The Rivers Lugg and Arrow DUFFERS LAFA
Fundraising for the Rivers Lugg and Arrow Fisheries Association
Spring 2011 Number 12
2011 EVENTS ANOTHER YEAR OF PROGRESS With many thanks for the wonderful support provided by
th LAFA, we are continuing with other projects including • Dawn Chorus Walk Saturday 30 April weed eradication. If you spot Giant Hogweed or Japanese David Forbes, Chairman of LAFA. Knotweed please let us know. I found a “new” stand of JK 4.30 am at Leenfields, Pembridge, HR6 9HN. exactly on the border at Presteigne recently. LAFA is now in its eighth year of operation, still going
£10 including farmhouse breakfast. strong and raising funds for habitat works, fish passes and Your chairman highlights the issue of pollution. This is of Chris Bowen’s 2010 Cricket Competition winning team educational initiatives. Our confidence is such that we have very great concern as pollution in the Lugg or Arrow seems • decided to extend our responsibility for the Lugg Mayfly Sunday Sunday 1st May set to get worse. We are currently engaged in a project to downstream from its confluence with the Arrow to the discover how long term funding might be found to mitigate Lots of activities for the young, based around the THE GREAT ARROW FLOOD OF 2010 junction with the Wye at Hereford. the damage. The two water companies, (Severn Trent and River Arrow on Pembridge Village Green. River th Welsh Water), EA, NE, WUF and the Association of Rivers dipping to try and identify the river flies. Casting On the 4 October the monitoring station at Titley Mill on As reported last year, improving fish passes for up river Trusts are meeting with local farmers and farm businesses demonstrations and lessons. Fly tying. Cooking the Arrow recorded the highest flood level in recent times, spawning was one of our main objectives. The results at to tease out solutions. In the West Country, for example, and tasting trout cooked over a fire lit by with a rise of over 1.5 metres in the afternoon, peaking at the end of last season were mixed, with a fairly clear run on investment into farm infrastructure aimed at reducing flintstone. a height of 2.09 metres early the same evening the Lugg to above Presteigne; but with fish still getting held diffuse pollution upstream of reservoirs has proved very £5 including light refreshments. up on the Arrow at Staunton with only a few of the more cost effective in reducing water treatment costs. The energetic fish making any further progress. th th investment comes from the water companies. • L&A Fishing Camp Fri 27 May-Sun29 May We can report another good year for fund raising for the We are using funds from Defra, EA and LARA (Sita landfill) The Bank holiday weekend fishing camp. Arriving various projects but with the caveat that this will become more and more difficult in the present financial climate with to make a start on diffuse pollution sites in the Holly and Friday evening for two nights camping in the Loden. Caroline Sherrott is leading the charge! Lara has Mowley Valley and three days fishing on the some of our more loyal backers having difficulty in justifying their sponsorship. also funded coppicing and fencing on the Lime Brook. beautiful River Arrow. Breakfast and BBQ provided, together with free membership of LAFA The Passport Scheme is still a great success and provides We had hoped to bring the Minister for Environment and for one year. Fisheries, Richard Benyon to the Lugg and Arrow, but the very good value for money for a day out fishing our beautiful rivers. Having participated in the roving voucher extra distance and tight schedule meant a visit lower down £100 (inc a deposit of £25 please) the Wye. However, having seen the River Garren, he was scheme for four years I am happy to say that fish stocks on th our beat are holding up and the revenue generated enables left in no doubt as to the seriousness of the problem across • Cricket Competition and Church Fete Sat 9 river maintenance, with grant assistance from the HARP Herefordshire. July project. This is done on an annual basis and leaves
monies still available to reinvest. I would like to encourage, Six a side tournament at Downton House, New where possible, riparian owners on these schemes to follow SALMON REDDS ON THE ARROW IN 2010 Radnor, LD8 2RD. Why not enter a team, or if this formula. you prefer, join one of our teams . In 2009 it was difficult to make any sense at all of the count
MEMBERSHIP OF THE LUGG AND ARROW Pollution is an on going problem, more so on the Lugg than because of a continuous period of high, dirty water during £125 a team or £25 per player FISHERIES ASSOCIATION (LAFA) the Arrow, and you will see in this newsletter, Tony Norman November. But at the end of last year it was a totally
