I have written a series of letters asking questions, general and specific, about the management of the river. I telephone. I went un-invited to the RTC's boatmans' meeting on the 21st of January 2010 but, as soon as I challenged the RTC as to the question of the fish numbers, I was asked to leave.
They refuse to speak to me. I am apparently rude and vexatious - hence this blog.
I arrived in Kelso for the first time as a fourteen year old to fish for roach. Two of us, tackle and a tent were planted on the Mayfield Walk whilst parents enjoyed the Ednam.
In later holidays our home range grew. Perch and pike at Yetholm Loch, stalking trout with a worm up the Eden and soon a first trout on a fly (and a silk line) off the Cobby.
For thirty years I have been a Syndicate member - Lennel on the lower Tweed below the Lees and opposite Tillmouth.
I hoped that I would retire to the Borders. I like the valley, the history, the river and the people.
In my thirty years the biggest single event was the buy-out of the netting stations but I am afraid that bigger events are on the way - the changes in the river.
The coarse fishermen disappeared twenty years ago. There are now no clouds of big dace or roach. After the netting buy out the proportion of fresh run fish caught in my bit of the river dropped markedly. Then the numbers started to slide then the size.
The Commission say this all this is wrong. The 2009 headline figure is only 10,465 but says our Chairman Mr Douglas-Home he hopes "it is just a blip" and comments "we have had years like this before".
I challenge that view. Do you? If you want to take part it is simple:
- remember to try and be constructive. The aim is to provoke thought and discussion rather than be rude.
- Look to the right of your screen. There are other pages as to different topics. Click on those pages and see what you feel about what is said.
- If you want to comment it is easy. Click on post a comment and fill in the box.
- The hardest decision is as to your name. There is nothing to stop you using your real name. If you do not want to do that go to "Anonymous" but better still use "name" it can be any name. As soon as you choose the "name" box you can add a nom de plume which can use for all your comments and it is easier for others reply to a comment.
- give a clue as to whether you work on the river, have a business which depends on it or are a fisherman.
- Add a photograph from your mobile phone or digital camera
- Members of the Commission and the Foundation are welcomed especially.
Thank you.
27 comments:
The RTC say the catches are holding up but when 63% are returned how many fish are being caught twice,3 times or even 4 times.
The figures for the Dee could be a lot worse as they have 100% release.
The RTC hold up the Dee as a shining example, the way forward but fail to mention that the Dee has for the last two years had an extended season.
They claim that fish are rarely caught more than once but the evidence from the Carron suggests that that is nonsense (up to four times in their experiment) and (from the Spey?) that the rate is higher when fish are scarce.
The RTC have no idea how many fish caught so far in 2010 are springers as opposed to baggots, winter salmon, ghosts for the web site and mended kelts.
The annual figures do not take account of the fact that salmon fishing effort has increased two or threefold in the recent past.
Re Chairmans Report for 2009. The expected "Bull Manure and Propaganda " we of Tweed are getting used to. I would suggest Mr. Douglas Home after his vindictive rants at all and sundry step aboard one of his "white elephant" Wheely Boats, and with the rest of his motley crew , sail of into the blue yonder.
The said man in his report claims he and his quango have the support of most Tweed Boatmen. This arrogant pompus nieve man should try living in the real world. He and the rest of his "Silver Spoon Brigade" friends who control Tweed are despised by most Tweed Boatmen. Time for change.
Well said "anon" regarding (silver spoon brigade), Yes Tweed is controlled by "Beat Owners" who have a financial vested interest . Rents on many Tweed beats are nothing but daylight robbery, yet in most, people continue to cough up for fishing on a river that in reality is in serious decline---a very different river that is promoted by those at R.T.C.--T.F. along with their bastard child --The FishTweed Website. In recent times the "Tradition and Integrity" of this once great and famous river has been tarnished and degraded by the above mentioned with their "head in the sand attitude" to the realities that do aflict this river.
Tell the "Seals--Cormorants-- and Gooseanders" that you have put 25 years into scientific research on this river . I agree--time for change.
The Atlantic Salmon is in decline worldwide. It seems likely that the main problems are faced out at sea. But the RTC (and others) seem to be blind to this. Yet the evidence seems overwhelming: notwithstanding the removal of nets and attempts to improve in river habitats numbers continue to decline. So any changes must not just involve improving the river but also researching what happens when smolts leave the river.
Exactly. The question is: what is the reason the RTC will not admit the obvious? Why do they spin the figures?
One increasingly serious problem is the cormorant population but there appears to be no will on the part of management to co-ordinate deterrence.
