Call for Natural Resources Wales to take Wye pollution seriously
A WELSH Government body has been accused of downplaying pollution being caused by poultry farms along the River Wye. Reports suggest that 60 per cent of the waterway fails environmental targets for phosphates, and there’s strong evidence to suggest that the high number of poultry farms along the valley are a root cause.
However, in its recently published planning advice to councils within the Wye catchment, Natural Resources Wales downplayed the impact of the farms, stating instead that ‘phosphate is naturally occurring’ and that ‘bank erosion’ and ‘sewerage’ are possible sources.
Nick Mesham, CEO of Salmon & Trout Conservation, has labelled the advice heavily flawed and called for tighter restrictions on poultry farms.
“NRW has a responsibility to protect the River Wye. That responsibility cannot just be set aside or watered down in order to allow the poultry industry to expand” he said.
Reports suggest that 60 per cent of the Wye fails environmental targets for phosphates
100lb-plus dace haul is a Wye record!
IT was tough going for some anglers hitting the banks after the return of match fishing post-lockdown. But despite tumbling temperatures and melting snow, the River Wye saw a new match record set.
Even with several feet of extra water the Herefordshire river can fish its head off, and running water maestro Hadrian Whittle demonstrated just that by winning the Hereford DAA open on the river through the city with a mammoth 125-10-0 of dace. That’s right, dace – 585 of them to be precise.
It’s reckoned to be the Wye’s biggest dace match weight ever. Daiwa man Hadrian had taken one look at the river after arriving at his peg 98 draw next to the town bridge and stuck his neck out by saying 100lb was on.
Five fast and furious hours later, he was proving himself right. The win also makes it three in a row for Hadrian on the Wye, including the prestigious Wye Champs.
“Did I think the river was capable of that type of weight? I did, mainly because everything seemed to be right in terms of the river level, the colour of the water and the fact that, owing to lockdown, not much bait had been going into the river,” he said.
At the peg
“As soon as I drew peg 98, I was installed as favourite. Looking at it, the colour was ideal to catch at short range and there was 4ft of extra water on, so all the stars were aligning, if you like, for a big dace weight.
“I’d walked the river a lot and had clocked that, on peg 98, you could catch dace really close in provided there was colour in the water. The peg was one that I’d always wanted to draw, but never had. To say I was looking forward to the start would be an understatement!
“I began fishing at around 6m to hand, but after half-an-hour moved in to 5m in around 4ft of water, as there were so many fish to catch and they were happy to be at close range. To do a big weight, I wanted to settle into a rhythm of cast, feed, strike and swing the fish in, but some of the dace were so big that it took some time to swing them in, even though I was using Grey Hydrolastic.”
The Wye peg where 100lb-plus of dace were caught
Runs of big fish
“The size of dace I was getting went up and down all the time. I’d catch a dozen small dace very fast and then clonk into a run of 6oz fish. Feeding was like clockwork, throwing in a ball of groundbait and soil full of casters each cast and then a handful of maggots over the top. This allowed me to catch either as soon as the float cocked or down my peg a little. Given the depth, I fished a 1.5g Sensas Alberto float with a double bulk and double maggot on a size 14 hook, really positive fishing that’s essential when you’re trying to catch a big weight.
“There were times when I was foul-hooking dace because there were so many fish in the swim. I tried fishing a foot off bottom, and the catch rate slowed right down. My next move was to cut out the loosefeed and rely on just that ball of groundbait each time. It solved the foul hooking, but still the catch rate was too slow, so I had to put up with losing the odd fish.”
The weigh-in
“I’d counted the fish and knew I had 100lb –I’ve always said that if you catch 500 dace on the Wye, that’s 100lb. I had well over that so was thinking getting on for 120lb, and I’d be amazed if that didn’t win!
“The final weight is believed to be the best dace match return from the Wye and probably in the UK. It was just one of those days to savour as they don’t come along that often. I believe 100lb of dace can be caught again this winter if conditions are right and the right angler is on the right peg. There are enough fish there of a big enough size.”
Hadrian and his bumper Wye dace haul
52lb of bleak secures win from unfavourable peg
A STAGGERING 52lb 5oz of bleak sealed victory in the star-studded Wye Champs for river ace Hadrian Whittle.
The contest, fished on a rapidly rising river, turned out to be the perfect storm for a big weight of bleak, which was Hadrian’s only real chance of victory after drawing an unfavourable peg.