has organized a Litter Pick initiative, in which we urge as different picture, with a very high flood in early October and To reserve your spot contact [email protected] We now have over 100 members who make regular many of you as possible to participate. then a period of eight weeks with little rainfall and very clear or call 01544 388510… or arrive early to the events! donations to LAFA or Gift Aid via The Wye and Usk water. Foundation. If you are interested in becoming a member, All in aid of LAFA and The Wye & Usk Foundation, or learning more about the Association, please get in Registered Charity No 1080319 Conservation for the NEWS FROM THE WYE AND USK FOUNDATION touch with The Membership Secretary, Rod Symondson Rivers Arrow and Lugg, Wye and Usk. If you can’t come at Dr Stephen Marsh-Smith, Executive Director of WUF along to any of these events, but would like to make a The Hotchpotch contribution towards the fundraising then please go on Husseys Lane Much of our news can be found in our recent newsletter line to http://www.justgiving.com/lafa Kington (please contact [email protected] if one hasn’t
Herefordshire HR5 3FF arrived) but we are pleased to add that further funding has These are the events confirmed so far for this year, but 01544 231998 arrived to continue our fish pass work up to and beyond the hopefully there will be one or two more later in the year. [email protected] “Great Divide” – the powers that be have decided the rivers And we always need raffle and auction prizes. So, you Lugg and Arrow are best served by Midlands EA and the might own a bit of fishing, a holiday cottage, a bit of THE LAFA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Welsh organization operating separately. shooting, some tackle, some vintage bottles of wine or port, signed books or simply be able to teach or guide Fish pass plans include the Lugg at Dayhouse, Presteigne, someone for a day...if so get in touch. The AGM will be held at The Riverside Inn at Aymestry at th and on the Hindwell, while we are negotiating for sites on 6.30 pm on Tuesday April 5 at 6.30pm. Our Guest speaker will be Simon Evans, Deputy Director of WUF the Arrow as well as sites on the principal tributaries. I And finally we are very grateful to those that have given and his subject will be “The Two Rivers. What has been dream of the day when this issue is complete and we have so generously in the past. Thank You and keep up the achieved and what is still to be done” a catchment free from obstructions to travelling fish. good work for 2011!
The prolonged clear water enabled several miles of the The Board still has a drainage responsibility and At such times the smaller, meandering Lugg and Arrow in ANOTHER PREDATOR, THE KILLER SHRIMP Arrow and a mile of the Curl Brook to be explored. A watercourse management is inevitable - too many the gentler landscape of north Herefordshire can often, in number of groups of people were shown what was people now live under risk of flooding within the Board’s my experience, be kinder to the angler A new severe threat was found last September in happening and it was particularly pleasing to show a District for that to be stopped. But watercourse .. Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire. This was the Amphipod class from Pembridge school a hen salmon cutting a management is not necessarily harmful, so hopefully Certainly blank days come often enough to teach some Dikerogammarus villosus known as the “killer shrimp” as redd just above the bridge at Pembridge. the Board’s drainage operations can help to achieve humility and it is probably unreasonable to expect the it attacks and kills every other small water creature it some national and local conservation targets while still kind of catches which can be had in autumn. But those comes across, including small fish. Tony Norman made a habit of walking the dog down to fulfilling its other remit. deep holes under alder trees do contain the odd superb . New Mills weir each morning to watch the salmon and grayling, and I can’t think where I would rather be by the trout attempting to get over. On one morning, over snow-drop time of very early spring than in one of these about 15 minutes, he saw no less than 15 salmon have THE PASSPORT SCHEME delightful valleys. a go at the weir and some were very strong 12lb-14lb fish, amongst a lot of smaller fish and brown trout. The Lugg and Arrow had 16 Passport beats at the start of the 2010 season and this increased to 19 during the Some pools will have been missed, some fish may year with 3 Lugg beats joining the Booking Office – have spawned late (a fresh redd was found in January) Mortimer’s Cross Mill, Eyton and Bodenham. Despite and the light is such that some redds are inevitably most of the L&A beats being in the Roving Voucher missed. The results (2008 in brackets) starting from the scheme, visitor numbers were only slightly down. 727 top