Salisbury & District Angling Club Spring 2023 Newsletter

Game Waters Summary.

At this time of year we are looking forward to our April 1^st trout season opening day. We are watching the weather closely hoping we get the water volumes and the drying banks delivered together that will make the perfect start. Walking the beats I am seeing the first signs of spring, we have had snowdrops at West Amesbury, daffodils just showing, the birds are starting to make more noise. After last year’s dry weather and low flows we have seen a remarkable recovery in river levels and in the aquifers, we are brim full again exactly where we want to be at this time of year. Dilution is the current best protection against run off and sewage overflow, the water companies are under some pressure to act and in time we will see some actions in our area. For now, the best we have is dilution and this winter has really done the job. As things stand today, we expect to open all beats for April the banks are drying nicely and although we have a small number of fallen trees to catch up with we should be ready on time.

In the autumn the EA got back to conducting their electro fishing population surveys after a break during covid. They do surveys at the same sites each year covering 100-meter stretches. The results I have seen from the Avon and the other rivers are encouraging with good counts of brown trout and very good numbers of salmon parr in their first and second year. Other species are also counted, and their numbers are also positive. In many cases we are seeing significant increases over previous years. There have been a couple of good spawning years recently it is clear.

We do all we can to improve brown trout habitat in all our game beats we work from egg to adult as each age require different things. Good, clean gravel of the right size is needed for the eggs with a good flow of clean water, the fry need a more sheltered, warmer area with silt to improve feeding, the adults need hiding places and feeding lies. To that end we are gravel washing, creating cover and lies with trees, altering our

New fencing and stile Longbridge River Ebble.

Beat 12 Durnford.  New Oak Hatches.

angling approaches as we can to protect the gravels and the eggs. So, when we see results from the EA surveys it is satisfying to know we might have contributed.  From thousands of eggs in one redd trout mortality is as high as 95% in the first year, after that their chances improve and if we are giving them the habitat they need they have the best chance of becoming our prized two pounder.

At this time of year we are also looking closely at the member renewals, our budget is set very tight, particularly this year with inflation as it is. We ask game members to renew in good time and avoid a rush for renewals in late March. This helps us to be assured we will have the funds to see us through the year and enables us to start any planned work. It also allows us to plan our invitations to new members from the waiting list giving them a chance to start early season and giving us the reassurance that we are replacing any income lost through resignations. Game income is by a very long way the largest portion of our club funding when we can fill our places early in the year we know the club is in a safe place.

You will find some changes on the beats, the raised footpaths on the upper beat at Amesbury have already been reported. We are changing the fencing arrangements at the top of Longbridge to suit us and the grazier better. At Hamer Lake there is much change with a new fence surrounding the lake and protecting the Estate’s solar farm which will soon be surrounding us. It will be very different there and we wait to see what we need to do to mitigate things. One problem is going to be weed cutting, we may not be able to do things as we have done in previous years. At Leominstead we had another very poor start to fishing in September things not picking up until October. We will be changing the dates again to reflect the times that trout can live comfortably in that lake.

Stocking brown trout to the rivers will remain as it has been for this year. Two thousand fish in batches through the season to Durnford, West Amesbury, Abbey, Countess/Ratfyn and Stapleford, areas of poor trout habitat and/or high fishing pressure. Those who attended the game meeting or looked at the link to the slides will see we continue to catch far more wild trout than stocked fish with only relatively small numbers of the fish introduced to the river caught or killed. Grayling have returned to the catches in good numbers in the last season’s returns, Stonehenge is particularly good for grayling as is West Amesbury and the Wylye beats.

The number of stocked fish caught at Durnford was 255, Amesbury 293, Stapleford was 29. The total number stocked across the waters was 2000. We keep a close eye on these numbers as stocking is a very expensive part of our operation and the cost per stocked fish caught is high. We catch less than half of the stockies, I will put some more detail on this at the next game meeting.

This season or next we may see changes at the Norton Bavant Gauging Station beat when the gauging weir is to be removed or bypassed. This has been planned for some time with the gauging equipment moved under the A36 bridge several years ago. Significant changes to the channel may be made and closure of the fishery is likely as work progresses. Similar works we have seen for example at Bulbridge, Norton Bavant Mill and Mounts Mill in the woodland at Sutton Veny have all turned out to be very advantageous to the river.

