A rise in river levels following recent rainfall has encouraged anglers onto the regions rivers in the hope of salmon. James Lewis fished a middle Torridge beat and tempted a fine salmon estimated at 9lb. Another salmon estimated at 13lb was tempted from a middle Taw beat. Several other salmon have been seen migrating up river so there is hope that a few more will be tempted during the last two weeks of the season
I attended the West Country Rivers Trust CSI Volunteer Conference at High Bickington on Saturday September 14th. The event was well attended with enthusiastic volunteers from across the region. It is very encouraging to meet with a wide range of people with a passion for rivers. It is clear that there is a need for more coordination of effort between the many different groups that use the rivers a topic that was explored with future plans explained by speakers at the event. https://wrt.org.uk
Many at the event were not anglers and talking with several at the event my view that we need to work together for the good of the rivers was reinforced. Anglers, Canoeists, Wild Swimmers and conservationists all want clean water so we need to focus on our common goals and put our differences aside.
We have had a long period with no communication as a result of technical problems with our website. The problem has finally been resolved. Richard Nickell gripped it and commissioned a new website with a new address: www.rtfca.co.uk:. This modernised, cleaner, sharper website has been launched to allow us to communicate again. I would like to thank Richard and our web designer Elizabeth Walsh (www.elizabeth-walsh.co.uk), who collaborated so effectively. Liz will hopefully boss us into more regular communications.
Click on image below for website :-
Landscape Recovery Scheme – Thoughts
We are working on the idea presented at the AGM and, steadily in the background, on a thoughts document. Ian Blewett’s continuing involvement in the North Devon Catchment Partnership helps us stay engaged with other stakeholders. Landscape Recovery projects require an energetic and enthusiastic farmer as a starting point; one has emerged. Large acreages need to be signed up to enable funding to be applied for. This appears to be happening. We are in discussions with the right partners to keep this ambitious and long-term opportunity in our sights. An overview of the Landscape Recovery Scheme is shown as an addendum to this letter.
Our river has many critical Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species, from our salmon and sea trout through to freshwater pearl mussels as well as increasing numbers of rarer species like shad and otters. There will be more and for those with time on their hands, do look at https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/uk-bap-priority-species/and see if you can identify all the species we host in, on and above our catchment’s rivers. As regards UK fish species, it is likely we have 7 of the15 listed. These BAP species add weight to our application.
Sewage Treatment Works (STWs)
Alex Gibson has been waging war on South West Water because of the inadequate STW system in our catchment which is in part responsible for our water quality problems. We all know that the expansion of our towns and villages town puts additional pressure on already inadequate \\\\|\|||||AASTWs. Alex continues to harass SWW ,trying to hold them to account and pressurise them into cleaning up their act. South Molton and Chittlehamholt STWs appear to be the most problematic STWs at the moment, but there are shortcomings all across the Taw catchment which contains about 35 STWs. All these outflow into the Taw and its tributaries. Alex is putting together a table to show the sewage discharges in our catchment. This will be put on the website when finished. To see how the STW in your area has been performing go to The Rivers Trust website –
As referred to earlier, shad are returning to our river and are useful as a lever to acquire funding and bring pressure to bear on improving the water quality in our river. You cannot legally target this rare species when you fish, but if you do by chance catch a shad please return it to the river as quickly as possible. If you keep catching them, I suggest you fish elsewhere on your beat. They won’t be there for long. Please report their presence and recover any dead shad you find for post mortem analysis as we need to prove they are spawning and demonstrate which species we have. We are confident we have the Allis shad; we may have Twaite shad as well.
Addendum
Landscape Recovery Scheme – Overview
There are 4 main distinguishing features of the Landscape Recovery Scheme:
Large scale projects: the scheme is designed to deliver outcomes that require collaborative action across a big area, such as restoring ecological or hydrological function across a landscape.
Long-term public funding (for example for 20years or longer); the scheme will support outcomes that take a long time to deliver, such as peatland restoration, woodland management or habitat restoration.