were as follows. Titley Court 1 (2), Mowley 2 (2), anglers fished L&A beats in 2010, down by 5 from Grove 1, Court of Noke 2 (3), Leen 3 (2), New Mills 23 2009. However the total revenue for these beats was (16), Village Green 11 (6), Curl Brook 2, Twyford 19 actually up by nearly £1,000 to £8,927 due to a higher (16), Eardisland 4, Arrow Mill 1, Monkland 4. That is a proportion of anglers fishing the more expensive total of over 70 redds, perhaps 150 odd salmon in one Booking Office beats such as Eyton and Lyepole. short stretch of river and probably more, because a number of carcasses from otter kills were found. A On the Lugg and Arrow there were 432 catch returns in Please inform the Wye and Usk Foundation (Tel: 01982 number of LAFA members now help with this counting. 2010 comprising 930 trout, 408 grayling and 88 other 560788) if you have seen this invader. Some reports of redds were also received from further giving a rod average of 3.3 fish per visit. Among the downstream and some more were seen on the Lugg notable catches again were some very hefty grayling It is about three centimetres long, twice as large as the around Leominster. It would be useful to develop a from Court of Noke on the Arrow, one measured at 20” I shall certainly remember a recent day above benign Gammarus pulex which is mainly found under team that could count a good stretch of the Lugg in Pembridge. The temperature had risen above freezing for stones in running water and is well known to naturalists future. the first time in weeks, snow and ice was beginning to and fishermen. In November the killer shrimp was found melt on the banks of the little Arrow, but the water was in Cardiff Bay and in a reservoir at Port Talbot, not far still low, clear and very cold. On these streams an 8 foot from the Wye and Usk catchments. RIVER LUGG IDB BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN 4 weight rod is long enough when working under trees The River Lugg Internal Drainage Board has recently and the leader is a simple rod-length of 5X fluorocarbon Waders, equipment and anything else used by individuals produced a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), to try to carrying an indicator and bearing two nymphs just 18 in rivers or other water should be treated after use by exploit its watercourse management for conservation inches apart. I tend not to change flies a great deal, drying for 2 days, heating to 60deg.C for 1 hour or deep benefit. It has taken existing county action plans to see unless it is to alter the weight, and on this day I had a freezing for 1 hour. Disinfectants and chemical agents where its activities might assist others already involved couple of regular favourites: a dull little pink hare’s ear are probably not adequate in conservation work. pattern weighted with a black tungsten bead and a brighter pink shrimp with a gold bead. In fisheries the Board has identified with the Wye and THE GREAT LUGG AND ARROW LITTER PICK
Usk Foundation, a number of watercourses where I started at the bottom of the beat, trying not to make too management can be delayed for a number of years or much noise cracking marginal ice as I entered, and made LAFA is very concerned that the River Lugg is one of the Simon Evans also reported some very big grayling in modified to produce in-channel and bankside habitat my way upstream, lobbing the flies up and tracking them most polluted rivers in the country. It fails the Drinking December near Pembridge. The low water conditions enhancement. This should benefit fish as well as the down shelving gravel into the holes. It felt good to be out Water Directive for Silt, Phosphates, Nitrates and several did not make for easy fishing on the small streams in plants and invertebrates on which the fish depend. on the river again. However, many of the “hotspots” pesticides all of which affect the wildlife in and around the 2010. Nevertheless, as in previous years the L&A beats which had produced grayling back in October now river. This is despite it being an SAC and a SSSI. The provided some great days’ fishing. One angler, a seemed to be empty and it wasn’t until lunch-time and the Water Framework Directive commits the various Passport veteran, who fished the Litton Beat on the middle of the beat that the indicator disappeared as it responsible bodies (EA, EAW, NE, CCW, DEFRA, LDB upper Lugg in early June reported: “One of the most went bobbing down a fast run. The rod bent and there etc ) to bring this group of water bodies into Good enjoyable days I have had fishing. I scored the beat 9.9 was a 12 inch grayling to gladden the day. There were Ecological Status by 2015. out of 10, missing a full 10 because there was no pub two more, about the same size, from exactly the same for light refreshments half way along the beat! I caught spot. To publicise