The new yearbooks are printed as we speak. As always there are changes. Check each fishery page and the general rules pages. Note wading will cease across all waters on Dec 15^th, this to protect spawning. Dates have changed at some fisheries. The page on indicators and nymphing which caused some confusion last year has additional notes explaining the club’s intentions. Remember we hold to a traditional chalk streams approach and in general terms, with some exceptions, indicators are not within that tradition.

Litter is a problem on and around some of our beats, I don’t think it comes from our members, but you could help us by picking up and disposing properly of anything you find. Take it home if you can.

We look forward to welcoming members back to the beats in April, we have some exceptionally attractive locations which we try to keep in as natural a way as a managed chalk stream fishery style allows. We are privileged to be in these locations and long may it be so. All being well the keeper team will be tidying up the banks in the second half of March, the first visits usually only involve running the mowers through and tidying any fallen branches. As spring goes on the river’s fringe growth becomes a more dominant part of the job and you will see the keepers out with the hedge trimmers keeping it under reasonable control. We cut the fringe much less hard than we used to do to preserve the flowering species and we leave it a little wider. This is an excellent insect habitat and we are rather proud of more than 20 miles of flowering fringe along our beats.

Wishing you all tight lines!

John Stoddart. Vice Chair Game.

Farewell to Gordon Mackie, ex Committee Member and Vice President. Gordon’s obituary will be included in the 2023/24 yearbook.
West Amesbury – Ham Hatches.

2023 Fly Fishing Academy Training Courses.

We are resuming the Academy training courses which were piloted successfully in July 2021 but were not possible in 2022. Five courses have been already booked in April for a total of 30 attendees, 6 members per session. We invited participants who were on the training waiting list and had expressed interest when the programme started in 2021.

The courses will be held in Durnford. The morning session is classroom instruction in the office on how to approach a chalk-stream, etiquette, entomology etc. This will be done via slide presentation and discussion. It will be followed by practical instruction on the lower Durnford beats. We want to thank our instructors Lindsay Moore and Rob Doyle for giving up their time to administer these courses. The cost of the course is £40 per participant. We are hoping to hold a few more courses in the back end of the season.

If you are interested in attending a future course please use our contact form HERE to register your interest.

Please note that on April 5, 12, 15, 23 and 30 the Durnford beats 13 to 9 will be closed on both banks.

Fly Fishing Open Day – Saturday 20th May 2023

The event will be held on Saturday May 20th, on the grounds of Amesbury Abbey Nursing Home, Amesbury, Wilts. SP4 7EX (map 4 in your yearbook) It is a full day event starting at 9:30am, open to all members, game and course, and their guests. Participants get divided into three groups:

• Fly Casting
• Fly Tying
• Entomology

The groups rotate in the morning and by lunch time, every participant has the chance to experience the full spectrum of fly fishing.

We are planning to have BBQ plus drinks, coffee and tea.

In the afternoon there is plenty of time to engage with fly casting instructors, fly-tyers, entomologists and other members of the club and indulge in your special area of interest.

There is also a customary raffle with various prizes to be won. If you attend, please bring something for the raffle.

The cost of attendance is £25 per participant, which includes lunch.

Illegal pollution of our rivers.

Did you see the Paul Whitehouse programme on BBC2 Sunday 5th March, Our Troubled Rivers? All the crucial messages and all the crucial people in it, and was superbly done by Paul Whitehouse whom the masses seem to have taken to their hearts, deservedly.

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633609

and sign the petition  or they will remove the law that has so far forced the water companies to produce their pollution data to our at last very effective campaigners, who need all the help we can give them

Available on BBC iPlayer for anyone that missed it.

The high water and freezing conditions have certainly taken their toll this winter and we are catching up with a lot of the damage caused around the lakes. It has also seen our plans progress and we will be applying “Siltex” and netting Petersfinger lakes in March. The dates will be communicated via the club’s electronic forum, website, and social media. We have had to shut off areas of the lakes for extended periods of time. This has been unavoidable due to the waterlogged banks, as we want to try and reduce damage to them before the spring. We have also lost several fisheries from the portfolio; Test Valley are no longer issuing exchange books and we have also lost Nightingale Lake due to a fish kill.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. We are relaxing the close season on Petersfinger this spring as a trial, meaning all our coarse lakes will be open. However,  remember that you will need to renew before the 1st April 2023 if you want to take advantage of this. Staying at Petersfinger, we have been in talks with the EA and are receiving a stocking of Crucian carp this winter from their Calverton fish farm.  These fish will be held in a purpose-built enclosure in Hands Lake to overwinter and avoid avian predation and will be released in Spring 24. We will be doing this a further 2 times over the next 5-6 years to establish a population of crucian carp back into the lake.

