Joe Winstanley
Senior Member & Supporter
Neil,The Teme is a river the barbel congregated to spawn, the lack of suitable habitat and the ridiculous June 16 th start and if you wish target spawning fish and trample the redds is in your opinion nothing to do with us in your opinion...what?
Tell that sort of thinking to a well managed chalk stream trout fishery .
Of course predation plays a huge part in decline, but nothing is done to counter that because we don't manage / care do we?
Of course any spawning barbel will not return if it is not a suitable environment.
The decline was catastrophic and yet there is no conversations within angling as to how to fix it, just the odd barbel pictured on fb to fool us it's all ok.
Can you imagine a tackle shop sending folk to a swim that was hot and what bait to use and where to cast? These areas our vital for the future and should be left at least until well after spawning.
Same as Fladbury on the WA a hugely important weir peg for spawning barbel and chub gets hammered bivvies etc and all day and night. These places should be out of bounds but try that at the AGM as an idea?
I could take you to the Bristol Avon and show similar, all unprotected...and we wonder why our sport is in decline and I wonder why those that 'liked' your rebuff of my post have the answers then.
I'm not sure where you are going with this.
The OP shared an post about their first trip to the Wye, one that would be helpful and of interest to other visitors to the Wye. The thread then, somewhat inevitably, contained some discussion about Woody's and the advice they can provide to visitors to the Wye, this seems to have set you off on one with you insinuating that angling pressure is damaging fish stocks on the Wye, yet in the the past, you yourself have advised people on here to visit Woody's as well as the Wye and Usk foundation.
I haven't ever heard anyone claim before that angling pressure is damaging the fish stocks on the Wye, nor have I heard anyone ever claim that the angling pressure is the reason for the decline of barbel in the Teme. The water quality issues facing the Wye have been well-documented in recent years, and the reasons behind the the decline in the Teme are likely to be multi-faceted (climate change (floods), water quality, predation). To cite angling pressure is simplistic and reductionist thinking, and lacks any evidence to back it up.
Somewhat ironically there is a thread running on here about the decline in independent tackle shops and the trend towards total monopoly by you-know-who. So I say hats off to Woody's for helping visiting anglers to the Wye Valley, while attracting customers to their shop to put money in the till. And of course it can be argued that these visitors to the Wye will help shine a light on the known water quality issues.
Cheers,
Joe