and Flyfishers Club Newsletter Autumn 2020 Dear Members, May I introduce you to our 10th electronic newsletter.

Important News! The club wishes to sincerely thank all member for their support, patience and cooperation during the difficulties and uncertainties that we have all experience since the beginning of 2020. As a measure of our appreciation, and as an acceptance that we have not been able to provide a full season of fishing, The Club is significantly reducing next year’s subscriptions for its current full members wishing to renew on the condition that payment is made by the end of February 2021. Full membership renewals will be £10.00 for the 2021 season. The £5 fee for additional categories such as juniors, family, partners will stay the same. Those members that joined late in the season had a discounted 2 season membership, so have already paid for 2021. Any “New” members for 2021 will pay the normal membership fee. As we are uncertain “if” the Club can hold an AGM in February, can all members please follow the payment advice in the Membership Secretaries note below.

Chairman’s report I will start this Newsletter as the outgoing Chairman and leave Steve to introduce himself as the incoming Chairman. 2020 has been the oddest season I have known and not just because of the Corvid19 pandemic. We did have poachers during our lockdown (apparently, they are immune!!). Brown trout numbers (to me) are down, but Grayling are well up. I had 9 visits, which is the lowest ever for me, it did however produce 116 fish, 37 Browns 77

1

Grayling, 1 Chub and a Bullhead (to a squirmy worm!) On one visit 28 fish in just over 2 hours!! We have had to cancel the River day and postpone any club competition. Work parties have been sporadic, but we have had new volunteers, hopefully when this pandemic is over, we can get back to “normal” activities. During the time we have been allowed to fish, I have had the pleasure of helping members and prospective ones to get used to our river. Hopefully, I will continue with this service in the future. Eddie Wilkinson.

As the incoming Chairman my first task is to thank Eddie and Mavis for their huge contribution to our club. In his note below Howard, our President, has written a fuller ‘thank you’ to them. I was hoping that the Coronavirus restrictions would have lessened by now, but we are heading into more. It therefore seems likely that we will not be able to hold a conventional AGM, so we will need to set up a procedure by which our members can vote on the issues usually dealt with in an AGM. One such matter of course is the election on the club’s committee and its officers. Hopefully by next March any remaining restrictions will not prevent us from fishing as they did for a large part of the season just gone. Steve Sunley.

President’s Note It is with considerable regret that I have to report that Eddie and Mavis Wilkinson, our Chairman and Secretary respectively, have decided to retire from their posts, but will remain available for some of their existing duties after ‘retirement’. Eddie has been in the Club for over 30 years and has been involved in nearly all aspects of our development and management over that time, culminating in the chairmanship for the last eight years. As far as I am concerned his major successes have been to start and support fly tying classes and his introduction of our new members day, plus the follow up processes of showing new members where and how to fish the river and catch fish. When new, and often inexperienced river anglers had their first sight of the insects he showed them from his ‘river dip,’ you could not fail to see their enthusiasm burst into life. Eddie also provided his own dressings and the oft ex-still water anglers were well impressed by the delicacy of river fishing. He also worked on the bank gang, has been invertebrate sampling since 2007, has recently brought the club competition back to life and has tried to maintain a data base of our fish catches, real and imaginary, submitted by members. Mavis, although a long-time non-fishing member, took over the Club Secretary’s role from Mark Pierce and provides the committee with a set of notes, carefully colour coded and annotated, so none of us are in any doubt of what we had been charged with before the next meeting. It’s also been very handy having both club officers from one household.! They will be missed by the club committee, its members and personally me, so on behalf of us all, I send them our wishes and sincere thanks for jobs well done. Both have many and varied other interests, but hopefully will find time to continue assisting the club as pressures continue to mount on all clubs and voluntary organisations to find skilled and experienced managers prepared to give up their spare time for the collective benefit of the environment and the angling fraternity. Howard Stevens.

