Posted on July 21, 2018
Fly Culture magazine is open for subscriptions! Trout in the Town and urban fishing gurus Theo Pike and Paul Gaskell of the WTT have an article in the first edition which comes out in September. We are really delighted to be associated with Fly Culture and wish our friends Pete Tyjas and James Beeson great success.
https://www.flyculturemag.com/
Posted on July 08, 2018
There are several events we'd like to draw your attention to over the next few weeks in Yorkshire.
The Great Yorkshire Show is this week (10-12th July) and as there is very little water in the rivers, why not pop along and see Jonny in the Salmon & Trout West Yorkshire Branch marquee. There will be opportunities for casting, riverfly samples and fly-tying demos, a river table to play with, as well as the opportunity to chew the fat re river habitat or get some advice for your local water if it needs a bit of TLC.
The following are workshops open to all, funded by Yorkshire Water under their Biodiversity Enhancement Fund. If you'd like to attend, please email Jonny (jgrey@wildtrout.org):-
Posted on June 29, 2018
Whilst the southern chalk streams are enjoying good flows at this time thanks to a wet winter and spring, many rain- fed rivers are approaching record low levels; low water levels plus hot sunshine means high water temperatures and low oxygen levels. Once the water temperature reaches 20-21C, our native brown trout start to struggle.
Posted on June 29, 2018
The West Sutherland Fisheries Trust is teaming up with several partners to continue its excellent work studying the movements of sea trout in Loch Laxford. BUT the project needs your help: you can donate, adopt a sea trout, report any tagged, rod-caught trout from the Loch, or even all three!
For more information, click here.
Posted on June 27, 2018
The WTT Conservation Awards 2018 seek to recognise river improvement projects at all scales, from the huge to the end-of-garden stuff; more information and application form HERE. The application process is simple and is followed by an informal phone discussion with our judges, before a special and great fun Awards’ evening in London on 17 October 2018.
We’re also on the look-out for nominations for our Wild Trout Hero 2018 – if you know someone who’s gone that extra mile for wild trout, please let us know.
Entries for this year’s Awards are welcome until 30 July 2018, by e-mail to office@wildtrout.org. If you’d like advice or a chat about your project, please call the WTT Director, Shaun Leonard, on 07974 861908.
Posted on June 27, 2018
WTT Conservation Officer Mike Blackmore is looking for volunteers to help with a river restoration project on the River Avon at Amesbury in Wiltshire.This is a great opportunity to make a real difference for wildlife as well as learn about river habitat restroration and have some fund with a great team of people.
If you have any time available between 30 July and 10 August and would like to help, please contact Mike.
Email: mblackmore@wildtrout.org Tel. 07881 248 789 Tweet: @blackyhimself
Posted on June 22, 2018
Patagonia have produced a film highlighting the plight of some very special rivers in the Balkans, currently being dammed (damned?) for hydropower, with thousands more schemes planned. This will be an absolute disaster for these rivers, their unique fish and wildlife communities and their people.
The film trailer is here and, very importantly, you can support a campaign against the damming by signing the petition urging international banks to stop investing in the destruction of Europe’s last wild rivers. This will be handed into international banks by the end of June, so no time to waste.
Posted on June 19, 2018
The inaugural World Fishing Day, 23 June 2018, is only days away, with 24 hours of angling from around the globe streamed live on the Fishing TV channel.
WTT has teamed up with Chalkstream Fly, makers of the excellent film, Chalk, to produce a short piece on WTT’s work that will be shown during the day and one of WTT’s Trout in the Town champions and tenkara guru, Paul Gaskell, is in Japan for a week, including live filming on the day. Paul is included amongst the event’s ambassadors, alongside many other WTT supporters, including our Vice-President, Matthew Wright; they’re sure to weave WTT’s conservation messages into their fishing tales.
Lots more on World Fishing Day at https://www.worldfishingday.com
Posted on June 19, 2018
WTT’s annual fundraiser at Meon Springs Trout Fishery in Hampshire was held last weekend, 16 June, fished by 46 rods and raising over £7000.