this we intend to pick every bit of litter from 34 Brown Trout to 10 inches all on my favourite fly, the the sources to outfall, about 80 miles of river and stream Iron Blue. There was a good Mayfly hatch throughout The afternoon was almost gone when I came to a difficult on the Lugg and Arrow and well over 120 miles if we the afternoon.” And looking forward to 2011 The L&A place to approach: a run cutting under a steep bank include the major tributaries.. To do this we need a bit of section of the Passport has increased further, with new which cannot be fished from below because the pool is help. We already have offers from The Wye and Usk beats being opened up on the Hindwell and Pinsley (2). too deep to wade. What I have learned to do here is to sit Foundation, Keep Wales Tidy, Kington Environmental The total number at the start of the trout season will on the bank dangling my waders in the water, cast the Group, The Herefordshire Canoe Club, We also have number 22, 8 Booking Office and 14 Roving Voucher. nymphs upstream and track them down past my position. volunteers from local scout groups, a leading bank, This is an unorthodox method, but it seems to work. And fishing clubs and individuals. We intend to do this by the it was right there beneath my feet, in maybe 5 feet of fast WINTER ON THE ARROW w/e of May 14/15th but would be quite happy to have running water, that I contacted some truly excellent fish. lengths cleared before that date. The bites came in quick succession, followed by anxious Grayling fishing with Oliver Burch moments as large grayling lunged into the depths while This is the Aston Brook where WUF have put in 11 Would you like to support us? To volunteer please the little rod bent in a hoop, before I could lean down from weirs to increase depth and structure. This helps to Once the cold of winter really starts to bite, getting to email Tony Norman at [email protected] my perch with the net to unhook and measure. Four create excellent trout spawning and nursery areas grips with grayling can be quite tough, especially on the more grayling, 18, 17, 15 and 13 inches, were returned where none existed before. This is template that could wilder reaches of the upper Wye and Irfon in To sponsor us:( Perhaps £10 for a mile of picking) visit before dusk fell at last. be rolled out across all straightened IDB watercourses. mountainous Wales. http://www.justgiving.com/lafa
The prolonged clear water enabled several miles of the The Board still has a drainage responsibility and At such times the smaller, meandering Lugg and Arrow in ANOTHER PREDATOR, THE KILLER SHRIMP Arrow and a mile of the Curl Brook to be explored. A watercourse management is inevitable - too many the gentler landscape of north Herefordshire can often, in number of groups of people were shown what was people now live under risk of flooding within the Board’s my experience, be kinder to the angler A new severe threat was found last September in happening and it was particularly pleasing to show a District for that to be stopped. But watercourse .. Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire. This was the Amphipod class from Pembridge school a hen salmon cutting a management is not necessarily harmful, so hopefully Certainly blank days come often enough to teach some Dikerogammarus villosus known as the “killer shrimp” as redd just above the bridge at Pembridge. the Board’s drainage operations can help to achieve humility and it is probably unreasonable to expect the it attacks and kills every other small water creature it some national and local conservation targets while still kind of catches which can be had in autumn. But those comes across, including small fish. Tony Norman made a habit of walking the dog down to fulfilling its other remit. deep holes under alder trees do contain the odd superb . New Mills weir each morning to watch the salmon and grayling, and I can’t think where I would rather be by the trout attempting to get over. On one morning, over snow-drop time of very early spring than in one of these about 15 minutes, he saw no less than 15 salmon have THE PASSPORT SCHEME delightful valleys. a go at the weir and some were very strong 12lb-14lb fish, amongst a lot of smaller fish and brown trout. The Lugg and Arrow had 16 Passport beats at the start of the 2010 season and this increased to 19 during the Some pools will have been missed, some fish may year with 3 Lugg beats joining the Booking Office – have spawned late (a fresh redd was found in January) Mortimer’s Cross Mill, Eyton and Bodenham. Despite and the light is such that some redds are inevitably most of the L&A beats being in the Roving Voucher missed. The results (2008 in brackets) starting from the scheme, visitor numbers were only slightly down. 727 top were as follows. Titley Court 1 (2), Mowley 2 (2), anglers fished L&A beats in 2010, down by 5 from Grove 1, Court of Noke 2 (3), Leen 3 (2), New Mills 23 2009. However the total revenue for these beats was (16), Village Green 11 (6), Curl Brook 2, Twyford 19 actually up by nearly £1,000 to £8,927 due to a higher (16), Eardisland 4, Arrow Mill 1, Monkland 4. That is a proportion of anglers fishing the more expensive total of over 70 redds, perhaps 150 odd salmon in one Booking Office beats such as Eyton and Lyepole. short stretch of river and probably more, because a number of carcasses from otter kills were found. A On the Lugg and Arrow there were 432 catch returns in Please inform the Wye and Usk Foundation (Tel: 01982 number of LAFA members now help with this counting. 2010 comprising 930 trout, 408 grayling and 88 other 560788) if you have seen this invader. Some reports of redds were also received from further giving a rod average of 3.3 fish per visit. Among the downstream and some more were seen on the Lugg notable catches again were some very hefty grayling It is about three centimetres long, twice as large as the around Leominster. It would be useful to develop a from Court of Noke on the Arrow, one measured at 20” I shall certainly remember a recent day above benign Gammarus pulex which is mainly found under team that could count a good stretch of the Lugg in Pembridge. The temperature had risen above freezing for stones in running water and is well known to naturalists future. the first time in weeks, snow and ice was beginning to and fishermen. In November the killer shrimp was found melt on the banks of the little Arrow, but the water was in Cardiff Bay and in a reservoir at Port Talbot, not far still low, clear and very cold. On these streams an 8 foot from the Wye and Usk catchments. RIVER LUGG IDB BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN 4 weight rod is long enough when working under trees The River Lugg Internal Drainage Board has recently and the leader is a simple rod-length of 5X fluorocarbon Waders, equipment and anything else used by individuals produced a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), to try to carrying an indicator and bearing two nymphs just 18 in rivers or other water should be treated after use by exploit its watercourse management for conservation inches apart. I tend not to change flies a great deal, drying for 2 days, heating to 60deg.C for 1 hour or deep benefit. It has taken existing county action plans to see unless it is to alter the weight, and on this day I had a freezing for 1 hour. Disinfectants and chemical agents where its activities might assist others already involved couple of regular favourites: a dull little pink hare’s ear are probably not adequate in conservation work. pattern weighted with a black tungsten bead and a brighter pink shrimp with a gold bead. In fisheries the Board has identified with the Wye and THE GREAT LUGG AND ARROW LITTER PICK
Usk Foundation, a number of watercourses where I started at the bottom of the beat, trying not to make too management can be delayed for a number of years or much noise cracking marginal ice as I entered, and made LAFA is very concerned that the River Lugg is one of the Simon Evans also reported some very big grayling in modified to produce in-channel and bankside habitat my way upstream, lobbing the flies up and tracking them most polluted rivers in the country. It fails the Drinking December near Pembridge. The low water conditions enhancement. This should benefit fish as well as the down shelving gravel into the holes. It felt good to be out Water Directive for Silt, Phosphates, Nitrates and several did not make for easy fishing on the small streams in plants and invertebrates on which the fish depend. on the river again. However, many of the “hotspots” pesticides all of which affect the wildlife in and around the 2010. Nevertheless, as in previous years the L&A beats which had produced grayling back in October now river. This is despite it being an SAC and a SSSI. The provided some great days’ fishing. One angler, a seemed to be empty and it wasn’t until lunch-time and the Water Framework Directive commits the various Passport veteran, who fished the Litton Beat on the middle of the beat that the indicator disappeared as it responsible bodies (EA, EAW, NE, CCW, DEFRA, LDB upper Lugg in early June reported: “One of the most went bobbing down a fast run. The rod bent and there etc ) to bring this group of water bodies into Good enjoyable days I have had fishing. I scored the beat 9.9 was a 12 inch grayling to gladden the day. There were Ecological Status by 2015. out of 10, missing a full 10 because there was no pub two more, about the same size, from exactly the same for light refreshments half way along the beat! I caught spot. To publicise this we intend to pick every bit of litter