Bespoke agreements: the scheme can fund activities that contribute to priority outcomes but are specific to the locality and so difficult to facilitate through other schemes.
Blended funding: the features above and the provision of development funding should enable projects to attract private investment
Landscape Recovery projects will be selected in rounds, which will involve a competitive application process.
The regions rivers are still fairly low despite recent rain with small rises. Each rise brings the hope that a few salmon and sea trout will show but results are disappointing. To some extent of course catches are partially a result of reduced fishing effort and if anglers become disillusioned by a lack of fish and stop fishing then reports of fish dry up compounding the bleak picture.
Paul Carter tempted this superb looking wild brown trout from the River Taw. Paul was hoping for salmon following a small rise in the river following localised heavy rain. The numbers and size of brown trout in our rivers is a beacon of hope for the future showing that many of the problems regarding migratory species is related to survival at sea.
See below report from Don Hearn`
BARNSTAPLE AND DISTRICT ANGLING ASSOCIATION
NEWBRIDGE MID SEASON REPORT 5th July 2024
A difficult start again ,Too much water and now too little has resulted in just a few Salmon caught but more worrying ,hardly any sea trout. A few were caught on lures in March as expected , The Taw always seem to have a good early run of larger fish but It has been very quiet since..The Brown trout fishing is however thriving in lower waters and good fish up to and even over over 2lb have been reported .It seems more anglers are targeting the trout these days as the Salmon fishing becomes harder. It’s never easy anyway but the more you are there the luckier you get! At present the rain and tides have given the river a lift and it seem anything could happen on any visit. A 32” est. 13lb fish was taken by our Bailiff David Winter last week ,2 other smaller fish were caught earlier .and More are showing this week. A few sea trout have been caught and it is picking up but you have to lose your beauty sleep to find them. Interestingly, a few good size roach have been caught on a fly lately and it’s a reminder of the great roach fishing that used to exist on the Taw. The club has engaged again this year with the South West Rivers Trust regarding a Shad survey. This protected species has returned to the Taw after many years absence and has become an item of great interest. Any report of Shad either spawning, caught or found dead would be appreciated. Dead fish found should be retained if possible for collection (freezer) as the trust need evidence of spawning fish. This can add to the rivers status and it all helps in protecting our waterways, which do of course need all the help they can get these days.
Collection of Shad samples can be arrange by calling
Don Hearn on 07779619042
We were expecting support work , rock sacks etc, to be done to the banks alongside the railway swirlpool . This was supposed to start 16th June but apart from a few marking post nothing has happened. I will try and get some dates from the contractors and keep everyone posted as it may be a bit disruptive in that area for 2 weeks while the work progresses.
The club would like to thank you all for the continued support and hope a fish of a lifetime is waiting for you at Newbridge.
Don Hearn
Riverkeeper
Newbridge
I have made very few visits to the river so far this season and when I have visited I have been concerned at the lack of fish showing. The rocks within the river are very slippery and there is considerable sediment present which should clear to some extent when we get a big spate. The river is as always a pleasure to visit and you never know what success a visit will bring.
The facts are indisputable. Norwegian salmon runs are shrinking dramatically. The Norwegian Environment Agency says this year’s run is a lot less than half of what it should be – and that 2023 was 30% down on 2022. This is a long-term trend going back years.
The Oslo government’s response is to ban rod fishing on 33 rivers. And it seems likely this ban will spread, although the phrase fiddling while Rome burns springs to mind.
The root problem is that for decades wild salmon stocks have been negligently mismanaged by the Norwegian Government – a confession that’s missing from the finger-pointing list of guilty parties it blames for the collapse. Ellen Hambr, the Environment Agency’s director, says the big threat is climate change and then a range of human activities that include hydro and other river barriers, disease, commercial exploitation and last a bracketed after-thought; (fish farming) – the gorilla on the table.
Some Norwegians underscore this position (it’s the climate, stupid) by pointing to Sweden where there is very little salmon farming and a similar decline in the salmon run. They don’t mention that the almost land-locked Baltic Sea, home to Sweden’s salmon, is becoming a cesspit with a huge and growing dead zone caused by pollution. The Baltic is not a good place to be a salmon.
