The Wye and Usk Foundation

J.C. from London, Wednesday 12 December, 2007

On an experience at Caraoc during Oct 07: Having read some of the feedback on Wye Usk Foundation website I thought I would offer this description of my experiences.

During low water conditions on the above date there was an unavoidable clash of interests - simply not enough river to avoid (mutual) disturbance. Early on the morning in question several apperently independent canoeists paddled through our beat, each politely called from upstream and asked which side of us the wanted us to pass. As we were concentrating on the far bank they took the shallow (and boring) inside line and one chap grounded his canoe. He didn't seem overly concerned and there were smiles all round and some amusing banter.

I was impressed at these paddlers efforts to respect our sport (a marked difference to some very disappointing experiences on the Welsh Dee above Langollen in previous years!).

By mid morning all this good will was trampled on by a party of youngsters in several rafts "guided" in front and behind by adults in canoes. They were very loud - no problem there, kids should be - it was the arrogance and disinterest of their instructors who completely ignored my presence, their only effort was to keep as far away from us as possible thereby passing over the lies we were fishing. A quick conversation would easily have avoided this but I couldn't even make eye contact. The situation rapidly decended into a farce when two of the rafts got stuck on the rock that was forming the lie that I was fishing. In the clear and shallow water it was game over for the chub fishing for the day. I would hope that this is an relatively rare experience but my impression was that this was a well organised and presumably regular exercise for the guides.

In summary, I think it's clear that the two sports can work together. However, as matters stand the current sharing arrangements seem largely unworkable in periods of low water during the angling season(s). Given that anglers pay a licence fee and in the vast majority of cases an additional permit fee I remain of the opinion that during the fishing season(s) anglers should have priority unless the riparian owners believe otherwise, in which case the pricing of the permit should naturally reflect the rights of padders.

WUF - Caradoc is downstream of Hay and therefore in the navigable section of the Wye.

J.W. from Somerset, Friday 19 October, 2007

Good to see an enlightened approach is being adopted by the Foundation. I've been fishing longer than I've been kayaking but now with a foot in both camps I see many people on both sides who take a very blinkered view and this just creates friction and encourages kayakers to break the law. Whilst a right to roam on water would be good from a kayaking viewpoint it would potentially cause so many more problems and expense in the countryside, I'm much more in favour of voluntary agreements - but a few more need to be in place.

N.S. from unknown, Thursday 18 October, 2007

I'd first like to say that I think the website is an excellent resource of information, a great asset. I have configured my mobile phone to look at the Wye live cam, which took a little working out, perhaps you would like to post the details onto the website - the URL you need to bookmark on your phone is

http://80.46.105.71:8080/snapshotJPEG?Resolution=220x176,

this will pull down the latest image to the phone.

I am a national coach of the Great Britain Wild Water Racing team, coaching both senior and junior paddlers. Our sport is based around fast paddling downstream on rivers, a sort of canoeing equivalent of downhill skiing. Being based in London, the Wye and the Usk are great assets to us for training in the winter, the stretch from Builth to Boughrood is excellent at 11 miles long - we can get two training runs in during the day and still be back home in time for tea! I really appreciate the facilities and access that is made available to us.

A.S. from unknown, Wednesday 17 October, 2007

Hello,

As a local whitewater kayaker who has only recently taken up the sport, I have to congratulate you on the clear and helpful advice on the access situation for the Wye and Usk. Thus far, I have never experienced any animosity from landowners or fishermen, in fact I have been positively greeted by most.

I notice that the foundation's objectives include protecting the habitat and wildlife on the rivers. I think it would be very useful to outline how kayakers can avoid or minimise damage and why this is important. Tips on areas to avoid and why they should be avoided, eg gravel beds, or advice on levels when it could be advisable not to run the rivers might be useful. Some of this advice would also apply to fishermen wading in the river.

I mention this from personal experience of seeing people (mostly in hired canoes I should say) pulling up on the gravel 'beaches' north of Symonds Yat immediately below estate signs which tell them not to. I am guessing that the shingles provide important protection for fry and insect life which from part of the river's ecology. However, because I don't know this for sure, I have held back from talking to them. There is a lack of simple information of this type out there.

Information about the river ecosystem on your website would help the responsible kayaker to encourage others to behave responsibly. Again, I am sure it would be also apply to the fishing community as well.

Can I also suggest that some more (limited!) signage could be used to encourage day trippers to act in a low impact way. A sign which asks people to protect an important environmental site by not landing seems more likely to work than one which just says 'no landing'.

Just some idle thoughts.

F.B. from East Sussex, Thursday 20 September, 2007

We found in the main on this trip that all the canoeists were very mindful of us as soon as they saw us, when we were fishing. In fact it was nice to hear them call to each other when in a group of 2 or more, to be aware of fishermen ahead and to steer to the far side of the river whenever possible.

On some stretches that was not always possible with the low water conditions, and in the main they were very considerate in passing slowly and with as little disturbance as possible. In fact it was a pleasure to see the "professional" for want of a better word, canoeists, who were extremely mindful of our activities and did their utmost not to disturb the river any more than was absolutely necessary as they passed by, gliding most of the way when possible.

On this trip we only experienced real conflict with our activities by a couple of canoes paddled by school children in a group of about 6-10 canoes. These 2 were sadly lacking way behind the others and were not paying attention to their instructor/guide who steered all the others away from us to the far side of the river. These 2 canoes came right in under our rods, much to their instructors displeasure. Although the disturbance was avoidable, it did not affect us to much and the children looked very sheepish for what they had done, & when shouted at by their leader, they looked very embarrassed, although no apologies were given to us. As they were just children we accepted that this sort of thing will happen from time to time and just smiled at them.

We do appreciate that they have as much right on the river as we have and so did not complain in any way. In fact the only disturbance really caused to us was by these school parties who tended to be more excitable and noisy. That's the way children are and it was a pleasure to see them enjoying their day as much as we were. In fact we were only jealous that we did not get that sort of opportunity and activity when we were at school.

On another 2 occasions, canoeists were actually very helpful. Two separate sets were close by when I was playing a barbel, both of them stopped some way upstream whilst I played the fish, once the fish was landed, they approached & were interested in what I had caught. On both occasions one of the party got out of their canoes to take a photo of me and the fish, for which I was very grateful.

It was interesting that on both occasions they asked if I intended killing and eating the fish. When I explained that I only fished for pleasure, & that in my opinion it would be a crime to kill such magnificent creatures they were very obviously pleased with that reply and stayed to see me holding the fish in the water to allow recovery before releasing each fish so that it swam away successfully and unharmed. One young lady asked if she could touch the fish, and was pleasantly surprised at how smooth and clean it felt. I'm not sure what she expected, but she did say how beautiful she thought that it was. I could not agree more.

On another occasion, whilst walking up river with Terry,surveying the river for likely looking deeper runs, we asked an American couple( maybe Canadian I can never tell the difference) if they had passed over any deeper places. They replied that they had but much further upstream. As we were walking back to the car, the guy parked his canoe and called to us to show us where they had spotted a deeper run in the river that was not visible from the bank due to the river side growth. Terry caught many trout from there later that day. Real co-operation between us and them.

The only problems we had were unfortunately unavoidable due to the low water conditions, where the canoeists had to come closer than we would have liked but they had no choice. They did try to keep as far away as possible though. At one point it gave us some amusement and plenty of laughs. What was happening was, just upstream from us were some rapids which brought the canoes across the river from our side and into some bushes on the far side, despite their efforts to steer clear. They laughed as much as we did. Each time a set of canoes were seen to approach this rapid we waited for the fun to begin and were not disappointed on any occasion during that day.