There is defiantly no doubt whatsoever that the Environment Agency urgently needs to address the opening and closing dates of both

Adroddiad afonnydd Gymdeithas S.G. a LL.
S.G. & LL. Angling Society's River report

There is defiantly no doubt whatsoever that the Environment Agency urgently needs to address the opening and closing dates of both salmon and sea trout seasons on certain rivers and most certainly here in Gwynedd. The Seiont is one prime example, this river has always been a late river, and not so very long ago the season did run as far as mid-November, that is of course before the old district river boards were swallowed up to form the then all powerful Welsh Water and their fascination with standardising everything, in their minds all rivers were to be treated the same opening and closing dates, except their favoured waters which I refrain from naming but flow into the sea into and near the Bristol Channel.

Why am I going on about this you might ask, well from the last week in October to the time of writing being 6th? January 03, the Seiont has been full of salmon, to bear this out on the Saturday before Xmas there was a shoal of 27 salmon immediately below Pont Rug Bridge, these moved on with the floods over the holiday period, yet on 4th January 03 there were a further 14 salmon in the same pool, also in the pool immediately below the fish pass at Nant Peris there were six large salmon together with a nice shoal of sewin or lake trout of about 3lbs.

Penllyn Bridge has also been popular not only with anglers but with local residents turning up to witness large numbers of spawning fish during the New Year period. I wonder what part our stocking policy has played in this remarkable transformation in the rivers fortunes. Up to two years ago we were rearing salmon to the feeding fry stage and planting them out in the uppermost reaches of rivers Peris and Afr at Nant Peris and below Llyn Dwythwch on the Hwch. This year for the first time in years there are reports of salmon spawning in the Hwch above the Snowdon Railway Station. I would think that what has happened this year is proof enough. The sad part is that for two years now we have not been able to continue with this policy, this what becomes of being dependant on the Agency to collect brood stock. However this year this slight hiccup has been overcome with some 18,000 sewin and 12,000 salmon ova already obtained.

On Llyn Nantlle the new access road and car park has been completed, and an excellent job it is to. Local contractor Bryn Hughes is to be congratulated on very good work. The jetty was due to be constructed during the xmas holiday, but unfortunately the wet weather put paid to that, and now of course we are in the middle of a freeze up, however we hope that everything will have been completed by opening day being 20th. March 03.

Any interested member should pay a visit to the Nantlle valley especially Talysarn, Nantlle and Drws y Coed to see for themselves the habitat restoration work that’s been carried out as a result of Objective 1 funding. Many thanks to all those who have taken part in this project, and especially those who gave of their support and time to make this dream a reality The future looks very bright indeed.

H.P. Hughes