Continuing with fish stocking, we have added 36 carp across the lakes at Steeple Langford for the second year, their pictures have been posted in the hut and if you catch any of them, please let us know. This is part of the fishery management plan, as is the installation of solar aeration on Kingfisher Lake. This has been aided by funding from the EA and will be getting installed before the summer.

The yearbooks have gone to print so please ensure you read all the rules and seasons for the upcoming year. We are keeping the lure fishing for pike trial going for another summer, but please ensure you book in correctly at the venues so that we can see if it is something we wish to continue with moving forward. Also please ensure that you close the gates behind you. There have been several instances of livestock escaping, or access gates left unlocked or open. This can have catastrophic effects with landowners and risk our access rights if we are not careful.

We have a busy year planned for the “Small Fry” team with monthly Saturday coaching sessions for “Small Fry” and junior members. Several local community groups and schools have been in touch about introduction to angling days and we have the normal “Small Fry” evenings in the summer holidays. If you know anyone that may want to attend these sessions, or are a coach, or just want to volunteer, please email the club at: office@salisburydistrictac.co.uk. The team there will put you in touch with the respective people. Also when you renew online, please remember to donate by clicking the small fry donations as you checkout.

That’s about it from me for now, my continued gratitude to keepers, volunteers and the rest of the team for the continued hard work that goes on behind the scenes to keep our waters fishable, and to you the members for your continued support.

Ben Bentley. Vice Chairman Coarse

CLUB  IT & Communications.

Do you have any experience of the following, WordPress, WooCommerce, PHPBB3 Forums, Web Site Maintenance, PC and laptop Mtce. Mailchimp or similar bulk email delivery?
If so and you would like to help contribute to the running of our club then please get in touch in the first instance direct to the office.

Water quality report

Improving the water quality of our rivers, streams and lakes has become a daily theme in the media. It is a national issue with anglers and other water users putting pressure on politicians to act.

The club started its journey in 2009 when we established our river-fly monitoring programme. A group of trained club volunteers took monthly samples from specific river locations monitoring the health of the water. In 2015 we embarked on “invertebrate benchmarking” which is the most reliable way to measure water quality in our rivers and streams by understanding the fly diversity and overall number of river-flies, looking at fly population trends. This is the same methodology that “WildFish” are using in their programme called “Smart Rivers”.

Our club together with the Water Quality Team (David Holroyd, Tom Putnam, Patrick Heaton-Armstrong) from the Wiltshire Fishery Association, “WildFish” and Dr. Cyril Bennett MBE have been working tirelessly driving actions on the ground.

• 30 “invertebrate benchmark” samples were collected from the Avon, Wylye and Nadder in Spring and Autumn 2022. They were analysed together with “WildFish” and the results were sent to the Environment Agency and the Wiltshire Fishery Association.

• The Environment Agency installed “chem-catchers” on key sites on the Avon around West Amesbury and the Upper Wylye. This work is being funded by the EA and is using Portsmouth University to undertake the work. The chem-catchers absorb chemicals in the water column which can then be analysed for a wide range of more novel chemicals, like pesticides, pharmaceutical products etc.  “WildFish” have undertaken very similar work recently on the Test and Itchen with Portsmouth University.

