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Welcome to the new web site for
River Wye Gillies Association
River Wye Gillies Association
'protecting and preserving salmon on the river Wye'
To contact RWGA or Chairman Geoff Franks, click on Contact Form.....
Ever wondered how to choose the beat with the best chance of a fish on the Wye?......Read long time Wye gillie Geoff Franks view read on.......
Links
If you wish to find river conditions on the Wye or any other Welsh river go to Fish Wales website. More info.......
For individual webcams, beat maps and info click on a link below:
Letton Court Beat Map
White Lion, Ross Webcam
WUF Erwood Webcam
WUF Lucksall Webcam
WUF Brecon (Usk) Webcam
If you wish to find river conditions on the Wye or any other Welsh river go to Fish Wales website. More info.......
For individual webcams, beat maps and info click on a link below:
Letton Court Beat Map
White Lion, Ross Webcam
WUF Erwood Webcam
WUF Lucksall Webcam
WUF Brecon (Usk) Webcam
River Wye Gillies Association Meetings 2009
Next meeting at:8.00pm on Thurs 24th Sept at Three Counties Hotel, Hereford
Next meeting at:8.00pm on Thurs 24th Sept at Three Counties Hotel, Hereford
Choosing A Salmon Beat.
We are often asked where the best place to fish on the Wye is. It’s a pretty impossible to answer but perhaps a few pointers will help. Due to the fact that the Wye is such a long river and subject to huge rises in levels throughout its length conditions can vary hugely from the upper beats to those downstream nearer the estuary. Some pointers here may help.
The Wye basically has three main runs of fish;
1.The early large springers enter the river at the start of the year and if water levels are good spread throughout the whole system during February, March and April and May (small springers enter a little later). This used to be the main run for which the Wye was world renowned with fish averaging around 20lbs during these months. Given high water in the early season these fish could be as high upstream as Builth Wells. However this is the time that the middle river from Ross to Hereford and through to Glasbury caught most of their fish. Beats downstream of Ross were often bypassed by these fish due to high water and were often unfishable during much of the spring. These middle river beats after say the end of May considered that their season was really over and they rarely did well during the summer months. This situation still pertains and with this main spring run but a shadow of what it was middle river beats can have a tough time as seen from catch returns in recent years. Sport often picked up again in the autumn but these were almost always old coloured fish / residents that perked up due to the lower temperatures and the need to move upriver to spawn. So, if you choose a middle river beat your sport might be restricted mostly to March,April,May and perhaps early June. Upper beats might well get some of these early fish but in low water conditions then very few. Fish have been caught on opening day as high upriver as Builth Wells and I once had one myself on the old opening day 26th January at the Nyth.
2.The Summer fish. These 2sw fish enter the river during mid May and June and in recent years have become perhaps the main stock of fish. Given good running water these fish can shoot right through to the upper beats around Erwood and the odd one may still retain a few sea lice, though this is the exception rather than the rule. These fish rarely seem to dally long in the mid river beats but given low water conditions may be restricted to beats below Monmouth, especially if ranunculus growth is heavy in this area. It’s at this time that these lower beats really score and in a normal year, if there is such a thing, low flows will mean that these fish will rarely travel much further. It seems too that it needs a radical rise in water to get them moving again and they rarely seem to run on small 2/3foot spates, possibly due to high water temperatures too. If these fish are able to access the upper river then they can give good sport for a few days before levels drop away again. It’s a very hit or miss affair on the upper river.
3.The Grilse. This run of fish is very unpredictable and usually arrives in late June/July at which time the river is normally low and once again this will restrict them to the lower river beats below Monmouth. In a dry year mid and upper river beats may not see them until the autumn. They don’t take as well as the spring and summer fish and numbers are notoriously unpredictable but usually only make up a small percentage of the catch nowadays.
However given water they will run quickly through to the upper river.
To sum up then;
1. Given low water in the spring look to the beats below and around Hereford for early fish. With plenty of water early on a springer could turn up anywhere as far upstream as Builth Wells with the favoured areas around Ross, Hereford and the beats around Moccas through to Erwood. Beats below Monmouth will struggle.
2. Good running water in May/ June look to the beats around Erwood for good sport, middle river may struggle and lower beats unfishable for much of the time.
3 Low water May/ June beats below Monmouth is the place to be. Rest of river struggling.
4. July /August low water the same scenario. Good running water as in 2009 positions reversed. Upper river may also get the grilse.
5. Autumn. Although it’s true to say that fresh fish enter the river in every month of the year 99 percent of the back end fish are coloured residents, which have stirred themselves from their holding pools looking to run upriver to be nearer the traditional spawning sites. Although good numbers of fish can be caught at this time especially on the upper river, they have no culinary value; hens have well developed eggs and really should be left alone to spawn.
So as you can see there is no way of asking where I should fish as so much is dependent on water heights. You pay your money and take your choice. The Visa scheme run by WUF has potential to solve this problem but of course they have no access to the below Monmouth beats, only a few of the Erwood beats which are heavily fished anyway with little exclusivity and if many anglers took up this option space on the beats likely to give sport would be severely rationed and probably unavailable most of the time.