The 2010 license for the whole catchment permits the culling of eight birds leaving individuals to take the law into their own hands.
Where is the pro-active management we need to address our problems? It is all so disheartening.
If the RTC want to emulate the Dee they will need to reduce their rents substantially. Prime time rod days on the best Dee beats are about 75% less than those on middle Tweed.
It is not beyond the realms of possibility , infact highly likely that in the region of 6 to 8 million juvenile Salmon and Trout are devoured annually throughout the Tweed system by those fish eating predators--" Cormorants and Goosanders".
It beggers belief the many thousands of returning mature Salmon devoured annually by the ever exploding "Grey Seal Population". Latest estimate (130,000 On the Scottish east coast).
What have those elected to "protect the fish stocks of Tweed" ever done in this circumstance? Nothing ! Literaly nothing over the years. Token gesture culling with zero significance! Toothless in their " Ivory Tower".
If my information is correct, the latest "jobs for the boys - keep them in a job" is to tag Smolts at £300 a time !
It is hoped their "hi tech" tracking device will be able to pick up these tags as they fly up and down Tweed in the stomachs of the feathered enemy?
It would be gratifing to know that those predators appreciate the most " expensive fish supper of all time !!!
I think that you are all being very unfair to a lot of poor defenceless creatures, as well as to the cormorants and saw billed ducks. Why shouldn't the proprietors be entitled to maximise their profits from the fishings, particularly given that the salmon won't last for ever? And what's wrong with a bit of positive spin? We don't want wall to wall doom and gloom, do we?
Monday 19th. The word on the river this morning- which spread like wildfire was that the R.T.C. in their wisdom are determined to make the rest of the Spring season (Total Catch and Release). If this mad circumstance is true - i ask the question, will the Beat Owners be returning to those who have booked and paid in advance some part of their money? The original deal (contract) was that if the Tennant so wished he could keep 50% of fish caught . I am afraid Mr. Douglas Home is in " Last Gasp Meltdown Mode" and should be relieved of his duties!
So why is everyone anonymous?
Dear Grant,
Why is everyone anonymous? No idea. There is a range of possible answers.
Here is a question for you. Why won't anyone from the RTC, from the Foundation or FishTweed answer any of the points that have been raised?
They would be welcome if they wanted the keys to a page on this blog. Here is an open invitation to you and to them to have your say.
Grant,
I have moved your comment/question to the cormorant competition page.
Grant asks the question, - why is everyone on this blog so far not prepared to put their real name to their comments ? My reason is that in my position , it is the fear of being Lambasted and victimized .
There lay i last night in deep slumber when out of the blue- Eureka, By George i may now have the answer to my pathetic, for some, annoyance. For many moons i have fished Tweed from that horrid little round minute stool they call a seat in their boats . Many years of pleasure, yet , bugger me , oh the discomfort ! My cunning plan is to ask those Boffin chaps up at the "Tweed Foundation" if the might come up with a solution. I know it will mean a 3 year survey, bringing in extra staff, finding funding from Europe and the Red Tape and Bureaucracy as always. My desire would be something with arms and a back support. That would be marvelous. Could this little Sortie be Titled--" TWEED FOUNDATION--SUPPORTING ARSEHOLES" ?Toodle Pip for now.
I was tempted to edit this comment – to leave in the essential points which are that the Foundation seems to be embroiled in useless projects, has huge capital reserves but unable to bring itself to pay for anything unless it can scrounge the money from Government, etc – and to edit out the punch line which I thought went a bit far.
However, I have just been tipped off that we are going catch and release.
This is a dictat from one man, a man who thinks he is answerable to no-one. A man who does not have to explain how he has come to the conclusion that until June the spring fish need his protection and between July and November they don't. A man who when he consults it is with his invited committee of neighbours and school friends.
I have therefore decided to leave the comment intact because, unfortunately, it reflects the feelings of many of the people who work on the river. People who have come to literally loath the Foundation/RTC. Wake up to the bad feeling you are increasingly generating.
PS. No more bad language/personal comments please.
