Comparing the salmon or sea trout rod catches of neighbouring rivers is a very good way of illustrating whether or not a river has its own specific problems or exciting solutions.
Rivers close to one another often run through similar landscapes, share the same rocks types and suffer the same rainfall and even similar human interference! In migratory fish terms they might also share similar conditions during the spawning cycle, smolt migration and even experience similar conditions, migration routes and hazards at sea.
Fishing conditions also strongly influence fish catches and as everyone knows, river height is very important in salmon fishing. A slowly falling river is normally ideal! It is little wonder therefore that neighbouring spate rivers can show a remarkable similarity in rod catch trends over the years.
With this in mind we should expect neighbouring rivers, which share similar characteristics to show similar catch trends over the years. And more importantly, if not, then why not?
Here are a few examples of neighbouring rivers which show remarkably similar trends over the last 19 years.
North East England
The Tyne and the Wear.
Scotland
Findhorn and the Deveron
Tay and the Spey
South West England
Teign and the Exe
North West England
Lune and the Ribble
Wales
Teifi and Tywi
So what of the Wye?
Here we plot the Wye rod catches against the combined average of its nearest neighbouring salmon rivers the Usk and the Severn over a 19 year period (1990 – 2008).
This chart below shows a dramatic decline of the Wye which is quite different from its neighbouring rivers. We surely can conclude that it suffered specific in-river issues. Even during the decline, however, we can see similar trends with its neighbours, i.e. an improvement (from the previous year) on the Usk/Severn equates with improvement on the Wye.
The chart directly above examines the trends during the last few years and shows (to my eyes anyway) that the Wye is now clearly following the same trends as its neighbours. It also indicates that the in-river issues which caused its dramatic decline have perhaps gone.
Another illustration of the Wye being back on track can be seen by comparing Wye catches against catches from 'River Wales'. River Wales here is the average annual catch from the other Welsh salmon rivers combined. The table below compares the two. (In order to compare on the same chart we've compared each one against its own average catch - where 1 respresents the average catch for the river - above 1 is better than average below is worse).
This remarkable match corresponds to a correlation of nearly 87%. (100% is perfect)
There is still much work to do to restore the Wye to its former glory but I think these charts show that the Wye, thank goodness, is once again a ‘normal river’.
Colin Bradshaw
Salmon Atlas
Rivers close to one another often run through similar landscapes, share the same rocks types and suffer the same rainfall and even similar human interference! In migratory fish terms they might also share similar conditions during the spawning cycle, smolt migration and even experience similar conditions, migration routes and hazards at sea.
Fishing conditions also strongly influence fish catches and as everyone knows, river height is very important in salmon fishing. A slowly falling river is normally ideal! It is little wonder therefore that neighbouring spate rivers can show a remarkable similarity in rod catch trends over the years.
With this in mind we should expect neighbouring rivers, which share similar characteristics to show similar catch trends over the years. And more importantly, if not, then why not?
Here are a few examples of neighbouring rivers which show remarkably similar trends over the last 19 years.
North East England
The Tyne and the Wear.
Scotland
Findhorn and the Deveron
Tay and the Spey
South West England
Teign and the Exe
North West England
Lune and the Ribble
Wales
Teifi and Tywi
So what of the Wye?
Here we plot the Wye rod catches against the combined average of its nearest neighbouring salmon rivers the Usk and the Severn over a 19 year period (1990 – 2008).
This chart below shows a dramatic decline of the Wye which is quite different from its neighbouring rivers. We surely can conclude that it suffered specific in-river issues. Even during the decline, however, we can see similar trends with its neighbours, i.e. an improvement (from the previous year) on the Usk/Severn equates with improvement on the Wye.
The chart directly above examines the trends during the last few years and shows (to my eyes anyway) that the Wye is now clearly following the same trends as its neighbours. It also indicates that the in-river issues which caused its dramatic decline have perhaps gone.
Another illustration of the Wye being back on track can be seen by comparing Wye catches against catches from 'River Wales'. River Wales here is the average annual catch from the other Welsh salmon rivers combined. The table below compares the two. (In order to compare on the same chart we've compared each one against its own average catch - where 1 respresents the average catch for the river - above 1 is better than average below is worse).
This remarkable match corresponds to a correlation of nearly 87%. (100% is perfect)
There is still much work to do to restore the Wye to its former glory but I think these charts show that the Wye, thank goodness, is once again a ‘normal river’.
Colin Bradshaw
Salmon Atlas
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, the questions as I see them are;