Climate change, to state the obvious, is universal. Warmer river temperatures reduce smolt size which in turn increases mortality and reduces the numbers returning successfully to sea. Once back in the ocean, the record-high temperatures in the North Atlantic suppress food chains and further impact salmon growth and health. Salmon are an indicator species for climate impacts and, for this reason, their future looks grim.
So we need to act on climate, but that’s not something Norway can do on its own. Cue hand-wringing and empathetic green tears. The poor salmon are victims of a global crisis, what’s a small country meant to do? Shrug,Sigh. More hand-wringing.
So what is the Norwegian Government up to? Why flag climate change, on which Norway has a decent track record but little influence, and treat fish farming as a bracketed afterthought?
As ever, the answer is money. Fish farming is a mainstay of the Norwegian economy. The Government licences an industry that produces half of all the world’s farmed salmon, worth $8b a year (2nd only to its oil and gas earnings). That’s before factoring in the benefits to the domestic economy. It’s not a business with a good track record in anything except generating profits. Last year the fish-farm mortality rate was nearly 63m fish (17% of the total stock). Would you trust these cowboys with your river? How about a chicken farm?
Sea lice, the major by-product of salmon farming, don’t restrict themselves to killing millions of farmed salmon. Many of the fish pens are in Fjords that connect ocean-run Atlantic Salmon with their home rivers, bringing wild fish into contact with farmed lice. According to the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, fish-farm lice killed an estimated 50,000 wild salmon in 2019 – as many as 30% of the run in some rivers. Since then, fish farming has grown.
Aquaculture has devasting impacts on wild salmon populations and it’s the gorilla on the table the government can’t or won’t see.
Closing rivers can help, and it delivers a financial body blow for fisheries, hotels, guides and all the small businesses that depend on their summer trade from anglers. However, their collective contribution to Norway’s economy is about US$1.25b. A drop in the Atlantic when compared with the wealth-generating fish farms. So no prizes for guessing why wild salmon are sacrificed to keep their farmed cousins in business.
The ban on the 33 rivers is open-ended, and it is assumed it will remain in place until the stocks show sufficient recovery. This could be never, because if Hambr is right and it’s down mostly to climate change, then closing a handful of rivers won’t improve anything much. If, instead, the government curbs the shit-show fish farms then there can be a significant revival, albeit within the context of slower long-term climate decline.
The choice facing the Norwegian government is simple. It can carry on with business as usual and hurry the wild salmon into marginal irrelevance, or it can improve it’s own act. And it’s not just the fish farms that fall within their purview. Take Catch and Release: In 2023, 51,000 out of the 70,000 rod-caught Atlantic Salmon in Norway were killed. What’s that about?
So the bottom line for saving the Atlantic Salmon is money, and the Norwegian government won’t achieve anything much until it reigns in its multi-billion $ fish-farming money monster. Meanwhile, I’m hoping the gorilla on the table will finally throw a temper tantrum and bloody some noses. We can but hope.
There is one small consolation: For the fish that successfully make the run up-river this year the prospects are good. River flows are healthy and, so far, water temperatures are lower than in recent years. The conditions are favourable for those fish that make it to the redds. And in 33 rivers there will also be, because of the bans, more returning smolts for the sea lice to latch onto. We can thank the Norwegian Government for that.
A bar of silver at Little Warham Fishery for Anthony. There is debate as to salmon or sea trout but either way its great to sea a glimmer of silver hope from a beautiful beat on the River Torridge.
Below is guidance on salmon and sea trout identification from the late great Hugh Falkus. Every fish is different of course and identification is not always clear cut. I remember many years ago catching a silver bar from the Lower Taw, at the time I thought it was a salmon but looking at the photo a few years later I realised that it was a fine double figure sea trout of 10lb 4oz, my personal best.
Salmon are in trouble. Ask anyone involved and they’ll tell you how bad it is and who’s to blame (it’s always someone else).
