All the latest news from our local experts. The only monthly record of catches and news from the major fisheries of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland

OPENING PAGE: RICHARD FAULKS

England & Wales

BORDER ESK

THE 2024 season was another below-average one by Esk standards. The lower river produced some good catches, with the Burnfoot beat once again the most productive area.

River levels throughout the season were inconsistent – spells of low flows during the summer, followed by many spates – leaving the Esk unsettled for weeks. Anglers in the right place at the right time did well, but many others struggled.

The late weeks saw plenty of water, but fish were constantly on the move, as in the previous season. November brought yet more rises in water levels within the Esk system, with salmon and sea-trout busy on the redds. The river rose to over 4ft on several occasions.

In recent seasons, keen rods have managed to catch the odd fresh-run spring fish, but numbers are limited during the early months Hopefully, 2025 will bring more consistent river levels.

The most likely areas for an early Esk salmon include Burnfoot, Metal Bridge, Longtown, Westalls, Netherby, and up to the Canonbie area.

– BORDER ROD

CONWY

SINCE sending in my last report, the Conwy catchment area has suffered two major storms, with winds gusting up to 94mph. Storm Bert arrived on November 23 with the strongest gust recorded at 82mph at Capel Curig. The river peaked at 4.5m on the gauge at Betws y Coed, and the tributary River Lledr reached almost 3m on the gauge at Pont Gethin. This storm was comparatively mild compared to Storm Darragh on December 6 and 7, which blew in with gusts up to 94mph at Capel Curig, with over 100mm of rainfall. This caused extensive flooding and power loss to a large part of the Conwy catchment.

Pierino Algieri has informed me that he has been counting redds again. Before Storm Darragh, he walked two and a half miles of the upper Lledr at Roman Bridge and counted 21 salmon redds, two of which were on the tributary Ceaunant Ty'n y Ddol. He also saw several pairs of salmon on redds and a couple of solitary male salmon on redds. He told me that male salmon tend to stay behind guarding the redds. Additionally, there were a number of salmon parr, which he says are quite common, and when he used to use the hatchery at Pont y Pant, they were used to help fertilise the eggs. Since his visit, we have had Storm Darragh, which may have caused some damage to the redds. We may have more information in time for the next report.

Garry Davies, Secretary of Plas Madoc, has been testing the water quality of both the Conwy and the Lledr and reports a healthy river.

– DAVID FOSTER

COQUET

FISH runs during 2024 remained around the same levels as the previous two seasons with the Acklington fish counter showing consistent runs. A total of 9004 fish ran through the counter with peak months being July with 2369, August 1761, and October 2645 fish. Figures courtesy of the Northumberland Rivers Trust.

Coquet rods did well around the times of significant floods with Northumbrian Anglers Federation members reporting good catches in the lower and middle reaches of the river.

In late November, salmon were seen spawning in the Felton area, followed by Storm Darragh. Hopefully, this event did not wipe out the efforts of the salmon and sea-trout.

The 2025 season opens on Saturday February 1, with most fishing pressure predicted on the Tidal beat at Warkworth and a few miles upstream. The clearing of the fish pass will improve catches above it but slowed sport below.

Keen rods will be out on opening day trying for that first spring fish. Cold conditions and low water temperatures will slow fish down, keeping them in the lower river.

Flies such as Ally’s Shrimps, Cascades, Willie Gunn, and Black and Yellow tubes are popular.

The Streamfoot, White Post, Clarty Hole, Grandstand, the Bushes, and Bett’s Hole on the Warkworth Tidal beat are the most likely areas to produce Coquet’s first fish of the season. Given milder conditions and rainfall, beats above Warkworth are other likely spots.

The captor of the first salmon of 2025 will receive the Coquet Trophy from the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle plus complimentary Federation permits.

Season permits for membership of the Northumbrian Anglers Federation are available to anglers. Log on to www.northumbriananglersfed.co.uk for the latest details.

Coquet trout anglers will soon be preparing for the new season, which opens on March 22.

Last season produced some excellent brown trout, though some were caught by salmon anglers on tackle meant for salmon.

Thrunton Long Crag Trout Fishery has moved into winter mode, though trout are still taking well, with fish up to 11lb landed. Among the catches was B Cheesman with 15 trout caught on Damsels and Apps Bloodworms. Jim Smith released 14 over both lakes using lures, while Mick Hall returned 30 over two visits using Black Lures and Bloodworms on Long Crag.

