2020 Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

[elwyman]

These have been published at last.

Salmonid and fisheries statistics for England and Wales 2020

www.gov.uk

 

[Teal Blue And Long John Silver]

Thanks for the link John. It makes really really interesting reading. For any of you who don't have the time or the inclination to pour over the figures that they have offered I can give you a concise summary. All rivers in England and Wales where we obstruct clubs and land owners from stocking salmon and sea trout are at significant risk. This of course does not include the Tyne as hey guess what? We allow stocking. All fish in those very same rivers are at risk and we don't allow stocking. The fish in the Tyne are not at risk as guess what? We allow stocking.


Now please go away and blow eighty odd quid on a salmon and sea trout license and don't be difficult.







Yours faithfully,


The Right Honourable George Useless MP and your beloved Environment Agency

 

[T7]

Thanks for the link John. It makes really really interesting reading. For any of you who don't have the time or the inclination to pour over the figures that they have offered I can give you a concise summary. All rivers in England and Wales where we obstruct clubs and land owners from stocking salmon and sea trout are at significant risk. This of course does not include the Tyne as hey guess what? We allow stocking. All fish in those very same rivers are at risk and we don't allow stocking. The fish in the Tyne are not at risk as guess what? We allow stocking.


Now please go away and blow eighty odd quid on a salmon and sea trout license and don't be difficult.







Yours faithfully,


The Right Honourable George Useless MP and your beloved Environment Agency

But but but… all at sea… fix habitat… something something…£80 please!

 

[T7]

I think we can add to the summary: anglers put everything back for no measurable improvement in catches. I kill virtually no fish anymore but I’m not for mandatory C&R. What I dislike is the authorities effectively blaming anglers for decreasing stocks and just using C&R as an ‘easy’ fix. Note: Easy here actually means ‘free’

 

[phl]

I think we can add to the summary: anglers put everything back for no measurable improvement in catches. I kill virtually no fish anymore but I’m not for mandatory C&R. What I dislike is the authorities effectively blaming anglers for decreasing stocks and just using C&R as an ‘easy’ fix. Note: Easy here actually means ‘free’

That's absolutely right. The EA has a statutory responsibility to conserve fish stocks, but its C&R policies essentially transfer this responsibility onto anglers, and allows the EA to claim it is discharging its duties. By the time it concedes that this policy doesn't work, there won't be any fish left to conserve (or anglers to care).

Paul

 

[T7]

Does anyone have salmon and sea trout catch data from pre 2010? I’m doing a bit of analysis ?

 

[Teal Blue And Long John Silver]

Does anyone have salmon and sea trout catch data from pre 2010? I’m doing a bit of analysis ?

Crikey Gooseman, that is a completely anoraky question even for a fish statistics anorak like yourself. Just sayin like

 

[T7]

They say 90% of salmon fishing is being in the right place at the right time… I’m going back to 1987

 

[Teal Blue And Long John Silver]

They say 90% of salmon fishing is being in the right place at the right time… I’m going back to 1987

It's hip, hip hip to be square

 

[elwyman]

If you fish the Lune you should go back to the early 60s, pre UDN, when the likes of Oglesby and Ryghini caught fresh springers by the dozen.
Unimaginable, if it was that good now I'd be happy to knock off to the pub early afternoon.

 

[Teal Blue And Long John Silver]

If you fish the Lune you should go back to the early 60s, pre UDN, when the likes of Oglesby and Ryghini caught fresh springers by the dozen.
Unimaginable, if it was that good now I'd be happy to knock off to the pub early afternoon.

There is a pool at Rigmaden which was supposedly a pet favourite of Reg Ryghini. Supposedly took massive numbers of fish from it. When last I fished it sadly it had gravelled up then washed out and gravelled up and washed out. Lord knows how many times. You would barely have considered it as anything at all really if you didn't know its history

 

[T7]

I’ve been looking at some of the catches of the rivers I fish. The Cumbrian Esk numbers were horrendous a few years back. Less than 100 sea trout for the whole season. Numbers are a bit better now typically but when you think that in the day Falkus could catch over 500 just by himself you realise what numbers it must have held

edit: his best season was 850ish!

 

[elwyman]

There is a pool at Rigmaden which was supposedly a pet favourite of Reg Ryghini. Supposedly took massive numbers of fish from it. When last I fished it sadly it had gravelled up then washed out and gravelled up and washed out. Lord knows how many times. You would barely have considered it as anything at all really if you didn't know its history

Sounds like the Hut Pool on the Clwyd Junction beat I fish. I understand it was really deep and a prime holding pool for salmon and sea trout. The Elwy shifts a lot a gravel and the pool shallowed, so it was dug out around 20 years ago. We've had record breaking floods in 2012 and 2020, and this season the pool is very shallow, except for a deep hole along the far bank.
It used to be the prime pool on the beat but I've only had one sea trout out of it this season.
I think the Hut Pool was regularly poached back in the 80s (netted) so the fishing syndicate put some concrete blocks with metal spikes in the bottom of the pool....not sure if it stopped the netting but I heard stories of anglers losing lots of flies and spinners by snagging the spikes.

 

[elwyman]

I’ve been looking at some of the catches of the rivers I fish. The Cumbrian Esk numbers were horrendous a few years back. Less than 100 sea trout for the whole season. Numbers are a bit better now typically but when you think that in the day Falklus could catch over 500 just by himself you realise what numbers it must have held

edit: his best season was 850ish!

I think acid rain was the big problem on the Esk. I've seen the river a few times and was amazed how small and overgrown it is, with crystal clear water.
I guess like many rivers 90% of the fish come from a few good holding pools.

 

[T7]

Yep I think acid rain was the big one. UDN before that. In fairness I’ve seen hundreds of fish in some of the bigger pools in seasons not too long ago. Very very tough to catch them though!

 

[elwyman]

The Border Esk seem a to have made a great recovery, for salmon and sea trout.
613 salmon, 596 sea trout, that's impressive indeed.

 

[phl]

Does anyone have salmon and sea trout catch data from pre 2010? I’m doing a bit of analysis ?

There's a really interesting report with statistics from 1951-1990 at https://www.cefas.co.uk/publications/files/datarep38.pdf

I've also got copies of the annual EA statistics going back to 2007 (which include summarising catches for the preceding 10 years). I don't know if these can still be found on the web, bit if you PM me with your email address, I'll send them to you..
Like you, I think, I've been playing about with these statistics for years!

Paul

 

[phl]

I’ve been looking at some of the catches of the rivers I fish. The Cumbrian Esk numbers were horrendous a few years back. Less than 100 sea trout for the whole season. Numbers are a bit better now typically but when you think that in the day Falkus could catch over 500 just by himself you realise what numbers it must have held

edit: his best season was 850ish!

I'm a bit wary of these statistics. Some years ago, I looked at the annual catch return for the the Cumbrian Esk, which showed the September catch to be something less than 4 sea trout (I don't recall the exact number). This was odd, as I had myself reported a catch of 4 from the river ! I queried this with the EA, and they were sufficiently intererested to look into it, and reported back that my catch had been incorrectly put in trhe Border Esk totals (even though I had been careful to name the River as "Cumbrian Esk". They never corrected the report however, and I very much suspect that whoever had entered the data had repeated the mistake with others.

Paul