from 34 Brown Trout to 10 inches all on my favourite fly, the the sources to outfall, about 80 miles of river and stream Iron Blue. There was a good Mayfly hatch throughout The afternoon was almost gone when I came to a difficult on the Lugg and Arrow and well over 120 miles if we the afternoon.” And looking forward to 2011 The L&A place to approach: a run cutting under a steep bank include the major tributaries.. To do this we need a bit of section of the Passport has increased further, with new which cannot be fished from below because the pool is help. We already have offers from The Wye and Usk beats being opened up on the Hindwell and Pinsley (2). too deep to wade. What I have learned to do here is to sit Foundation, Keep Wales Tidy, Kington Environmental The total number at the start of the trout season will on the bank dangling my waders in the water, cast the Group, The Herefordshire Canoe Club, We also have number 22, 8 Booking Office and 14 Roving Voucher. nymphs upstream and track them down past my position. volunteers from local scout groups, a leading bank, This is an unorthodox method, but it seems to work. And fishing clubs and individuals. We intend to do this by the it was right there beneath my feet, in maybe 5 feet of fast WINTER ON THE ARROW w/e of May 14/15th but would be quite happy to have running water, that I contacted some truly excellent fish. lengths cleared before that date. The bites came in quick succession, followed by anxious Grayling fishing with Oliver Burch moments as large grayling lunged into the depths while This is the Aston Brook where WUF have put in 11 Would you like to support us? To volunteer please the little rod bent in a hoop, before I could lean down from weirs to increase depth and structure. This helps to Once the cold of winter really starts to bite, getting to email Tony Norman at [email protected] my perch with the net to unhook and measure. Four create excellent trout spawning and nursery areas grips with grayling can be quite tough, especially on the more grayling, 18, 17, 15 and 13 inches, were returned where none existed before. This is template that could wilder reaches of the upper Wye and Irfon in To sponsor us:( Perhaps £10 for a mile of picking) visit before dusk fell at last. be rolled out across all straightened IDB watercourses. mountainous Wales. http://www.justgiving.com/lafa
The Rivers Lugg and Arrow DUFFERS LAFA
Fundraising for the Rivers Lugg and Arrow Fisheries Association
Spring 2011 Number 12
2011 EVENTS ANOTHER YEAR OF PROGRESS With many thanks for the wonderful support provided by
th LAFA, we are continuing with other projects including • Dawn Chorus Walk Saturday 30 April weed eradication. If you spot Giant Hogweed or Japanese David Forbes, Chairman of LAFA. Knotweed please let us know. I found a “new” stand of JK 4.30 am at Leenfields, Pembridge, HR6 9HN. exactly on the border at Presteigne recently. LAFA is now in its eighth year of operation, still going
£10 including farmhouse breakfast. strong and raising funds for habitat works, fish passes and Your chairman highlights the issue of pollution. This is of Chris Bowen’s 2010 Cricket Competition winning team educational initiatives. Our confidence is such that we have very great concern as pollution in the Lugg or Arrow seems • decided to extend our responsibility for the Lugg Mayfly Sunday Sunday 1st May set to get worse. We are currently engaged in a project to downstream from its confluence with the Arrow to the discover how long term funding might be found to mitigate Lots of activities for the young, based around the THE GREAT ARROW FLOOD OF 2010 junction with the Wye at Hereford. the damage. The two water companies, (Severn Trent and River Arrow on Pembridge Village Green. River th Welsh Water), EA, NE, WUF and the Association of Rivers dipping to try and identify the river flies. Casting On the 4 October the monitoring station at Titley Mill on As reported last year, improving fish passes for up river Trusts are meeting with local farmers and farm businesses demonstrations and lessons. Fly tying. Cooking the Arrow recorded the highest flood level in recent times, spawning was one of our main objectives. The results at to tease out solutions. In the West Country, for example, and tasting trout cooked over a fire lit by with a rise of over 1.5 metres in the afternoon, peaking at the end of last season were mixed, with a fairly clear run on investment into farm infrastructure aimed at reducing flintstone. a height of 2.09 metres early the same evening the Lugg to above Presteigne; but with fish still getting held diffuse pollution upstream of reservoirs has proved very £5 including light refreshments. up on the Arrow at Staunton with only a few of the more cost effective in reducing water treatment costs. The energetic fish making any