– DAVID CARRICK

CUMBERLAND DERWENT

WRITING this in the shortest days of the year, many of this last season’s salmon are well up in the tributaries, having been busy spawning on the redds. I bumped into the EA and West Cumbria Rivers Trust the other day as they were carrying out the annual redd count on St John’s Beck. This small stream flows from the dam and outflow end of Thirlmere to join the River Greta between Threlkeld and Keswick, and continues to be one of the more significant spawning areas of the whole catchment. While fish do spawn on the main river stem and in other feeder streams, the count on St John’s gives us an idea of the overall population of returning salmon, and this year’s results are fairly positive, with over a hundred and eighty redds counted. Exciting and reassuring though this is, it is still a long way below the historical numbers of many hundreds from just a few years ago.

Catch returns for the 2024 season, delivered at the recent Derwent Owners Association meeting, would indicate that the number of salmon is slightly up on the previous year. With some good beats still to confirm, the estimated reported catch will likely be around two hundred and fifty salmon and a similar number of sea-trout. While still below the conservation target for the Derwent, this means that, for now at least, we still have a viable run of salmon. However, this should be tempered by indications from the WCRT Rivers Trust’s fry and parr sampling, which suggests a continuing decline in overall numbers of juvenile salmonids.

The new season opens next month (February), and we wish all anglers tight lines for the coming months. Anglers are reminded that hooks should be barbless and treble hooks on spinners replaced with singles. The Environment Agency has been active on the river this past season, advising and enforcing the new by-laws, and will be out again on regular patrols across the catchment in 2025.

– ERIC HOPE

DEE AND CLWYD

ANOTHER year comes to an end, and rods are cleaned and put away in anticipation of the next season, with the hope that there will be more fish to catch. At this point, I feel obligated to repeat my oft-made appeal: it is not good to wait at home for the first fish to be reported. It is better to wet a line in anticipation – it has to be worth a try.

Many clubs are now holding their AGMs, and I urge you to attend and add your name to the list of volunteers willing to undertake jobs like bank maintenance and in-river works. If this work has to be contracted out, it will result in an increase in our subs. Some clubs are offering reduced fees for early payment, so it’s well worth looking out for.

The Dee and Clwyd Local Fisheries Advisory Group has voted to combine with the Gwynedd LFAG, so it will now be a joint meeting. This, it seems to me, is a sad consequence of anglers stopping discussions with Natural Resources Wales and may well result in a much-reduced impact of anglers’ views on all matters angling and fish-related. I do hope I’m wrong; we shall see.

The DeeLife project continues apace, so let’s hope that removing the many obstructions to fish movement results in greater numbers of egg deposition in previously inaccessible stretches of the rivers.

A reminder of the note requesting the return of Dee Fishing Logbooks: At the start of the season, we sent you an Angler Logbook to record details of your fishing activity for salmon and sea-trout on the River Dee.

The following is a reminder from Davidson, Uwch Swyddog Asesu Amgylcheddol / Senior Environmental Assessment Officer:

“If you have completed your logbook, then we would be grateful if:

1. You could return it in the FREEPOST envelope provided at the time, or simply use this address: FREEPOST CS112, Chester Road, Buckley, Flintshire, CH7 3ZZ

2. Or provide the equivalent details of your fishing activity by email or text, using the email address: ian.davidson@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk or mobile number: 07776 466843.

If you were unable to fish, then we’d also like to know. A ‘did not fish’ or ‘nil’ reply on your return is important to us.

Even if you are not able to provide all the details asked for in the logbook but have fished for salmon or sea-trout on the Dee this year, we’d still be interested to hear how you got on – particularly your total salmon catch for the season, including the details of any tagged fish you caught. Rewards of £10 and £20 are paid for tag returns (the latter reward only for logbook anglers who sent in a return to us in the previous season).

In all cases, please email or text a reply if you prefer. Securely attach any returned tags to your logbook or other correspondence (or email a photo of your tag clearly showing the tag number).

Participation in the Dee Logbook scheme is voluntary. However, submission of a rod licence catch return is mandatory, so please don't forget to complete the latter return (including ‘nil’ responses). Rod licence catch returns should be posted directly to the address provided with your licence or can be made online at: http://www.gov.uk/catch-return

Although the latter may seem like a duplication of effort, the rod licence catch return is used to generate national statistics, whereas the logbook return (a more detailed return) is applied specifically to our stock assessment work on the Dee.