It’s so bad that the Atlantic Salmon is now officially an IUCN Red List Endangered Species in the UK. In Ireland, the population has collapsed by 80% in 20 years. Other places and other salmon species are not far behind, and the word extinction really has entered the debate.
We can see this decline by watching the way the money flows. Just about everywhere the value is slowly ebbing out of salmon fishing, almost no matter how or where we do it, and from mega-trawler to rod & line.
Sure, we can remove dams and nets, replant catchments and clean up pollution to help mitigate the decline, but they’re not enough.
This crisis is universal, which is of note, because not everywhere has nets or fish farms or pollution or management corruption. Indeed, some have none of the above, yet their salmon are in trouble.
One of Scotland’s most exclusive rivers, the Helmsdale, used to be a place where fishing was accessed via dead men’s shoes. Royalty graced its banks and the management was so discrete as to be almost uncontactable. A rod on the Helmsdale was a mark of status. Now the Helmsdale has gaps to fill and is promoting itself in upmarket magazines. It has no pollution and no fish farms to blame. Something else is going wrong.
What salmon everywhere have in common is rising water temperatures. This is happening both at sea and in rivers. High temps impact badly on salmon at every stage of their lifecycle, from squeezed and collapsing ocean food chains to overheated redds and undernourished smolts failing to make the journey back to sea. The salmon lifecycle makes them especially vulnerable to warming water.
This is real and it’s happening everywhere. Check out the Missing Salmon Alliance for a thorough breakdown of these combined threats. Their rallying call is Cold, Clean Water – which is as succinct a summary of the salmon’s plight as you can find anywhere.
And it’s not just salmon: Entire food chains are wobbling. In recent years 10 billion snow crabs have gone missing from Alaskan waters and the most plausible explanation is starvation in warming seas. A few years ago 100m Alaskan cod went AWOL for the same reason: Warmth increases fish and crustacean metabolic rates, so they have to eat more just to maintain body weight. At the same time the warm water suppresses growth in their food supply. So they need more, get less and starve. It’s becoming a regular feature of ocean life.
Worse, the increase in metabolic rate may also increase salmon’s need for oxygen beyond the ability of their gills to fully deliver. If so, that too would inhibit growth and reproduction.
To understand why, we need to do some time travelling because today’s benign weather wasn’t always a given. Our ancestors had a much tougher time than us.
About 17,000 years ago the world was in the depths of the last Ice Age. We humans scraped a marginal existence as hunter-gatherers. Life was freezing and the world was a whopping 5c colder than nowadays.
Global Temperatures from mid-Ice Age. With thanks to Andrew Dessler, Texas A&M University.
We hit our stride about 10k years ago when the climate warmed and delivered a sweet spot that stuck. We could sow crops, expect to harvest them and feed our expanding population. Great civilisations formed. We could also hunt and fish for nature’s seemingly boundless resources such as the herbivores that roamed the plains and the fish and whales in our seas. The post-glacial world was rich in opportunity.
This is the Holocene Era: The time when the Earth and its climate came good for humans. There were blips along the way: a few major volcanic eruptions that caused cooling and short-term global famines, for example. But since the end of the Ice Age, Planet Earth’s climate has been stable and very hospitable.
Then came the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of the fossil fuel era. We are about 250 years into it now – the red zone below.
The Carbon Era Temperature Spike (closer to 1.4c now): Andrew Dessler, Texas A&M
Current predictions are that temperatures will likely peak at about +2-3C, with growing confidence that it will be a lot closer to 2C than 3C. The hoped-for 1.5C target is surely a lost cause.
We have understood the basic science behind this since the mid-1800s. It’s not difficult – excess CO2 is pollution that traps heat in the atmosphere. We can measure it very accurately. We know the science is good and that what’s happening now is unfolding as scientists predicted it would (my first TV report saying the Holocene could unwind was nearly 30 years ago, and I was in Antarctica reporting established science, not breaking new ground). The scientists even got the speed of change about right, although as a layman I’m shocked by what we’re seeing now:
NASA animation of global temperature change since 1880:
We’re hitting temperatures not seen for 125,000 years and it’s going to get worse. When we finally stop pumping out CO2, we will revert to a long, slow cooling trajectory (business as usual). It will take thousands of years to get back to where we were just 250 years ago ( NASA ). That’s one heck of a hangover from our CO2 party that we’re giving to future generations.