The day is brilliantly organised by WTT volunteer, Neil Mundy and all the staff at the fishery. Behind the scenes, two Mrs Mundys (only one is Neil’s wife) keep the books, WTT supporters Phil Marr and Mark Roberts are respectively the excellent silver trophy makers and fly tyers for the day and the ultimate prize is a top-notch rod kindly donated by Sage; the John Lewis Partnership FFC continues to provide vital sponsorship. Thank you all. The Meon Springs Long Barn (our lunch venue) is a place not to be missed.
Posted on June 06, 2018
WTT Conservation Officer Rob Mungovan has received a 30 year service award from the RSPB for voluntary work at Fowlmere Nature Reserve.
Rob said, “Getting involved with voluntary work has taught me loads from habitat management to how lead people of different abilities. And, it was at Fowlmere Nature Reserve that I first started cutting river weed and continue to this day.”
Rob is an all round ecologist who brings huge depth of knowledge to the WTT team in his role as Conservation Officer for East Anglia and Central England. He started volunteering at a very early age !
Posted on June 01, 2018
Listen to this excellent podcast with journalist Andrew Griffiths and WTT Conservation Officer Tim Jacklin talking about ‘Letting the Dive Flow’ in the Derbyshire Peak District.
Letting the Dove Flow is a partnership project led by the National Trust to re-naturalise the river and restore habitat in Dovedale in the Peak District National Park. Wild Trout Trust Conservation Officer Tim Jacklin is responsible for delivering the project which includes removing some of the 177 weirs installed in the 1920s.
Click here for more information about the impact of weirs.
Posted on May 14, 2018
A big thank you to Richard Fieldhouse of Barbless Flies for a donation of £500 to the Wild Trout Trust - and to all of his customers who chose the ‘minimum packaging’ option which results in 50p per order going to the WTT. This is a real win for the environment – less plastic, easier catch and release and funds for habitat improvement!
Barbless flies have just launched a new website to help you select the right fly in the right place at the right time. GEO-Intelligent Fly Selection is a new FREE web service: www.which-fly.co.uk
We've all been there - you get to the water’s edge and just tie on the same fly which worked the last time you were out - hoping that the fish will still be interested. Well, how about using a little bit of modern technology to help you decide which fly to use?
Posted on May 03, 2018
The Environment Agency’s Heb Leman has just circulated an update of river restoration work with fisheries on the Test and Itchen. It’s an excellent read, including tales from an 800m restoration project at Bossington and removal of some hatches on the Test at a site impounded possibly since the 15th century, revealing some extraordinary archaeology.
Click here to read the newsletter.
Posted on May 03, 2018
WTT attended a seminar by S&TC Cymru in Builth Wells in early April which highlighted issues around mega-dairy units in west Wales and intensive poultry rearing towards the east of the country. The impacts on Wales’ rivers and their really important trout stocks is headlined in official data on the number of pollutions reported: around 1.5 significant events per week and a Category 1 or 2 event (the most serious episodes, killing fish) about every other week.The number of sanctions imposed by Natural Resources Wales suggests that the desperately under-resourced regulator is doing little effective regulation.
The Brecon and Radnor branch of The Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW) has set up a petition to try to encourage a debate in the Senedd. A target of 5000 signatures is sought by 22 May; the petition is open to those non-resident in Wales but who care for its environment, including its precious rivers and their trout.
More information here http://www.brecon-and-radnor-cprw.wales/ with the petition here http://brecon-and-radnor-cprw.wales/ipu-petition
Posted on April 27, 2018
Side Stream Reflections. Further Meanderings of a Chalk Stream River Keeper by the late Ron Holloway is now available to buy on eBay. Price £9.99 plus £2.90 postage.
This is a book of the collected writings of Ron Holloway, one of the inspirational founding fathers of the Wild Trout Trust. Ron was a leading thinker and practitioner of fishing and trout management who influenced a generation of river keepers and fishery owners. This book is published posthumously by his good friend, David Hamnett. Profits from the sale of the book (approx. £5 per book) are donated to the Wild Trout Trust.
David says:
