Hi all

At the Monnow Fisheries Association Auction, my father bought me as a Christmas present a day's salmon fishing on the Wye, with the pro George Woodward. I'm very much looking forward to it.

My question to the forum though, is if you could pick any date to fish for salmon on the Wye, when would it be?

At this stage I don't actually know where the beat is, other than it is a private beat.

I *think* I remember George Woodward from a TV programme that covered fishing on the Wye and something tells me that he used to run the fishing at Bigsweir but I could be completely wrong on both counts.

Anyway - any suggestions on dates would be much appreciated.

Cheers

James

James, you are a lucky man indeed. George is not only a fount of knowledge about all things Wye, he is a fantastic and highly entertaining raconteur. You will have a very good day indeed - even if you dont see Mr Salar, get him talking about mountain goats and Germans! Cranefly knows George very well and may be able to give you a better steer as to what you may be able to expect. Otherwise contact Linda Whyte, secretary of the MFA, her details are on the website.

__________________
"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

www.monnowlogue.com
www.monnow.org.uk

George will be able to tell you when and what the best time is for the beat that he has in mind, to the hour if you want that detail.

As TM says, you will have a great day, so along as you are not..................................................German and................................

If you want to contct him PM me.

Rob

__________________
"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

Thanks guys - you've really whetted my appetite now....!

I do have George's number so I'll call him before too long to arrange everything. Its been a long while since I fished on the Wye (my grandfather fished it extensively from the 50s to 80s) and given the significant changes to the salmon run since then, I wasn't too sure when to go. As you say, George will know...

Cheers

James

I wouldn't mind betting that George would have known of your Grandfather as well!

__________________
"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

The programme that you saw was filmed at the Lower Lydbrook fishery near Kerne Bridge, downstream of Ross on Wye where George and his daughter were ghillies.

As others have said he will advise you of when the best time to go is but in general terms the best of the Wye fishing is the "May run" of 2SW fish. These are fish in the 10 - 16lb class and are the largest single run of fish to enter the river and they come into the lower river from around mid-May to mid-June with a bigger influx around the full moon.

In recent years the best of the fishing is below Monmouth and it is not too bad below Ross, but further up the river the fishing is poorer as the salmon thin out. There are very few obstacles to the salmon's progress through the middle and lower river and consequently salmon can move through the river very quickly and can reach Hay on Wye with sea lice and that is about 60 miles from the sea.

There are fresh fish in the Wye from January right through the season but until Easter has passed they are thin on the ground although some are very large. It is not until mid-May that decent numbers of fish start to appear but to some extent this obviously depends on the river levels. The Wye is one of very few rivers where the majority of fish are caught before July, MSW fish outnumber grilse and the average weight is still holding at just above 10lbs.

If you want to keep a fish then obviously it would be best to fish after 16th June and at this time there should still be fish from the May run coming into the system, especially if May has been dry.

The Wye run has not yet recovered to the same extent as many other rivers and the fishing is very poor compared to even 15 years ago. The average annual catch for the 120 odd miles of main river plus tributaries is currently around 650 fish whereas a couple of decent beats could have amassed this figure in the 1970s.

This means that you really should take advice as to when to go, even if possible leaving it for George to phone you and tell you to come on short notice, possibly giving just a day's notice.

__________________
“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

My knowledge is almost entirely restricted to the lower Wye, but I'd agree with what SB says, and would add a couple of further points. If you're after a fish on the fly, I think it's perhaps worth waiting until early June. At least in the lowest section of the river, the earlier fish tend to run quite hard, and although they are quite catchable, spinning tends to be more successful than fly if you can intercept them taking a few minutes' breather. Once the fish start to slow down and settle in the pools, they become much more receptive to a fly - in fact, it will probably be more effective than spinning.

Remember also that the Wye is very much affected by rain. A flood in May (as seems to happen just about every year) will put the river out of order for a considerable time. Many of the tributaries tend to run dirty, and it can take quite a long time to come back into good order after rain. Unfortunately, combining this with the increased abstraction (since Herefordshire has become a major centre for potato growing), means that once the flood passes and the ground dries up, the river seems to drop away to very low levels - far lower than ever used to be the case. A flood will also tend to take the fish away upstream and can empty the lower beats of their resident stocks.

All this means that the window of opportunity for good fishing on the lower Wye tends these days to be quite narrow. Get it right and it will still produce good numbers of fish. However, the good days tend to be concentrated into quite a short period. It's definitely an advantage if you and your host can be flexible.

Thanks for such comprehensive replies guys.

