Severn/Teme

[severnfisher]

Andy,

Day ticket waters on the Teme?

Ward '84 right bank above Bransford, tickets from Alan's tackle Worcester about 1/2 mile walk to the 's' bend from the road. Fish possible from the top of the 's' bend to just below where the second little stream enters on the other bank.

Birmingham Anglers Association have miles and miles of river. I would say Broadwas and Eastham Bridge are possibles, but so is Erdiston just above the mill, tickets from midlands tackle shops. All this is mainly spinning water, apart from the section just below the big left turn at Eastham and the neck of the pool on the corner just above, which is fly water.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[severnfisher]

The river is out of order, and with the rain we've had, likely to stay that way on the middle and lower reaches for some time. Upper Teme and above Welshpool might be possibilities in a day or so, don't know about the Vyrnwy.

Thought I might raise a few issues connected with the EA angling effort survey.

First the survey is a snap shot taken over one season. Some of the patterns might just reflect the very low and warm river we had for most of last summer. For instance, I was genuinely surprised to find that nearly three times as many fish were caught on spinner as opposed to bait. Better conditions after June 16th would change that figure dramatically. I also suspect deliberate under-reporting by some of the bait fishing fratenity.

The small number of fly caught fish tells us nothing about the potential of the fishery, but a lot about the preferences of the anglers. But that is another story.

The really serious issue though is the small number of fish being caught on the Teme, on the bulk of the middle reaches and in Wales.

Back in the seventies something between a quarter and a third of the catch came from above Shrewsbury weir. Today that is less than 6%. The Teme was once a magnet for anglers from across the midlands, but is now practically unfished for salmon.

On the stretches that cause concern the 2006 survey reported the number of visits needed to catch a salmon as:

Bridgnorth 24
Ironbridge 112
Cressage 13
Atcham 15
Shrewsbury 42
Melverley 19
Wales 17
Teme 26

We need some pretty decisive action to reverse this situation of decline.

For a start we need to have an accurate picture of what the Severn run actually is. Fish counters on Diglis, Powick, Shrewsbury and Peniarth weirs would be a start. This would provide some accurate as opposed to guestimated information about the size, timing and distribution of the runs.

Secondly we can't afford the estuary nets. They kill four times as many fish as the rods as an absolute minimum.

Thirdly, the fish passes on the navigation weirs need to be improved in order to spread the fish about a bit more.

Fourthly, we need to challenge the 'catch and kill everything' culture that still predominates on much of the Severn and which is not reflected in the EA figures because the worst offenders don't report.

In return for some decisive action from the EA I think anglers should be prepared to accept something like a seasonal bag limit and tags.

Tom

[severnfisher]

River starting to look good for the first time in over a month.

[severnfisher]

The fishing has been good over the last few days with half a dozen fish from the weirs.

Report here:

seatroutfishing.proboards34.com/index.cgi?board=2007&action=display&thread=1170104775&page=4

[severnfisher]

The fly fishing in the middle river is starting to become interesting.

There was an excellent letter by Bernard Morgan in the latest T&S on the need for some serious action to restore the fishing on the river above Bridgnorth, particularly up in wales.

[stoater]

Thankyou Tom (Severnfisher) for showing me an attractive and likely-looking bit of the Middle Severn the other evening. It is good to see there is a thriving band of flyfishers there, something I was surprised to see in such traditional match/coarse waters. For what it costs it is a gem. I even saw Salmon, which was heartwarming having seen nothing on Tweed the previous week. I'd love to visit again. Any fish reported over Easter?

[severnfisher]

Hi Tim,

Glad you liked it.

I know of one fish caught yesterday on the middle reaches. I expect diglis and the other weirs are producing but don't know for sure.

There is really miles and miles of water out there to be explored.

Here's a pic of another little fly fishing gem, again cheap as chips. can' t say anything more than that it is somewhere between Stourport and Shrewsbury and as beautiful a salmon fishing location as anywhere on these islands.



Tom

[severnfisher]

The fly fishing on the middle river continues to be interesting, though the problem at the moment is involuntary long distance catch and release.

