs and reported them - thank you. There are a few big ones up there. On the final weekend NR from Solihull was camping and philosophising about the season's send as he fished Lower Longtown on the Monnow and Pantyscallog on the Usk.

NG from Godalming had a large catch of small grayling at Lyepole and believed he was close to a pack of supposed "mink hounds" that day. I also am fairly sure I have heard a pack working that part of the Lugg valley, as I have on the upper Monnow, and would remind what the law says on the subject, which is that no more than 2 dogs can be used to flush a legal prey animal out to the gun.

If you see a pack of 20 hounds after any mammal, protected or not, it isn't legal. In fact I should note that this part of the Lugg hosts protected otters, not mink. By now high pressure had re-established itself and, as the river levels dropped away again, we experienced cold nights and big temperature swings to warm sunny days. I saw white ground frost in Forest valleys on a several cold mornings. Any expected rush of salmon into our rivers when the drought broke does not seem to have materialised, at least not in numbers and not yet.

Meanwhile Adam Fisher will be reporting the coarse fishing, but some of it during September seems to have been superb, certainly contrasting with difficult game fishing. Many barbel and chub were caught during the floods and anglers came from far and wide to enjoy the sport. Is there a better barbel river in the UK currently than the Wye? The famous barbel rivers were once the Thames, Trent and Hampshire Avon, later the Severn, but I think that would not be the case today. For the grayling anglers, we were left at the end of September with the kind of high pressure conditions we enjoy during the autumn and fish were certainly rising, at least during the afternoons.

I like fine autumn weather but it was Oliver Kite, so very conscious of his surroundings, grateful to be alive and never one to measure his angling days by the spring balance, who wrote that given a choice between a wet day in April and a fine day in late September, he would prefer the first. His reasoning was that the spring day with its showers, its sweet smells and new green growth, promises fresh life and pleasures soon to come. He thought the autumn day, however much the sun shines and warms, nevertheless smells of decay, dead leaves and fungus, ripe or rotting fruit and inevitably reminds of the darkness and cold due to arrive shortly.

For myself, I am not sure; that's a matter for debate. I do believe that Kite's friend and keen grayling angler Reg Ryghini would have voted for the autumn day. I only know that I love our changing seasons and would do almost anything to avoid living again in countries without a proper spring and fall. Well, that rounds up the trout season, which I think turned out to be quite different from anything we expected. Those who hoped to find migratory fish were having a hard time of it, but in fact the trout fishing held up reasonably well even at the height of the heat and drought.

The secret generally was to head upstream and hide from the sun under trees, and some of the brooks on the Wild Streams scheme fished surprisingly well. Let's look at our catchments systematically. The Usk gave excellent sport during the spring as usual but it tailed off again as usual during the hot weather and didn't really come back. The Upper Wye fished well in the spring, a little later than the Usk as we might expect, and then it became difficult, although fish could be taken from fast water. The shaded beats from Builth up to Rhayader did noticeably better than other parts.

Dam release water was a factor in the flow of both main river stems. Our section of the Teme above the Onny junction went dry, but then it usually does. The Lugg and Arrow fished consistently well all through, from the mayfly season on. The main Monnow had good fishing during the mayfly, but was disappointing thereafter.

However, Monnow tributaries such as the Escley Brook, Honddu and upstream beats around Longtown fished well. The little Edw fished consistently well, as it usually does. Some of us had fun on Forest of Dean streams. The Irfon began to produce fish once the shorter days arrived. There were some excellent catches on the mountain lakes. Meanwhile the Taff and many more of the small streams, too many to mention, provided interesting days for some. I suppose this might depend on what you call interesting. I went out on the lower Monnow this morning, probably my last time this season, and found a very low river again, initially with a white frost on the banks followed by a hot bright sun.

I searched a lot of river but only saw one fish rise. On the plus side, I caught it, so I awarded myself a celebratory glass when I got home at lunchtime. It's all a matter of managing expectations. Some thoughts on technical matters come to mind. Over time I have messed around a lot with dry fly leaders, trying to find what I consider to be the ideal combination for the conditions in order to deliver the fly accurately, but gently. Normally I am wedded to quite long leaders and I may well start off with 16 feet on the open river, especially on pool tails.

