Tyne Fishing 2010: Reasons to be cheerful on the Tyne

[Editor]

This recent rain has brought the river to life. Thousands of salmon and sea trout which have been stuck in the lower sections of the river Tyne are now streaming over Hexham weir and up into the South and North Tynes.

The recent rains which have followed a period of prolonged drought have set the salmon and sea trout racing up the Tyne. The cork has popped and we can toast the start of the season properly now. So far (as of 19th July 2010) 10,630* fish have passed the fish counter this season, with a staggering 2,841 fish having moved through in the last week on the recent rise of water. July alone (so far) has counted 6,136 salmon and sea trout which is the second best July on record with 12 days still to go! After a slow spring a great surge of relief has been felt along the Tyne valley.

Only the record 2004 season has been better than this one to date.

Catches too have recently been good with salmon and sea trout at last being caught at Lambley on the South Tyne and beyond.

Anglers are also being urged to take part in the Angler Scale Sampling Programme. Please read the link on how to take part and how best to take scales from your fish.

* Data kindly supplied by the Environment Agency.


What is more - three Tyne webcams will be going live this week !

Now this has cheered me up!

[Editor]

The Tyne's July run this year is an all time record at 9,240! Most will probably be sea trout but sure to bring good sport. It is also a record to the end of July with a count of 13,464. This beats the record year of 2004 by 264 fish.

Hurrah!

Colin

[Editor]

This July's record migratory fish run on the Tyne (9,240) is probably made up of 75% sea trout (6,930) and 25% salmon (2,310).

These figures are based on the average proportions counted by the Environment Agency over the last 6 Julys but is yet to be assessed for 2010. I will post a more accurate assessment* when I hear from Morton at the EA labs.

Colin

* Note: that even after video assessment these figures should be treated as estimates because coloured water and other factors can obscure the view. Please treat as guideline values not actuals!

[Editor]

The runs have continued to be good through August and the river is now well stocked. This week the fishing has been good on a lift of water and my nephew Martin caught his first salmon At Haughton Castle on Monday (10lb returned on Willie Gunn tube). His freind Matthew caught and released a 2lb sea trout and 3lb grilse at Lambley on South Tyne yesterday and Martin lost another good salmon.

So both North and South Tyne have plenty of fish and with currently good water - get there quick!

Rods are available at Lambley!

[Editor]

A cascade bagged two superb sea trout yesterday for lucky angler Bob Watson. Fishing a main Tyne stretch below Hexham he hooked and landed two sea trout, the first 7lb and the second a corker at 9lb! The sea trout of the north east of England (and south east Scotland) are incredible.

Colin

[Editor]

Data kindly supplied by Environment Agency, North East: (Thanks Morton).

The upstream count for August was 10,430. According to our records, this figure is the highest recorded count for this month, surpassing the previous highest, 9,460, set in 2006 by 970. The count for the year up to the end of August is 23,894 which is also the highest in our records, surpasses the previous highest, 18,612 set in 2004, by 5,282. On the 14th and 21st, upstream counts of 1,045 and 1,202 were recorded respectively. These were the 16th and 7th highest daily totals recorded; the highest daily total, 1,823, occurred on 30th October 2003.

The upstream count for first two days of September is 223.

Further details of the monthly and daily fish counts can be found on the following link:
Environment Agency - River Tyne fish counts

Up to the end of August, 244 scales samples have so far been submitted to the scheme, 155 coming from salmon and 89 from sea trout. August has so far accounted for 113 samples, 72 from salmon and 41 from sea trout. Of the salmon scales that have been read, 1 sea winter salmon (1SW) or ‘grilse’ are strongly represented but multi sea winter salmon (MSW) are still the prominent group. The sea trout samples are predominately from maiden fish (returning to the river for the first time) with a few samples coming from previous spawning fish.

The contribution made by anglers sending in scales so far this season has been magnificent and we do hope you will continue to send scales from many of the fish that you catch. Ideally, we would like to receive scale samples from at least 350 salmon and 150 sea trout. Please remember, if you are returning the fish and the scales are difficult to take, just put the fish back, their health and well-being is paramount. However, if you are taking the fish home, please send in some scales.

Anglers submitting scales to the programme will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win a Hardy Cascapedia salmon reel donated by Hardy & Greys Ltd or a Shimano Nexave 4000 spinning reel donated by Bagnall & Kirkwood Ltd.

Samples should be placed in a paper envelope (please do not use cling film, tin foil or plastic to store scales) indicating when and where the fish is caught, an indication of weight and/or length and your name and address. If possible indications of the presence of sea lice, damage or colour would also be appreciated. If you require some little brown envelops or details of how to take scales please let me know.

Morton Heddell-Cowie
Tyne Tunnel Monitoring

morton.heddell-cowie@environment-agency.gov.uk

[cb]

YouTube - Salmon & Sea Trout on the River Tyne

YouTube - Salmon & Sea Trout on the River Tyne