[severnfisher]

Fresh fish reported at different points in the lower end of the river. A nice 8lb fish caught on the fly in the Highley area of the middle river yesterday. River hasn't risen more than an inch or so yet, but the rain has freshened things up.

[severnfisher]

River has been unfishable for three weeks now. And set to remain so down here for at least another week. A few grilse about before the deluge came.

Interesting question is will the water have pushed them back down to the estuary as can happen? It has been very big and dirty. Plan a trip up to the upper river for a recce early next week.

Tom

Great to see John Bailey as Bernard's angler of the month in T&S. John has caught many salmon from the river over the years on the spinning rod. But his first ever fly caught fish made him a very happpy man.

[stumpy]

Severn's been unfishable for 5 weeks now and looks like its going to be at least another 2 weeks at least with all the floods,glad the spring was fishable,fell lucky a few times from febuary til may(my first fish of the season came in march)..



stumpy...

[tyneandrew]

Looks like a belter - is it dead?

[stumpy]

no mate far from it,put on a stringer to make sure it was revived enough and slowly released off,swam off strongly.
i play my fish that bit harder these days and get them out a bit quicker to make sure they are not throughly exausted,so they can be released easier...

stumpy...

[tyneandrew]

Never heard of a fish being put on a stringer before in order to revive it?

Do you do that often, and is it successful?

[stumpy]

The stringer is used mainly on the bigger spring fish when the river were i fish is up about 4 feet,which makes it hard to hold a fish up properly and also the water temp is bitter on hands so thats another down point,the stringers we use are 25ft plus with the release clip about 12foot from the end so fish can be held up right and once they can stay upright and gills are working they can be left alone to sink 4ft down and revive properly once you feel the fish kicking you can pull the fish up slightly and release the clip and the stringer slids slowly out and fish swims off on there own accord from the last bit of the stringer,i have seen this used on 80-100 fish over the past 3 years and not had a casualty yet,the fish can take upto 15 sometimes so i wouldn't hesitateto use one..
i've moved the release clip further down on the one below so you can see how it works better...


stumpy.....

[tyneandrew]

Really interesting. Amazed nobody else has passed a comment on these?

Never even heard of one tbh.

[waddington]

Hi Stumpy
It looks very much like the device I have seen used on the Towy and approved by the hatchery. I have seen fish 'tethered' in the river with this contraption, while waiting for transport to arrive to take the fish to the hatchery. No harm done in the times I've seen it used. In fact the Salmon I've seen tethered seem remarkably stress free lying naturally at rest in the river. I'm sure in certain situations it could be a useful tool in helping a tired fish recover its strength.
Phil

[severnfisher]

Hi Stumpy, great to see you posting on here mate.

Could you tell us a bit more about how to construct the stringer? Where you get the clips from, that kind of thing.

What news from your neck of the woods? There's been a few fish about on the middle river in the last week, some silver summer salmon around 10lb plus the smaller grilse, but they seem to be running hard as very little showing in the usual holding pools.

Tom

[stumpy]

Hi Tom,
the stringer is dead simple to make,mine is made out of a used fly line about a 10..about 25ft is long enough...
firstly you need to find some sort or clip to make the main release bit,lots of key rings have quick release clips which are cheap to but or alternativly a large rapala quick release clip can be used.
Take your clip and thread it about 5 foot up the line,next make a 4" overhand loop to keep the clip in that position,a drop of super glue can be added to the knot to keep if from opening,next take the end of the line closest to the clip and make another loop about 6" and do a double over hand loop and pull tight,slip a 3" piece of shrink tube over this loop and pull down to knott and shrink down tight to leave a 3" loop,and your ready to go,all you do is push shrink tubed end in behind gill cover and straight out of mouth,then put clip onto the loop comig out of fishes mouth and line can be payed out and teathered to a stick on similar to recover,once the fish has recovered,simply draw line slowly in an release clip off loop and let the fish swim off and loop should just come away as fish turns and swims off...

The fishing down here is slow after the floods mate,river dropped last friday to a fishable level,but have yet to see a fish show,reports say fish were going over Tewkesbury weir in the middle of the week,so things can only get better...

stumpy....

[severnfisher]

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I'm going to make one. cheers.
tom