It’s not all bad news (below). Climate scepticism is fading, clearing the way for better political engagement. The graphic below shows that only the 10% or so on the margin are still drinking neat Clorox. This group are mostly hard-core conspiracy theorists and have bucket lists of competing dire consequences they expect to suffer. You’d think climate doomsterism would be right up their victim-centric street, but I don’t think they will ever shift their position by much. I suppose they believe that one day they’ll be proved right and they won’t be the only ones dying of vaccine-preventable diseases or in G3/4/5 radio mast attacks.
The remaining 90% of us are increasingly concerned about climate change. The dial is shifting.
Tracking the decline of Climate Denial 2013-2023
So where does this leave the salmon?
The answer is worrying: We can do a great deal to adapt to and mitigate the impacts, but the bottom line is that we’re stuck in a pattern of decline that won’t end until we tackle the root problem. The Earth is getting too warm and it’s happening too fast for the fish to adapt.
It’s almost Mid-May and the evenings are long with dusk now lingering well past 9.00pm. I always seem to be caught out not fully appreciating the onset of Summer realizing all too soon that it’s getting towards the longest day and that those days will once again start to shorten. In the words of that Pink Floyd song; Staying home to watch the rain You are young and life is long And there is time to kill today And then one day you find Ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run You missed the starting gun
I arrived at the fishing hut early evening pleased to be at the beat for only the second time this season. I was half expecting there to be another angler fishing but I had the fishing to myself. I had brought my salmon rod and a light trout rod just in case the trout were rising and could be tempted on a dry fly.
The river looked to be in fine fettle a perfect height and good clarity. I watched the river carefully for signs of life but no fish moved.
I left the trout rod in the hut and approached the water’s edge extended a line across the water and drifted a silver stoat’s tail across the river. I made my way carefully negotiating the slippery rocks coated in slimy algae. My casting could be better I thought, no sweet rhythm this evening.
After a few steps I was startled by a head appearing just a couple of feet from the rod tip. The large otter rolled again a further few yards down river. There are some who curse the otter for it predates upon the salmon and sea trout. I take a slightly different view for whilst I fear for the salmon I accept that otters have hunted this river for centuries. There was once an abundance of salmon in this beautiful river more than enough for angler and otter.
I feel sure that if I had stood on this river bank just thirty years ago salmon and sea trout would be leaping from the water crashing back with loud splashes that would fuel the anticipation.
In the shadows sea trout would have leapt their heavy splashes rising the anglers anticipation.
This evening the ever flowing river heads to the estuary and the ocean beyond. During my two hours I drift my fly in fading hope. There are no glimpses of silver, the river banks are lush and green. The scent of wild garlic drifts in the warm evening air. But despite the natural beauty all around I cannot help but dwell upon the lack of salmon and sea trout. As a young angler I assumed the salmon and sea trout would always run the river or at least throughout my lifetime. Sadly I realize that this may not be so as the actions of mankind decimate the natural world and in particular the rivers those arteries of the land.
In recent months I have been involved in the screening of the film Riverwoods to audiences across North Devon. The film suggests solutions to the demise of salmon. After the film I give a presentation about salmon decline in the South West and beyond. I talk of the plight of salmon, their decline in my lifetime and suggest ways that we can all delay their route to extinction.
I ponder upon the salmon’s plight as I pack away my tackle. The angler, the otter and the salmon are all perhaps on borrowed time unless we act to bring our rivers back to life.
As I step from the River I again see the Otter heading back up river where Henry Williamsons fictional Tarka may well have swum. I read the tale recently a book that records a time of abundance full of cruelty but all within a more balanced natural world before a burgeoning population brought us to our present place in history.
Spot the otter – Right of the rivers centre.
