Wye

[Neil Smart]

First time back on the Wye for 3 or 4 years last Thursday...and so disappointed in the state of this once pristine river. The bottom was covered in green slimy silt that engulfed your rig.
I imagine this is due to the poultry farms, never imagined it was this bad.
I was reduced to attaching a couple of shot and fishing meat, it helped did catch a stonking big eel and missed a wrap round that soon snagged me.
Hardly any kayaks though

 

[Damian Kimmins]

 

[Paul Bullinger]

First time back on the Wye for 3 or 4 years last Thursday...and so disappointed in the state of this once pristine river. The bottom was covered in green slimy silt that engulfed your rig.
I imagine this is due to the poultry farms, never imagined it was this bad.
I was reduced to attaching a couple of shot and fishing meat, it helped did catch a stonking big eel and missed a wrap round that soon snagged me.
Hardly any kayaks though

Hi Neil. I've posted about this matter a few times on this forum. I won't go into all the why's and wherefores now as it makes me so angry and I have BP problems anyway!
Suffice to say most UK rivers are polluted, some worse than others. The only thing that will make those responsible do something about it is if a link is found between polluted water and illness. If people start to die as with Covid, the government will act, but only then.
Meanwhile, due to the insatiable appetite for cheap chicken (a massive cardboard bucket full of chicken pieces for £10) and untreated human waste being pumped into rivers like the Wye, things will only get worse.
I hate to say this, but a pandemic seems to concentrate the mind!

 

[Barry Peck]

First time back on the Wye for 3 or 4 years last Thursday...and so disappointed in the state of this once pristine river. The bottom was covered in green slimy silt that engulfed your rig.
I imagine this is due to the poultry farms, never imagined it was this bad.
I was reduced to attaching a couple of shot and fishing meat, it helped did catch a stonking big eel and missed a wrap round that soon snagged me.
Hardly any kayaks though

Have a watch of Avon angler on YouTube he seems to catch plenty of fish on certain wye beats . It may lift your spirits , I know to well the state the wye is in .. I just hoped to cheer you up a little

 

[Neil Smart]

I do watch him Barry...and perhaps this particular problem was more so on the Birmingham A.A stretch. As said the problem was presenting a bait the gear was immersed in the stuff.
It's the shallow side of a bend so that didn't help. i was in two minds to fish the Worcester A.A stretch, perhaps that would have been better?

 

[Graham Elliott]

Neil, around Ross the weed is more than the last few years, however it does have a grayish colour..

The filament weed on the bottom, far more than ever, was however, suprisingly a good green colour.

 

[Neil Smart]

Yes the colour was a vivid green Graham, is this due to phosphates do you suppose?

 

[Simon Burt]

A bit like reeling in spinach today!

 

[Paul Bullinger]

Neil, around Ross the weed is more than the last few years, however it does have a grayish colour..

The filament weed on the bottom, far more than ever, was however, suprisingly a good green colour.

If its the weed I'm thinking of, it's not a good sign. Looks nice in the water but as you drag it out it becomes a thick matted slimy mess. Similar weed growth is found near sewage outfalls.
It is not oxygenating and its growth is promoted by phosphates in the river.
Another sign of a dying river

 

[Damian Kimmins]

I heard an interesting report on Farming Today about how chicken manure from farms in the Wye Valley is being turned into biochar which is locked in to the soil!

 

[Joe Winstanley]

I heard an interesting report on Farming Today about how chicken manure from farms in the Wye Valley is being turned into biochar which is locked in to the soil!

I heard it also and was far from impressed.

Ultimately the total amount of phosphate isn't reduced, it's just placed into an unavailable form. But over time it will become available (soluble) through natural soil processes. Any agronomist worth their salt would regard it as a phosphate input in any nutrient balance calculations they producing for a given crop. So it really won't make the problem go away, unless of course the biochar is transported out of the catchment, which is course you also do with chicken shit In the first instance...

Just more smoke and mirrors from Avara I'm afraid.

 

[Damian Kimmins]

I don't know Joe. I can't say I have a great knowledge about such things but have heard that it is also about what you plant that dictates any impact elsewhere as some crops require more nutrients and are able to absorb and utilise those nutrients quicker.