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when is it going to stop.

J

Jamie Dawson

Senior Member
hi, i have just got back from a trip to the hants avon and cant believe the distruction to the ibsley fishery still going on.there is not one inch of bankside cover left on the whole of the fishery.natural england with the help of somerley estate have turned this once picturesque fishery into a barron bleak apocalyptic landscape.this work has just started downstream at ellingham.so i hold my breath on the rest of the estate.to my knowledge the work is being done to encourage wading birds to return,and in my opinion without a thought to the river has a fishery.the website avon diary or is it avon diarrhoea says it all birds birds and more birds.there is not a lot of info on there about the somerley estate has a fishery because year on year its getting tougher,and with no bankside cover its going to get worse. i wish you all a good end of season.
 
And very little response or reaction from a certain Mr Walton:rolleyes: Is this because a different club controls this water;)
I do however concurr, the fishery has been decimated and continues to be so! What part of "Natural England" do these idiots come from:mad:
 
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Keith Humphreys said:
And very little response or reaction from a certain Mr Walton:rolleyes: Is this because a different club controls this water;)
I do however concurr, the fishery has been decimated and continues to be so! What part of "Natural England" do these idiots come from:mad:
Click to expand...

Hi Keith,

I think you might find that the lack of an instant reply from 'a certain Mr. Walton' as you put it probably has more to do with Ray not having easy access to the internet at times, rather than which club controls the water in question.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Double Standards

Considering the river coarse fish habitat upstream of Ibsley Bridge was virtually slaughtered by dredging and unnecessary weed cutting in October 2010 and August 2011 with the help of RDAA members and the NEF Salmon Syndicate, with the consent of the Environment Agency (on site) and Natural England in collaboration, I don't think you have a leg to stand on Keith! Secondly, I am informed that a CAC work party carried out the work below Ibsley with consents, very similar to what RDAA work parties do upstream and everywhere else on their own venues! Personally speaking, I would rather the river habitat and banks were left alone a bit more especially this time of year when everything wild is getting ready to breed, near and on the banks, and birds in the trees building nests and fish spawning in the river. Regretfully, as you well know, it won’t stop and the club work parties, including your own, will be out there in the close season with chainsaws, strimmers, loppers, knives and forks etc, plus wading, machine weed cutting in the river disturbing spawning fish, treading on laid eggs etc, despite yours or my objections, …and for what reason? Quite funny that you didn’t blink an eyelid at the slaughter of NEF or Johnsons on the Royalty (which RDAA sub-lease) last spring when wildlife, wildfowl and birds were nesting in the trees and undergrowth that they chain sawed to the ground, protected bankside reedbeds destroyed for the erecting of 'illegal' platforms overhanging the river, all when the fish were spawning and wildfowl nesting! Ignoring the Royalty discharges of pollutants etc., and hiding the true facts from the members is a complete joke mate! Sorry but you can’t have it both ways. I am sure that you, CAC, Somerley, the EA and NE and everyone on BFW know my views on river habitat destruction as they are well documented, but I am afraid that very few take note or listen. Why, because they don’t give a duck’s bum really about river and wildlife conservation when it comes down to commercial, monetary or self interest! ‘You’ should bring the problem up at both RDAA and CAC AGM’s to see if you can get it stopped!
Not quite sure when the work was done, but perhaps you should also have a gander at Phil Smith’s Blog – ‘Travelling Man’ who was on the Avon recently, as it may surprise you and a few others who fish the same areas in question. Travelling Man
Best Regards
 
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Keith Humphreys said:
And very little response or reaction from a certain Mr Walton:rolleyes: Is this because a different club controls this water;)
I do however concurr, the fishery has been decimated and continues to be so! What part of "Natural England" do these idiots come from:mad:
Click to expand...



Natural England as in Brixton or Toxeth !!!!!!!!!!!!! clueless idiots and surely the EA have fishery officers who get a say in what is best for the river but it would seem not , lets be honest would be nice to see dippers and other wading birds on the river , must be really shallow round there ? sorry but dont know the area but stretch of Trent I fish had a big willow come down in the high water and winds in december and now theres just a stump and thats gonna be removed , spoke to baliff and when I pointed out the fact that all the branches trialing in river was creating a sanctuary and holding area for fish and his response left me gobsmacked he said " the root from willows go out in to the river " I asked why was that a problem as it still created the holding and sanctuary area and got reply of " yeah but if you hook a fish then you could lose it in the roots " I just shook my head in disbelief and walked a away . What chance do we have when even the baliffs dont know what they are doing ? I know most of them get the job by been local or available but surely giving them some knowledge or in this case common sense would be an idea .
 
Sorry was groping for the right expression regarding baliffs knowledge and meant some kind of fishery management skills
 
I remember a lone cautioning voice (it might have been mine) heard out in the fishy wilderness back on the old BFW and other sites years ago warning that if the Avon and a few other rivers get so much as a sniff of more returning salmon that the big, smart money will return to them and have its usual, charming, protect the endangered salmon, destructive to much else, way...

