2008 FISHING SEASON AT EDWINSFORD

2008 was the year of too much water after a very dry April and May. A cold east wind dried out the ground and the river was as low as I've seen it until a small spate towards the end of May which got us going with Derek Kilgour recording some decent sewin. We had to wait until mid June for the first salmon but then the water came with a vengeance.

Apart from 10 days in the middle of July and then in early October the river ran high until the end of season, often being completely unfishable which is highly unusual in the summer months.

Derek Kilgour continued to score on most visits with first Edwinsford sewin for Derek Harrison (later rained off), Phil Morgan and Andrew Williamson who also lost some good fish. On 20th July young Harry Fitzpatrick caught his first ever sewin of just under 4 pounds from one of the new pools on Beat 7 - 3 generations of Fitzpatrick were fishing that day! On 26th July Brian Witts performed a miracle, with the river at its lowest level ever, he managed an 8 pound salmon from the Oak Pool in bright sunlight on one of the hottest days of the year! The rains then returned and Jonathan Heron managed a 15lb sewin from The Withy, but only after a hairy swim when he had to follow the fish which wanted to return to the estuary.

August produced fish on most days when conditions were half favourable although the river was very unsettled, every time it seemed to be approaching a good height there was more torrential rain. Derek Kilgour and Jonathan Heron were in the money again as were Rufus Rees, Charles Clarke, David Jones and Jeremy Herrtage - sadly conditions were not suitable for night fishing at the time of year we would expect to catch a lot of sewin at night.

Sea trout were disappointing in September, we think that most had most run through on the high flows although some large fish were seen. However we continued to pick away at the salmon with fish being caught by Derek Kilgour, Anthony Rees, Rufus Rees, Les Evans and Jonathan Heron.

It was shame that we didn't have tenants in October when conditions were often nearly perfect, in spite of that we still had 8 in the last 2 weeks of the season with David Harrison getting his first Cothi salmon with almost his first cast on the last day of the season.

So we ended up below 2007's record salmon total but given the number of days lost to floods we could not be disheartened by 31 salmon. The lack of night fishing was a real disappointment as several pools had improved during the winter floods and we were keen to try them out,

Please ring me (01558 685848) if you have a spare minute and want to chat through the fishing in more detail - I am a passionate fisherman myself and try to run the fishery as I would like to find the fishery as a visiting angler, we only had 1 complaint in 2008 - in spite of having been given a tour of the river,a map and notes one angler said that there should have been name signs at every pool - I'm afraid not, this is not a manicured fishery in suburbia! I like to think that we give everyone a good introduction to the river, on arrival anglers are given:

• a 2 hour "river tour" to point out best tactics
• advice on flies and tackle
• a map of the river
• detailed notes describing tactics, best lies etc - click on "FISHERY NOTES"

We give everyone lots of space and variety of fishing. Single anglers may have to share two 3/4 mile beats with one other angler but normally larger groups will be given its own 2 beats per day - one more suited to fly fishing and the other more shaded beat to provide more of a chance during the day. A 6 rod party will have exclusive use of the river apart from Derek Kilgour who usually only fishes the bottom beat closest to his house and 3 other season rods who do not vist very frequently. This being said we generally find that visiting rods prefer the greater flexibility of not using a beat rotation knowing that there is not likely to be "competition"!

The Bothy is ideally placed in the middle of the fishery just 3 minutes from the river, for those not wishing to self cater there are good b&b's in the nearest village and several good hotels a little further away.

 

Jonathan Heron

20/10/08