2

Secretary’s report During the shutdown, a close account was made of all communication between the committee members, A final set of minutes summarising this time was made and sent to all committee members. There have been no day tickets this year due to Corvid19. All insurances have been paid. Mavis has continued to forward all correspondence from the Wye & Usk Foundations & Angling Trust to all committee members for information. The new Secretary will need to change the contact details on both sites as soon as possible to continue this service.

Membership Secretary Matt Corker [email protected]

First some important information and good news about your renewal subscription. The membership renewal fee for the 2021 season will be discounted to just £10 for members that previously renewed by 3rd July 2020. However, payment must be made by either cheque or bank transfer by 28th February, otherwise the renewal fee will be £50. Family and Junior Membership will remain at £5 per person. It is likely that we will not hold a face to face AGM in 2021, so direct cash payments will not be possible. If anyone finds this particularly difficult then please contact me by email

Instructions for Membership Renewal 2021 To renew your membership please send the following to me at the address below: 1. Your Membership Card. 2. Your payment – either by cheque or bank transfer – bank details below. 3. A stamped, addressed envelope so that I can return your updated card to you (please do not seal it).

Send to: Matt Corker Membership Secretary 7 Chiswick Gardens Appleton Warrington WA4 5HQ Payment by Cheque Cheques should be made payable to Rossett & Gresford Fly Fishing Club

Payment by Internet Banking When paying by internet banking please include your name and initials in the reference field. When you have made payment it is essential that you advise the Treasurer and Membership Secretary by e-mail at the same time, to ensure that you are included in the 2020 membership list: [email protected], [email protected]

The Club's bank account details are: Account name: Rossett & Gresford Fly Fishing Club Sort code 30-90-16 Account no. 02990583

3

The Club Web Site and Forum. As a club we have a website, a forum and a Twitter feed, I have added their addresses below. We see our website as not only a means of communicating with our members but hopefully as a brochure to attract new ones. The only page that changes on a regular basis is the News page, therefore I would suggest that if you are inclined you save this in your favourites. The other pages do hold a lot of information about the river itself, parking spaces and fly patterns, so please take a look. If you have any suggestions on how we might improve it, please would you pass your views to - [email protected]

The forum allows members to start a conversation with other members or report back on their fishing experiences. It is divided into two areas, an open area for general discussions and the members’ board accessible to registered members only. To access this please register through the forum itself, your request will be accepted when your membership of the club is checked. So, it is important that you use the same email address in your registration request as you did in your membership application so that we will know you are entitled.

There is a link to our Twitter feed on our News page. On here short messages about club activities are posted, these are of course open to everybody.

Web Site - http://rossettandgresfordflyfishing.co.uk/

Forum - http://r-ffc.proboards.com/

Twitter Account We now have 43 followers from a wide geographical area, including Ireland. I would encourage members to either follow us or at least take a look by Googling @RossGresFly. We follow several river trusts so there is a wide spectrum of information available almost daily. We also follow individuals who have something of interest to say regarding fly fishing.

Twitter - @RossGresFly

Riverbank Work Party Suspended now due to Corvid19 and Welsh Assembly rules. The ‘Club News’ page on our website is regularly updated so it is worth checking for the latest information.

Club River day 2021 Cancelled for this year, hopefully, provisionally 16th May

Club Fly Fishing Competition. (at Tree Tops Fishery) Postponed now due to the coronavirus outbreak, when restrictions are lifted, a new date will be set (most likely 2021) Please note that during this time only card payments are accepted in advance by phone. It will be a 4-hour, 2 fish ticket for £17. The best 2 fish will get a prize. It is due to start at 10am, with a break for lunch (please bring your own). If you are attending please contact Eddie or Matt, so we can forward numbers to Tree tops email - Matthew Corker [email protected] or [email protected].

4

Fly Tying Ed to continue to discuss this with the village hall and will start as soon as it is ‘safe’, probably the latter half of 2021.