• A lot of work is taking place on communications and engagement of local communities. See a few examples below.
• Presentations of “Smart Rivers” data and reports to Wylye and Nadder farmers groups. One farmer on the Wylye has funded and added an additional water quality monitoring site on his land.
• Participation in local school workshops about the environment and water quality.
• Sewage fungus incident raised with Environment Agency on the river Nadder above Tisbury. The incident was investigated and the farm drainage system which was the cause of fungus has now been repaired.
• The river Till near Shrewton village was surveyed to ascertain the impact of illegal discharges of sewage exceeding permitted consents. “WildFish” solicitors are currently in correspondence with the Environment Agency and Wessex Water. This is work in progress.
• A representative of the water quality team was interviewed by BBC Radio Wiltshire regarding the impact of farmers muck spreading on river life.
• “WildFish”, Wessex River Trust and Wiltshire Fishery Association tried to engage with local interest groups through a questionnaire and proposed workshop. Unfortunately, there was little response. A new approach is being developed with ‘roadshow’ format and presentations with the view of taking the message to the stakeholders and the public. An event in Salisbury is being considered, communicating the importance of the Avon Salmon, the fact that they spawn in the town and the story of the declining water quality. Other communication avenues are also being explored.
• The water quality team has created a dossier of data for each of the three rivers in the catchment producing very valuable source material for the stakeholder/PR presentations.
• Representatives of the water quality team and “WildFish” were filmed and interviewed by BBC News for a feature on the impact of dairy farming on water quality.

Key points were – Importance of invertebrate monitoring, importance of the Nadder for salmon spawning, the fact that invertebrate numbers have plummeted in recent years and little or no action being taken by the EA to enforce farming standards. Expecting broadcast on National News.

• The water quality team is in direct contact with Wessex Water and have had a meeting regarding the progress of upgrading the local sewage water treatment plants. A visit is planned to Ratfyn SWT at Amesbury.
• Continuing to develop relationship with Danny Kruger MP. Discussions currently taking place with the view of him chairing an annual review meeting Wessex Water and the Environment Agency to ensure their plans and obligations to improving water quality are met.

The above is just a summary of what is happening on the ground to protect our local rivers from sources of pollution. We are continuing our task equipped with robust data and a lot of passion.

Finally, there is a hugely important petition which we are asking all of you to sign. The aim of this petition is to retain access to water company information.

In 2015, Fish Legal won a landmark case that secured the public’s right to obtain environmental information from privatised water companies under the EIR 2004. If the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is enacted these regulations will be repealed unless the Government preserves  them.
If the regulations are repealed, the public’s right to obtain environmental information directly from privatised water companies disappears too. Privatised water companies could go back to polluting and abstracting water from our rivers without public scrutiny. We want the Government to guarantee the public’s right to environmental information held by these companies, by retaining the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Please click on the link below and sign. Every signature counts.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633609

Andreas Topintzis

Wiltshire Fishery Association

Water Quality Chairman

Gordon Mackie 1934-2022.

Gordon Mackie was born in London but the family were moved to Plymouth Hoe in Devon at the start of the Second World War, subsequently moving to

Plympton near Plymstock. Although Gordon claims he was no great achiever at school, it’s clear from his writings on fly-fishing, rivers and the natural world that he had a talent with the English language. His lovely book, Fly Leaves and Waterside Sketches (with a forward by Bernard Venables), is peppered with evocative and poignant turns of phrase, and is clearly written from the soul. He also wrote How to Start Trout Fishing (1980) and contributed to The Shell Book of Angling and The Haig Guide to Trout Fishing in Britain. Gordon was a skilled angler and an observant and instinctive naturalist which led him to become a great recorder of butterfly populations including advising on butterfly habit improvements. Gordon was a quiet and humble man steeped in the traditional approach to fly fishing. The piece we publish in our yearbook “Approaching A Chalk Stream”, is testament to this. At one point in his working life, he was a car salesman, can’t imagine him doing the “hard sell”! He served on our committee for some 13 years and was then made a Vice President, a post he proudly held until his passing. Gordon also spent many years with the Wilton Fly Fishing Club, (a neighbouring Club of ours), including ten years as their President. He will be sadly missed by his family, many friends and of course, our club. In January, Gordon’s ashes were scattered over the River Avon at West Amesbury.

Ricky Polden 1945-2023.
It is with great sadness that we have
to announce that our long standing
member, Club stalwart, committee
member, vice president and former
secretary Ricky Polden has suddenly
left us. Many will remember sending
their membership cheques to Ricky
at the old Castle Street Office and
subsequently the Cart Shed.
Very few will have served the club
for so long in so many roles and with
such a friendly smile at all times . He
fished our waters since he was a boy
and although he was an all rounder
he loved his time on the lakes.
Rest in peace Ricky we will all miss
you!
On behalf of the committee.