further progress. th th investment comes from the water companies. • L&A Fishing Camp Fri 27 May-Sun29 May We can report another good year for fund raising for the We are using funds from Defra, EA and LARA (Sita landfill) The Bank holiday weekend fishing camp. Arriving various projects but with the caveat that this will become more and more difficult in the present financial climate with to make a start on diffuse pollution sites in the Holly and Friday evening for two nights camping in the Loden. Caroline Sherrott is leading the charge! Lara has Mowley Valley and three days fishing on the some of our more loyal backers having difficulty in justifying their sponsorship. also funded coppicing and fencing on the Lime Brook. beautiful River Arrow. Breakfast and BBQ provided, together with free membership of LAFA The Passport Scheme is still a great success and provides We had hoped to bring the Minister for Environment and for one year. Fisheries, Richard Benyon to the Lugg and Arrow, but the very good value for money for a day out fishing our beautiful rivers. Having participated in the roving voucher extra distance and tight schedule meant a visit lower down £100 (inc a deposit of £25 please) the Wye. However, having seen the River Garren, he was scheme for four years I am happy to say that fish stocks on th our beat are holding up and the revenue generated enables left in no doubt as to the seriousness of the problem across • Cricket Competition and Church Fete Sat 9 river maintenance, with grant assistance from the HARP Herefordshire. July project. This is done on an annual basis and leaves
monies still available to reinvest. I would like to encourage, Six a side tournament at Downton House, New where possible, riparian owners on these schemes to follow SALMON REDDS ON THE ARROW IN 2010 Radnor, LD8 2RD. Why not enter a team, or if this formula. you prefer, join one of our teams . In 2009 it was difficult to make any sense at all of the count
MEMBERSHIP OF THE LUGG AND ARROW Pollution is an on going problem, more so on the Lugg than because of a continuous period of high, dirty water during £125 a team or £25 per player FISHERIES ASSOCIATION (LAFA) the Arrow, and you will see in this newsletter, Tony Norman November. But at the end of last year it was a totally
has organized a Litter Pick initiative, in which we urge as different picture, with a very high flood in early October and To reserve your spot contact [email protected] We now have over 100 members who make regular many of you as possible to participate. then a period of eight weeks with little rainfall and very clear or call 01544 388510… or arrive early to the events! donations to LAFA or Gift Aid via The Wye and Usk water. Foundation. If you are interested in becoming a member, All in aid of LAFA and The Wye & Usk Foundation, or learning more about the Association, please get in Registered Charity No 1080319 Conservation for the NEWS FROM THE WYE AND USK FOUNDATION touch with The Membership Secretary, Rod Symondson Rivers Arrow and Lugg, Wye and Usk. If you can’t come at Dr Stephen Marsh-Smith, Executive Director of WUF along to any of these events, but would like to make a The Hotchpotch contribution towards the fundraising then please go on Husseys Lane Much of our news can be found in our recent newsletter line to http://www.justgiving.com/lafa Kington (please contact [email protected] if one hasn’t
Herefordshire HR5 3FF arrived) but we are pleased to add that further funding has These are the events confirmed so far for this year, but 01544 231998 arrived to continue our fish pass work up to and beyond the hopefully there will be one or two more later in the year. [email protected] “Great Divide” – the powers that be have decided the rivers And we always need raffle and auction prizes. So, you Lugg and Arrow are best served by Midlands EA and the might own a bit of fishing, a holiday cottage, a bit of THE LAFA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Welsh organization operating separately. shooting, some tackle, some vintage bottles of wine or port, signed books or simply be able to teach or guide Fish pass plans include the Lugg at Dayhouse, Presteigne, someone for a day...if so get in touch. The AGM will be held at The Riverside Inn at Aymestry at th and on the Hindwell, while we are negotiating for sites on 6.30 pm on Tuesday April 5 at 6.30pm. Our Guest speaker will be Simon Evans, Deputy Director of WUF the Arrow as well as sites on the principal tributaries. I And finally we are very grateful to those that have given and his subject will be “The Two Rivers. What has been dream of the day when this issue is complete and we have so generously in the past. Thank You and keep up the achieved and what is still to be done” a catchment free from obstructions to travelling fish. good work for 2011!