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way but your older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
My next trip to the river will be to the higher reaches where the water still glistens running clear with vibrant beautiful crimson spotted brown trout in abundance.
Fishing is good for the soul and we really need to celebrate the wonderful nature that we still have around us. The fleeting glimpse of electric blue as a kingfisher flashes past. The swooping swift, the evocative call of the cuckoo, the cheerful chirp of the chiff chaff.
That great Countryside writer BB’s books include the rather poignant words. The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades, these I saw, Look ye also while life lasts
I wonder what BB would make of today’s world?
The next showing of the Riverwoods Film is at Lynmouth National Park Centre. It will be followed by a presentation by myself that will include a focus upon the River East Lyn and its declining salmon population.
It is the moment we wait for all year, persevering through a winter of insistent rain, brooding skies and quagmires of muddy fields to wake up to the perfect May morning. A deep denim blue sky with the last few spirals of mist evaporating in the warmth of the sun. A proliferation of lime green leaves, the hedgerows bursting with wildflowers; cow parsley, colombine and the bright yellow of the creeping buttercup. The early dawn chorus louder and slightly frantic, the chirps and chatter more insistent. What a way to start the Bank Holiday, this is West Devon at its absolute best and cannot fail to lift the heart!
The months of persistent rain, followed by Thursday’s deluge do mean the rivers are still carrying a lot of water. The River Lyd drops and clears more quickly than most and has been where most anglers have headed. Hatches and rising fish have been fairly limited but there are definitely some signs of life on the surface. Plenty of brownies, including a number to 12”, have come to hand as well as some cracking, albeit out of season, grayling. Fishing up on the Dartmoor rivers has also been very successful. With rivers levels holding well and the warmer weather finally here, prospects are looking good as we head into May.
On 31st May we have one hour fly fishing lessons on our lake which are available to book from 10am through to 5pm. Suitable for all ages, including the under-10s, this one hour session is a fantastic introduction to this wonderful art!
We have had several Tamara Way walkers staying with us as they complete this stunning coast to coast walk and will soon have a blog on our website, which covers the whole route. Written by a guest who stayed with us for two nights of the walk, it covers the highs and the lows – overall it sounds like an incredible experience! For the best rates book direct on our website or talk to our bookings team 01566 784666.
After a slow start to the 2024 salmon season a few fish are starting to show as the river fines down and temperatures rise. Roger Bickley caught a 9lb fresh run springer from the middle Taw and
Seth Tuson caught a beautiful 13lb springer from the River Torridge.
(Below)
“After an awful start to the season with river heights rarely dropping below 1m on the gauge, I’ve finally managed to get out salmon fishing a few times recently. After what feels like endless blanks over the last couple of years, I’m over the moon to have caught this 13lb salmon on a single handed rod, full floating line and small shrimp style fly. It feels like a great privilege to catch a fish like this on the Torridge as they become rarer and I’m so happy that all the time I’ve put in has been worth it.”
Stuart Gardener was a founding member of the South West Rivers Association in the 1960’s and created an annual award to be presented to someone who has done exceptional work for fishing organisations in the South west.
This encompasses the twenty two South West River Associations.
This year the award was presented to Stephen Phelps at the Associations AGM at the Arundell Arms the beating heart of West Country Fishing. Stephen writes :- “I was presented with it, I’ll hold it for a year. At yesterday’s SWRA AGM i was speechless, just mumbled a “thank you”. Today I realise the enormity of it to me. I will, I’m sure not receive anything so special again. Previous recipients include Charles Inniss, previous chairmen of the association, even Lord Clinton our President, until he passed away about a month ago. Hope you don’t mind me sharing but I am overwhelmed chuffed.”
A pollution incident on the River Taw caused wide concern across the angling community. Fortunately there were no reports of fish deaths following the incident that affected several miles of the mid to Lower Taw. The Environment Agency carried out an investigation and will undoubtedly continue to monitor the situation.
Anglers and those at the water edge are encouraged to report any pollution concerns to the EA on the hotline number 0800 807060