In essence to provide sport for everyone we need a return to the spring domination of early running fish which provided the backbone of all the river beats except perhaps the lower river which made up its numbers with the summer fish, often denied the rest of the river.
Given reasonable conditions with no extremes I would fish, March /April - Hereford to Ross. May - Garnons to Glasbury. May/ June Erwood beats July/ August |below Monmouth. September - Glasbury to Builth Wells. October -Do the right thing and don’t fish!
Geoff Franks
.
We are often asked where the best place to fish on the Wye is. It’s a pretty impossible to answer but perhaps a few pointers will help. Due to the fact that the Wye is such a long river and subject to huge rises in levels throughout its length conditions can vary hugely from the upper beats to those downstream nearer the estuary. Some pointers here may help.
The Wye basically has three main runs of fish;
1.The early large springers enter the river at the start of the year and if water levels are good spread throughout the whole system during February, March and April and May (small springers enter a little later). This used to be the main run for which the Wye was world renowned with fish averaging around 20lbs during these months. Given high water in the early season these fish could be as high upstream as Builth Wells. However this is the time that the middle river from Ross to Hereford and through to Glasbury caught most of their fish. Beats downstream of Ross were often bypassed by these fish due to high water and were often unfishable during much of the spring. These middle river beats after say the end of May considered that their season was really over and they rarely did well during the summer months. This situation still pertains and with this main spring run but a shadow of what it was middle river beats can have a tough time as seen from catch returns in recent years. Sport often picked up again in the autumn but these were almost always old coloured fish / residents that perked up due to the lower temperatures and the need to move upriver to spawn. So, if you choose a middle river beat your sport might be restricted mostly to March,April,May and perhaps early June. Upper beats might well get some of these early fish but in low water conditions then very few. Fish have been caught on opening day as high upriver as Builth Wells and I once had one myself on the old opening day 26th January at the Nyth.
2.The Summer fish. These 2sw fish enter the river during mid May and June and in recent years have become perhaps the main stock of fish. Given good running water these fish can shoot right through to the upper beats around Erwood and the odd one may still retain a few sea lice, though this is the exception rather than the rule. These fish rarely seem to dally long in the mid river beats but given low water conditions may be restricted to beats below Monmouth, especially if ranunculus growth is heavy in this area. It’s at this time that these lower beats really score and in a normal year, if there is such a thing, low flows will mean that these fish will rarely travel much further. It seems too that it needs a radical rise in water to get them moving again and they rarely seem to run on small 2/3foot spates, possibly due to high water temperatures too. If these fish are able to access the upper river then they can give good sport for a few days before levels drop away again. It’s a very hit or miss affair on the upper river.
3.The Grilse. This run of fish is very unpredictable and usually arrives in late June/July at which time the river is normally low and once again this will restrict them to the lower river beats below Monmouth. In a dry year mid and upper river beats may not see them until the autumn. They don’t take as well as the spring and summer fish and numbers are notoriously unpredictable but usually only make up a small percentage of the catch nowadays.
However given water they will run quickly through to the upper river.
To sum up then;
1. Given low water in the spring look to the beats below and around Hereford for early fish. With plenty of water early on a springer could turn up anywhere as far upstream as Builth Wells with the favoured areas around Ross, Hereford and the beats around Moccas through to Erwood. Beats below Monmouth will struggle.
2. Good running water in May/ June look to the beats around Erwood for good sport, middle river may struggle and lower beats unfishable for much of the time.
3 Low water May/ June beats below Monmouth is the place to be. Rest of river struggling.
4. July /August low water the same scenario. Good running water as in 2009 positions reversed. Upper river may also get the grilse.
5. Autumn. Although it’s true to say that fresh fish enter the river in every month of the year 99 percent of the back end fish are coloured residents, which have stirred themselves from their holding pools looking to run upriver to be nearer the traditional spawning sites. Although good numbers of fish can be caught at this time especially on the upper river, they have no culinary value; hens have well developed eggs and really should be left alone to spawn.
So as you can see there is no way of asking where I should fish as so much is dependent on water heights. You pay your money and take your choice. The Visa scheme run by WUF has potential to solve this problem but of course they have no access to the below Monmouth beats, only a few of the Erwood beats which are heavily fished anyway with little exclusivity and if many anglers took up this option space on the beats likely to give sport would be severely rationed and probably unavailable most of the time.
In essence to provide sport for everyone we need a return to the spring domination of early running fish which provided the backbone of all the river beats except perhaps the lower river which made up its numbers with the summer fish, often denied the rest of the river.
Given reasonable conditions with no extremes I would fish, March /April - Hereford to Ross. May - Garnons to Glasbury. May/ June Erwood beats July/ August |below Monmouth. September - Glasbury to Builth Wells. October -Do the right thing and don’t fish!
Geoff Franks
.