A prompt response to this reminder would be much appreciated so that we can make the best use of your return in our analysis, which has to be completed early in the new year. Most importantly, this includes the use of catch and tag returns from logbook holders in estimating the total run of salmon to the Dee in 2024.

We will return all completed logbooks and circulate a new (2025) logbook at the start of next season, along with the usual ‘Dee Angler Report’.

If you know of others who would be interested in taking part in the logbook scheme or finding out more about the Dee programme, then please ask them to get in touch.

As always, your support for this work is much appreciated.” Many thanks, Ian Davidson

Happy New Year and tight lines for 2025!

– ALLAN CUTHBERT

DERBYSHIRE WATERS

PLEASE note that a new Derbyshire Waters reporter will be starting in the March issue.

DEVON

AT the time of writing (13 December), salmon fishing on the Plym and Yealm had only a couple of days left until the end of the season on December 15, but all other rivers were closed for salmon and trout fishing. On the Avon, salmon fishing continued until November 30, but no further salmon had been reported.

Despite two named storms in the past few weeks, the first of which produced some big floods, there were still times when the rivers were low enough for anglers to fish for grayling on the Tamar and Exe systems.

When conditions permitted, the upper Exe produced grayling up to 12in for members of the Dulverton Angling Association.

The past month was one of great contrast on The Arundell waters, with the first couple of weeks clear and settled, offering good conditions for grayling fishing, while in the last two weeks the weather threw just about everything at us. During the settled weather, grayling fishing was in fine order, with the few rods who fished having some good catches, topped by James Christoforou, who landed no less than 15 grayling in a day on The Arundell’s Lyd beats at Sydenham. All were taken on tungsten nymphs, with the best fish an impressive 17in.

The monthly total was 31 grayling, mostly from the Lyd, but David Pilkington had a few from the Ottery, the best being 13in, again, all on nymphs. Richard Miles, who had been on a fly-tying course at The Arundell, fished the Sydenham water on the Lyd, catching a brace of out-of-season brownies and a 12in grayling.

Then the weather really changed, firstly with six inches of snow blanketing Devon for a couple of days, and then Storm Bert, which dumped all of November’s average rainfall in around 36 hours, producing massive floods on all the rivers. The Tamar peaked at a monstrous 4m, fully inundating the floodplain, washing out trees and fences. The Lyd peaked at 3m, again inundating the floodplain and washing out banks and trees.

These floods were bad news for spawning salmonids, which had just started to spawn before huge volumes of water ripped the gravels to pieces, and will certainly have washed out most of the eggs. The very high water took a long time to run off and was still high when Storm Darragh hit, this time with not too much rain, but wind speeds of up to 96mph recorded in Devon, and trees down everywhere. A lot of trees fell into the rivers, and the work to clear them has barely started.

Some spawning activity from sea-trout and salmon is still expected, especially with colder weather and lower water temperatures.

In spite of fears that there might not be enough water in the Torridge to collect brood fish for the Torridge Fisheries Association salmon hatchery, conditions improved just in time. The full complement of five hens and two cocks was obtained, and with one hen fish still to be stripped, 27,000 eggs had been produced.

On the Dart, members of the Dart Angling Association caught 194 sea-trout in the 2024 season, with the best fish weighing 6lb 8oz. This fish was caught on the Duchy of Cornwall water on the West Dart, which is available to DAA members.

The first sea-trout of the season was caught in May, a month later than usual, as Totnes Weir Pool normally produces a sea-trout in April. 190 brown trout were caught on the main association water, topped by fish of 22in and 19½in. Members caught 35 more browns to 14in on the Duchy water.

On November 29, the Teign Angling and Conservation Association organised the launch of The Teign Book, which is part of the River Teign Restoration Project. The event took place at Bovey Tracey and was very well attended.

The Crediton Fly Fishing Club has planned the usual 10 bank clearing sessions commencing on the first Sunday of January, conditions permitting. There will be plenty of work to be done on the Yeo, Creedy, and other club waters after the recent storms and the loss of bank clearing work carried out a year ago due to high water.

The South West Lakes Trust’s rainbow trout waters were open until the end of December. A couple of storms, as well as the year’s first heavy downfall of snow made for some challenging conditions for anglers. However, there were also some calmer, milder days, and those anglers who took advantage of these enjoyed some great end-ofseason sport. It was mainly deep-water fishing with sinking lines and lures that produced the best results.