For future information Tree Tops Fishery is set in glorious countryside just 15 minutes from . Tree Tops is a long-established fly fishery consisting of eight lakes, the largest being 1.5 acres. The lakes tiers down the hillside which overlooks a beautiful valley and Hope mountain. During the Corvid19 pandemic all anglers will need to contact the fishery to pay by card for any fishing in advance.

The lakes are supplied by a mountain stream of high-quality water giving an abundant supply of freshwater shrimps and all the nymphs. The fantastic fly life produces hatches in sequence all through the season. Fish stocked regularly with top quality rainbow trout ranging from 1.5 lbs to 10 lbs. The best fish so far is 16 lbs.8 oz.

Address / Location: Llanfynydd Nr LL11 5HR

Phone: 01352 770 648 Email: [email protected] Website: selfcateringwales.co.uk

News from the Catchment In February the monthly river water quality sampling was completed, as were the reports by the consultants employed by Welsh Government on their work connected with the whole catchment and the suggested changes to Gresford weir. On the 10th March, a full meeting of all parties was held in Buckley to discuss the results and yes, you guessed it, lockdown arrived on 24th March and extraordinarily little else has been achieved since. There have been telephone discussions and a ‘Teams’ meeting, which lasted one hour and forty minutes and which, due to a technical problem, I had to attend by telephone only. Overall time has been lost which will be difficult to regain but it is confirmed that NRW and Welsh Water 5 are under no illusions that we and our pressure tactics will increase and most certainly will not go away. We managed only one fly monitoring sample this year, with patchy results, and although it was hoped that we could manage a second this month, the river level and other Covid constraints probably will prevent this happening. Let us hope that the high water of the coming winter does less damage to the habitat than previously and we can make a start in the spring with the necessary enthusiasm to make a difference to our river and its piscatorial residents.

Fishing Reports If we ever had a serious fish kill / pollution incident, without evidence of the health of our fish stocks the Club would not be able to claim for the numbers needed to replenish the river. Please think about this and submit at least an annual report. We do electrofishing but this cannot give the sort of data we need to fully assess fish stocks. Catch records are recognised as being far and away the best way of doing this.

If you have a report that is not on the Forum, please forward it to me ASAP at - [email protected]

Fly Tying Corner The Pink Nymph This was my “new” fly for the 2020 season. It replaced the “Pink Shrimp”, still has the same properties as the “shrimp” i.e. it is very pink and heavy, but a lot smaller. The new fly on its limited outings this season has done very well, it does not seem to frighten any fish off whereas the shrimp either took fish or emptied the pool. Simple to tie and works, what more is needed!

Dressing Hook –Kamasan B175 Size 14 Bead – Hot Pink 2.4mm tungsten bead Body – Fluorescent Hot Pink thread Rib – Fine gold wire Shellback – Mirage tinsel in medium Thorax – UV straggle in silver / pink

6

Rossett Club Shirts etc. Your name can be added to a wide range of items If you ask, they can do hoodies, short sleeve shirts, tee-shirts, etc. They can also be order in a variety of colours (Mavis has a pink one!) Costs (approx.) Long sleeve shirt £20 + Embroidery £5 + name £3 Polo £10 + Embroidery £5 + name £3 The company is ‘Headmasters’ at Market Street, New Mills. High Peaks. Derbyshire. SK22 4AE Tel 01663744254

Polo Shirt Long Sleeved Shirt Club Logo

You will need to give your size and requirements, quote my name (Eddie Wilkinson) and the Club. It normally takes a week to 10 days. They can be picked up or posted (at cost). Please note ‘The Club’ does not make any money from this service.

Club Discount See Your membership renewals from Matt for details

Officers and Committee Members Howard Stevens (President), Steve Sunley (Chairman and Website) Geoff Noakes (Treasurer), Gary Shawcross (Secretary and Twitter), Matt Corker (Membership Secretary), Dave Meadows (Clerk to the committee), Mark Pierce, Kon Wiecko, Tom Mohan, Lisa Corker and Gary Kirk.

7