In calm weather or across the wind, these can be more accurate than you would think. On the other hand, the problem is that I get lazy, and find myself doing something silly like driving such a leader straight into a freshening breeze in an attempt to make it turn over properly. The result is usually a tangled mess of twisted monofilament, whereas what I should have done is sit down on the bank for a few minutes to construct something shorter and more suitable with a steeper taper.

Usually in the business of leader construction one is looking for a stiffish butt and a more limp and compliant tippet section. I have chopped and changed over the years in experimenting with tippet material and the current Hardy copolymer is not bad. However, lately I have got to like the German Stroft brand, the nylon which nymph fishermen are so keen on.

The abrasion resistant ABR version which avoids tangling droppers seems to be the one for nymph fishing, but I find that the softer GTM Stroft makes a very nice dry fly tippet. Nor is it much prone to deteriorate with age, even in the finer diameters. Now for a bit of stand up comedy, today I received a photo of an Angler trying out new supposed life saving gear and going by the photo my advice is stay in the Fishing shed Lads. Wind North light with reasonable cloud cover and the odd shower. Richie White finished their day off with a fine Salmon.

We Start in the hired out boat department of www. Wind W light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. We start on the South Side of the Lake, Mr. Salmon on the troll and not satisfied with that, they put their trolling rods to one side and manipulated their Flies across the water, by the end of their day they had caught 6 Sea Trout ranging from Juniors up to 2 lbs. All in all you can say they had a cracker of a day, staying with the fly, UK angler Mr.

A guest fishing with his Gillie Mr. Bob Priestley, caught 2 Juniors on the drift. A Guest fishing with his Gillie Mr. Ternce Wharton, also caught a few nice Juniors on the drift and staying with Terence in the past few days has caught one Salmon on the troll, while fishing with his guest. Now to the hired out boat department of www. Wind North Light with reasonable cloud cover.

Noel Ross and Mr. Tom Smith from Dublin and fishing in the hired out Boat department of www. Tom Smith from Dublin, today they caught 3 Juniors. Stefan Kuth and his good friend Werner, while fishing with their Gillie, caught 7 Juniors on the Drift. Wind West light with bright sunshine all day. Rob Wilkenson, fishing with his Gillie Mr. Now we cut across to the North Shore and the Bungalow. Arnold Slater, while fishing with his Gillie Mr.

Staying at the Bungalow and the fly department, Mr. Wind N light with bright sunshine all day. Now we head for the hired out boat department of www. Also in good form in his hired out boat from www. Greg Long was in excellent form with 24 Juniors, Mr. John Doyle, who also was in good form with his fly rod, caught 6 Juniors. Staying in the hired out Boat department of www. Stefan Kuth and his good friend Werner, caught 6 Juniors. Now we head up to the upper Lakes and Lough Derriana, Mr.

Graham Elswood and Mr. Bill Hayse, while fishing with their Gillie Mr. Billy Dickson of Bristol while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Graham Ellwood while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O'Shea of www. Wind West light to calm. Now we cut across the lake to the South Side and the hired out boat department of www. Posted by Salmonand Sea Trout at 6: Paul lawton and Mr. Also a big thank you to The Sea Lodge for a great meal. Back to today, Lough Currane was at a standstill with gale force winds from the SSE and if there were any boats out they have failed to report their catches or their losses.

Posted by Salmonand Sea Trout at 5: David Burton, had 3 Sea Trout to his fly rod, ranging from Junior class up to 2 lbs. John Delap, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Enrico Fantasia of Dublin, caught 4 Sea Trout to his fly rod. Wind South fresh with good cloud cover and again very humid. Marc Luyton from Belgium and party, we start on the River Inny, in the last few days they have caught 3 Grilse up to 6 lbs.

Just for the record they have seen a good few Sea Trout and the same goes for the Salmon. William Woermeijer while fishing with his gillie Mr. David Burton, fishing with his Gillie Mr.

• Simple German
• Veterinary Immunology: Principles and Practice
• After Life
• The Three Moons Realm: Characters
• Twice in a Lifetime (Mills & Boon Love Inspired) (The Bodine Family, Book 1)
• Betty and Veronica: Storybook: 7 (Archie & Friends All-Stars)