This day April 22nd,in my opinion, and I have fished for Salmon on this river for 50 years is the saddest I have ever known! Over the years, Tweed fishers have been persecuted. i.e. Prawn Fishing banned.- Shrimp Fishing banned. Worm Fishing banned. For the last 25 years and more we have returned high percentages of Autumn fish, yet they decline in number and size. For nigh on the last decade we have been returning up to 70% of Spring Fish. Estuary nets have been bought off- East Coast Drift Netters bought off, at vast expense. And I have to ask the question, to what benefit, Tweed Rod Fishing? Mr. A. Douglas Home . Chairman of the R.T.C. And T.F. wanted to ban Spinning.- He wanted to have any bleeding fish given to the owner of the beat where caught. Under pressure he then digressed and proclaimed they should be raffled for the good of "T.F." How much more can be bled from Tweed Fishers and yet he and his type charge obscene rents for a commodity that is in free fall decline? Spring Conservation is the greatest "CON" that was ever invented by devious Beat Owners/Fishery Boards. I.E. In the early months of Feb. and Mar. Kelts, Kippers and Baggots are reported as Springers. Combine the "Ghost Fish" and the returned fish caught many times. The Numbers game ! How sad ,(or how mad), talk about "rabbits in the headlights" How much more can we take from this failed regime .who have proved they are a complete waste of time and money. They have proved that on this river that Scientific Research has kept a few hairy faced chappies in a job for a long time.
How much longer must we listen to the nonsense that will be the " Tweed Ruination of this River
Jock Scott your as bad as Tammy Troot you both are saying that Tweed Ghillies/Boatmen cannot recognise Kelts, Baggots or Kippers, or all all these mistakes made on beats without a Boatman, if so you have to take the fisherman's word for it or are they all liars, anyway will this figure not remain constant as the same mistakes will be made every year to some degree.
Grant, just put something cold on your forehead and go and lie in a dark room. you will be fine in the morning .
Grant,
The first issue is whether "ghost" fish are included in the spring totals. The second is whether kelts, kippers and baggots are falsely recorded as "fish".
The motives/reasons for cooking the records include: beats that are desperate for lets and want to show a fish or two to attract anglers. Ghillies who depend on tips to supplement their income and have no rods. Ghillies who receive a bonus payment based on the number of fish caught.
I can prove that ghost "fish" are recorded on "latest catches" on FishTweed. You are going to have to take my word for it because I am telling you no more.
I cannot prove baggots, kelts or kippers are recorded as salmon but in the early part of the 2010 season there were lots of rumours about how many "latest catch" fish were really true springers. There was so much smoke I would have been surprised if there was no fire.
I also believe many of the early fish were winter salmon (late autumn runners if you like) rather than springers.
Years ago I mistook an autumn kelt for a fish (and was bollocked by the Ghillie) and am regularly reminded by a friend that I once mistook a large brown for a grilse.
An experienced Ghillie who would recognise a mended kelt or a baggot before it was put back but has no way of telling one way or the other if that fish was returned when the angler was on his own.
One of the side effects of the spring conservation measures is that the rod who has just spent a fortune on a disappointing spring week and wants a fish to take home claims to have caught two as an excuse for killing the first. Total catch and return will lead to more "bleeders".
What I am trying to say is: I can prove fiddling goes on. I would not be surprised if a proportion of the fish are wrongly recorded. FishTweed does not accurately record the number of true springers. Surprised about that? Last year 1lb fish were recorded as "salmon".
Then just how many 'wrong' fish are we talking about it cant be that many not 100s surely?
Dear Grant,
Good point. Doesn't the argument depend on the context?
Having a swipe at FishTweed, a couple of ghost fish supposedly taken on beat "X" might lead some poor punter to spend money he cannot afford on a fishing trip.
A hundred fish "error" taken against the overall catch for the season is miniscule.
A ten fish "error" for a beat adds £100,000 to the capital value.
A hundred fish error in the context of springer numbers might be critical.
In the round this debate demonstrates how numbers seem to be more important than fishing pleasure/experience.
Where is the logic in allowing netting to commence on the 1st of June,when rod fishers have to return all fish until the end of June?
I was there when they netted and the fish got under the net also there was no stop net downstream so all the bigger wary fish shot off down stream, also when fishing that stretch for Trout a couple of evenings later there were plenty big Trout rising and two of us had a great evening catching a number of good trout which we returned. Oops! We should of killed them I forgot we would be putting back damaged fish which wouldn't survive. And I didn't want to kill some of the little ones that I caught which is being proposed on this blog by some.
"Although the net appeared to operate properly, there was an absence of takeable Trout and Grayling in the catch, which suggests that at some point they escaped from the net. Two years previously, when the same pool was netted, 38 takeable Trout over 10" (25 cm) and 50 Grayling were captured."
We checked for tunnels but nothing. It's a mystery every single big un gone only to re-appear two days later.
Not a mystery they could see the net coming and legged it, The trout are still there you just have to be good enough to catch them. They are not stockies but proper wild fish!
Grant is quite right. The big uns saw us coming and all legged it in the right direction leaving the bairns. That's what happened.
What's that smell? I can't see a bull. Will they notice my nose is growing?
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