I would love to catch a Wye salmon on the fly and given the state of Wye stocks I wouldn't keep one anyway, so I don't see the point of waiting til after June 16 for the sake of it. Sounds like the first week or two of June may be best. I think there is a full moon on May 31st.

Unfortunately I don't have enough felxibility in my life to be able to leave it til conditions are perfect and dash down with no warning. I'll have to pick a date and take my chances.

My parents live near Newent so the Ross fisheries would be extremely convenient. Sewinbasher - I googled Kerne bridge and its just upstream of the Symonds Yat beat my grandfather leased for many years in the sixties and seventies (he also had one upstream of Hereford at Preston-on-Wye). Maybe George will know him!

I am prepared to be disappointed though. My memories of him pulling out twenty pounders are, from everything I have heard, extremely outdated. Just to fish the Wye again would be a thrill though. I'd love to catch one on an Usk Grub, which is all my grandfather ever seemed to fish as far as I can remember.

Do you think I will need a double-handed rod? So far in my sewin and salmon fishing I have coped with beefy singlehanders as the rivers have not been Wye-sized. If so I may need to splash out.

Cheers

James

James,

You will definitely need a double hander, either 14' or 15' throwing a 9/10 will be fine. Have a look at the Shakespeare Oracle range which Mullarkeys were knocking out for about £80 last year - highly rated by T&S irrespective of cost and great VFM.

Your choice of the first two weeks in June is fine given reasonable water and I guess you are likely to be on the river below Ross which should be OK unless there has been a long period without rain. There is a good phone in service on 09066 197755 which gives the river heights for the Wye at several points on the river and the main tributaries and more importantly states whether the river is rising, steady or falling at those points.

If the river at Rhayader and/or Hay is rising then the lower river will usually rise for at least the two following days as that water moves through the system. If the upper/middle river is steady or starts to fall then even if it rains in the headwaters, the lower river will be OK for most of the following 48 hours unless there is a real downpour. If the Lugg and/or Monnow are rising or high and steady than the Wye below their respective confluences will be put out, at least for fly fishing, by the coloured water irrespective of the height of the Wye. The Lugg comes in just below Hereford and the Monnow at Monmouth.

The Usk Grub is as good a fly as any and still a proven Wye killer. There are still 20lb fish around and at least one 30lb fish is taken most seasons but they are quite scarce. Charles is right about the fish switching onto to fly as they become more settled and at Monmouth before the early season fly only rule we used to switch to fly and floating line when the water reached 50 degrees F, usually early or mid-May, and more or less fished fly only from then on unless there was a flood.

I lived on the banks of the lower Wye for 30 years and in those days a 20lb fish scarcely raised a second glance. I once saw a rod take five fish all over 20lbs on Easter Monday in the 1970s and any catch of half a dozen fish before May would include at least one 20lber. The average weight in those days was up around 14lbs for the season.

A fish needed to be over 30lbs before it was worthy of comment and the largest I saw in the flesh was 51lbs.

Your grandfather did what quite a few people did by leasing fishing at two places on the river. In that way if the fish ran through the lower river without stopping they had another chance at them a few miles further up where the water would fall away faster and stop them. A beat between Ross and Redbrook (just below Monmouth) and another around Hay were popular options.

I joined PAAS for that reason as I leased a beat on the Duke's water at Monmouth and for a few quid the PAAS gave me options above Symonds Yat if the fish went straight through at Monmouth.

__________________
“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

You won't go far wrong with an Usk Grub; it's very often my first choice of fly for the Wye if the water's clear. If it's carrying much colour I use a slightly brighter shrimp pattern - like an Usk Grub/Black Shrimp/Bann Special hybrid. Size 8 or 10 doubles are about right.

Yuo might be OK with a single hander, though I have to say that I think a double hander would be preferable. On the bit I know it's not necessary to cast a very long line - 20-25 yards is enough in most places. On the other hand, the water tends to be quite flat and glassy, and I am always wary of disturbance, so wouldn't want to have to make too many false casts, which might be necessary with a single handed rod. The banks are quite steep on that beat, too.

My own usual kit for summer on the Wye is a long but light double hander - a 15' rod with a #7 line. Because it's is on the light side for the rod it's not easy to speycast this line, and anyway I'd be wary of the disturbance from splashing, so I generally cast overhead. I've also dyed the line dark green for extra subtlety. Too often I think salmon fishers are a bit 'blood and thunder' in their approach - it might not matter is you're fishing nice ripply runs, but on very flat water I'm firmly convinced of the need for stealth.