Originally Posted by tigermoth

Hi All...
There is an invite in the post to all members of the MFA, but the event is open to any interested parties, see details below:

I am writing to invite you to attend our inaugural Autumn Talk and Social Evening on Friday 16 October 2009 at The Park Hotel, Pandy. We have two excellent guest speakers who will be both entertaining and highly informative: Andy Thomas, Conservation Officer for the Wild Trout Trust and Stuart Crofts, an expert entomologist fly tier extraordinaire, and a former Captain of the England Rivers Fly Fishing Team.

As you may know for the past six years the committee of the MFA has worked hard to carry out habitat improvement across the Monnow catchment and hopefully those of you who enjoy fishing our lovely river will have felt some of the benefits of this work. Catches of wild brown trout have increased in both number and size of fish and reports from anglers indicate that invertebrate life has become much more diverse and numerous. This is all excellent news and demonstrates that our work is having a very positive impact, which bodes well for the future.

It is ‘the future’ of our river and its fishing which will be the focus of our inaugural Autumn Talk. It is my hope that the evening will be well supported by our membership and beyond, but given the topics of discussion, we are especially keen to engage with those of you who own fishing or have a role in managing fisheries, syndicates and clubs within the Monnow system. It is you whom we need to work closely with over the coming years in order to maintain the progress we are seeing at present.

The cost of the evening will be £10 - the price of a WUF voucher on one of our beats! We are not looking to raise funds and with an audience of forty we will be able to cover our costs. If you have any queries regarding the evening please contact me directly either by phone or email and reserve your place by completing the slip on the bottom of the enclosed programme sheet. The evening promises to be thought provoking and entertaining and there will be lots of opportunity to swap fishy tales with like-minded anglers, so bring your fly boxes along too! I look forward to meeting you on 16 October.

PROGRAMME

7.00 pm Meet in the bar.

7.30pm Andy Thomas: Conservation Officer for the Wild Trout TrustApproaches to Managing and Increasing the Wild Trout Population in the River Monnow

Andy will give an imput based on the WTT research and practical evidence. There will be an opportunity to discuss current approaches to stocking trout and a structured question and answer session allowing for debate about the possible future approaches on the Monnow.

8.15 pm Comfort break and refreshments.

8.30pm Stuart Crofts: Expert Entomologist Fly Tier
Putting the Fly back into Fly Fishing

How many of us tie on a favourite fly and hope for the best? Stuart Crofts’ fascinating presentation looks at how to read nature’s signals as an aid to fly choice on a river. This is full and new information which will hopefully make the complex world of entomology and fly-fishing a little easier to understand – and improve your catch rate!

10.00pm Close.




If you wish to reserve a place, pm me for details.
Best
Dave