“I was placed on permanent peg 28 on Belmont 1, which is known as one of the last places you want to draw!
“However, with a rapidly rising river I was fairly happy, because I knew there was a chance that the bleak would come into play,” he said.
After a slow start and a look on the feeder, Hadrian switched back to a 2.5m whip and caught 600 bleak before switching to a 1.6m whip and catching another 930.
“By this time, I was flying,” Hadrian added,
“and I checked my watch to see there was an hour and 20 minutes left. In this time I had another 530 fish!”
Hadrian Whittle and his 52lb bag of bleak
128lb of chub taken in memorable Wye match
October heralds the start of the match season on Hereford’s River Wye, the curtain-raiser being the Joe Burrows Memorial/River Wye Charity Shield. This year it drew a 69-strong crowd and produced a massive winning bag of chub for Alex Graham.
The Banbury rod weighed in 128-2-0 and they were big fish too, with some nudging the 6lb mark. All of them were taken on waggler tactics with hemp and caster from peg 97 at the top of the famed tennis courts in Hereford city centre.
Alex Graham with his bumper Wye chub haul
Runner-up was recent River Severn Float-Only Champs winner Joe Holloway, who carried his fine form on to the Wye.
He drew peg 153 at Breinton and also found the chub on waggler with hemp and caster, landing 96-9-0 of big fish to just miss out on the ton.
That left third place to be decided, and Garbolino man Scott Geens did the honours with 15 barbel on the feeder from the Breinton section for 72-14-0.
Charity also benefited from the match, with £500 being raised for Prostate Cancer Research and a further £345 for a local charity of Hereford DAA’s choice.
Alex Graham with the shield
Iconic river facing 'ecological disaster'
ONE of the country’s most popular rivers is facing the threat of ecological disaster, according to some experts.
Swathes of the River Wye, which borders Wales and England, turned a worrying shade of green at the start of the season following an intense algal bloom, exacerbated by increased phosphate inputs from the growing number of chicken farms which operate along its course.
One of the primary concerns of the Wye and Usk Foundation, which has highlighted the issue, is the effect the discoloration is having on the Wye’s aquatic plants, which provide essential habitat for the natural food that the river’s fish depend upon.
The Foundation’s CEO Simon Evans says:
“The impact of new poultry developments is not being considered. The result is a river, once voted the UK’s favourite, turning a putrid green every summer and having its ecology destroyed.”
Fish Legal, the body which acts on behalf of member clubs of the Angling Trust, has put the environment regulator Natural Resources Wales ‘on notice’ over the issue, under which the latter will be required to investigate the problem and ensure that the farms in question put in place proposals to prevent further damage occurring.
The River Wye has been turned green
Thousands of bleak landed in amazing Wye match
Of all the fish you can be plagued by in a match, bleak have to be the worst of all – but try telling that to Steve Maher and Trevor Chalk after they whipped out literally thousands of these tiny fish to take first and second on a rising River Wye recently!
You see bleak don’t weigh much and often take a bait intended for roach and chub but faced with a river that came up several feet during a winter league round at Hereford, the two men got stuck in with whip tactics to weigh in 46-8-0 and 33-4-0 respectively.
The match saw Steve finish the day standing up to fish owing to the rapidly rising levels while Trevor was adamant there were fish topping behind his box such were the sheer numbers of bleak in his swim, Trevor counting 1,250 fish in his final tally, so god only knows how many Steve ended up with!
“The peg I drew – 92 – has been brilliant for roach and dace on a normal river and I did begin fishing for them but soon got plagued by bleak and caught next to no roach,” Steve said.
“That made my mind up after half an hour to go all-out for bleak on a 3m whip with maggot and they got bigger as the match went on and came shorter too. However, I had to keep moving my seatbox back up the platform with the rising water and in the end, I threw everything on top of the bank and stood up to fish with 90 minutes to go.”
“This wasn’t quite as good, but the big bleak kept coming and after catching solidly for four hours and at the end I was genuinely interested in just what they’d all weigh so to win the match with them was satisfying and rewarding for all the hard work!” he added.
Trevor was further down the stretch at peg 64, a noted bleak peg that was full of fish from the word go and he went for them straight away, aiming to catch a big weight with a 1,000-plus fish target fishing the whip at 2m and 270 of them in the opening hour was on the pace, a speed that never relented as he finished with well over four figures in terms of fish numbers and second in the match.