PS - For Ray Walton: got your message (and two others from the Royalty lad via FM) concerning my old and very good pal Gordon Edwards of Royalty Fishery and F.W.K. Wallis fame. Can't help with any photos of Mr Hayter, I regret, as all of Gordon's late 1920s to early 1950s diaries recording his full-time Royalty and Dorset mullet and bass fishing were half-inched from his home in the days after his death in autumn 1988. Having spent many an hour reading them at his cliff-top home in West Wales in the 1970s, I can say that their loss is a huge loss to British Angling history - the man was a great raconteur and judge of character; his photos taken on an original Leica or on a Rolleiflex were superb. I knew Gordon Edwards from 1972 until 1988 and for several years fished with him pretty well daily from early March until early October (Welsh salmon, bass & mullet), have a few Instamatic "snaps" taken of him during those days but none of his historic old stuff.
 
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when will it stop

i cant see cac the controlling club doing the damage,they might have helped clear up the carnage as the way it was left after last years slaughter was a disgrace.they know the feelings of a lot of members about the damage done and i hope that when the lease is up for renewal ,it offers the greedy b------s of somerley estate less money and dont be dictated to on what is being done to the fishery.i am sure their membership numbers are down and will continue to fall if this kind of thing keeps going on.
 
Jamie...I was informed that 'strimming the banks' in that area took place by a CAC work party possibly a couple of weeks ago for 'Salmon Fishing' purposes. So really, Paul is pretty much on the ball with his post i think, and is much the same as what happens on the upstream RDAA NEF stretch regarding salmon fishing above Ibsley Bridge, only worse and out of sight underwater.
 
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As has been stated many times we as anglers are right up against it, those that SHOULD be helping to protect our environment are in fact the enemy and the source of most of the destruction.

Ray may not have made himself very popular over the past but I for one applaud his determination, I believe that if it were not for people like Ray there is every chance that even more would have been done to destroy this once unique waterway.


The insidious actions of the EA and Natural England seem to me to be more concerned with self interests than preserving our natural rivers and their environments.
I have long been a critic of the EA, I feel we anglers and conservationists deserve far more support and while the EA are in charge we will never be supported, the EA are there for one reason and one reason only and that is to support and approve whatever action government thinks fit, they certainly don’t give a fig about the environment.

I don’t care if Ray is un-popular with some of these organisations, his efforts are popular with me, so more power to your elbow mate!
 
Two observations from me, Keith:

1) The EA's boots on the ground, its grunts, very often very sound hard-working guysd, are merely obeying orders from...

2) Their bosses, who know on which side their bread is buttered and have, no doubt, some pretty cosy relationships with riparian owners, big money and the ever-present powers that be (and will do nothing to jeopardize these relationships, to rock the boat). I can remember (as a teenager who was present a number of times - I have always had the knack of being in interesting places at interesting times, but that's another matter...) the twin head honchos, Brayshaw and Grater, of the old Avon & Dorset River Authority leaving their Bournemouth offices and making "royal" visits to Avon Valley Estates and fisheries in the late 1960s to early-mid 1970s, with everybody bowing and scraping, before they jumped in a very large car or Landie to go off and have lunch or an early dinner with the owners...
 
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when will it stop

ray i know they strim the banks for the elite every season but hopefully have not helped the nutters decimate the fishery,if they have it will be my last season being a member.imo the somerley estate was the jewel in the crown on cac waters but to let this go on without a care is a crime and i hope all members who fish there let the club and (river keeper ? )know their true thoughts.i have just been informed that the work being carried out at ellingham is for the benefit of getting a better view of the river from the new fishing lodge, how sweet.
 
Paul

I agree, and I would not wish to upset the "grunts" as you put it.

The fisheries guys seem to do all they can for the "right" reasons, however take away the fisheries section and the rest are not fit for purpose!

Far too many vested interests are served at anglers (and the countryside) expense.

AND I have not even mentioned Hydro power!!!


Tight lines chaps (while we still have a river system left)!
 
Good points and posts from Ray, Keith and of course Mr Boote..

The destruction wont stop so long as we keep funding it..;)
 
Somerley Estate used to be my favourite barbel fishery in the land. During the last 10 years or so the barbel stocks have diminished to a pitiful level. Up until a couple of years ago you could at least console yourself that it was still a lovely place to be sat fishing. Take that away and what are you left with? I can't even bear to look at the place now. I've voted with my feet...
 
I certainly never wish to see it again, Tim, for I remember it in the days when Colonel Crow ruled the place and there were both huge salmon and a few huge barbel present, and how he'd send a youngster out after them now and again. Never had either (well, one 17- / 18-pound salmon) but had some absolutely gorgeous, easy big roach (just use bread, not maggot).
 
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What roach.......?
Not only no bankside vegetation left but i hear 'selective' weed cutting is to return to Somerley this coming season.... It will be like visiting Milton Keynes!
 
looks like i will have to buy a pair of binnouclars and look out for the wading birds,my 150.00 membersip donate to rspb,mind you when you've a river keeper who point blanks refuses to use his licence to shoot cormoronts (as it will have little effect)bear in mind they feast on fish and lay eggs,little wonder the somerley is dying as a fishery.i am not putting the decline of the fishery on J L but would have thought someone in his posistion would do all they could to have a fishery to be proud of.
 
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