Historic Hereford and the wondrous River Wye
If you’ve been following our newsletters, you will have read that we are working with Hereford Museum on their “River Life” exhibition which will run from the end of June until the start of September.
We were tasked with recording characters, both past and present, who worked on the river. We were also hoping to collect old photographs for embellishment. However, we didn’t expect to get the amount of information that we were loaned, nor did we expect to have such a fascinating time talking to everyone. It was sheer delight.
We had our first meeting with Ed Hatton and his mother Pat, grandson and daughter-in-law of Herbert Hatton respectively, who ran the famous tackle shop in Hereford when the Wye was in its heyday. If you read Gilbert’s “Tales of a Wye Fisherman” he credits much of the success of the anglers in that period as being down to Hatton’s development of the Devon Minnow, making a lighter one that suited the depth and flow of the Wye and swam with an even keel. We learned of some of the history of the company from the manufacturer of leather Wye boots for anglers, through to the launch of a very successful fishing tackle business.
When the Hatton family sold the business, it was bought by an employee, Norman Owen who had worked there ‘man and boy’. We met one evening when we interviewed him together with Lyn Cobley – both are gillies of good repute on the River Wye.
We were told about the 22 stages of manufacturing the minnows, which was one of Norman’s jobs and how he made fishing rods. Lyn brought along the catch records for the Ingestone fishery from 1899-1978 which show how the Wye developed as a fishery from the buy out of many of the nets, and how the average size changed from 12lbs to around 20lbs shortly after the Rhine salmon were introduced. We discussed its decline and the work that is being done now to improve it.
The fortunes of the Wye fluctuates year on year, and we all hope that the recent upturn is down to the work being done now, rather than just a blip, as nearly 1300 salmon were taken on the river last year, far more than in the recent past, and some big ‘springers’ have come out this year which is great news.
We then met Peter Gough at the Environment Agency Wales, and talked about the river and were shown the diaries of Robert Pashley, the ‘Wye Wizard’ who caught an unbelievable number of salmon each year. You can currently see some of the information on the Angling Heritage website.
From there, we went to see Geoff Franks, the gillie on the Nyth beat. This is one of the foremost beats on the Wye, and he was downhearted at the river’s decline from its glorious history and feels that although there was an upturn last year, it doesn’t begin to compare with the past; he felt that we must not be complacent when it comes to the health of this beautiful river. He said that there is a huge way to go before the Wye returns to its former glory and as part of that process, he would like to see redd counts and more smolt in the river.
We then talked to Stuart Smith, Chairman of the Wye Salmon Association; he was involved in a project driven by wildlife enthusiasts on the Dore to stock elvers into the river and we were invited to tag along. I wholeheartedly approve of their work which ranges from eradicating mink thus allowing the return of water voles; encouraging people to care for newts, frogs and wildlife in general, including eels which they appreciate the otters need if the river is to achieve a healthy balance. The elvers cost £50 per kilo and several kilos were purchased for stocking into the Monnow, Dore and Letton, an ox bow lake just off the Wye. During the morning, Sandy also met Nick Longman, a fan of BB’s work; he’d bought prints from us some years ago, so they had a good chat about Watkins-Pitchford and we learned that he is heavily involved in conservation work on the Monnow. Fascinating; I was in my element learning about conservation work and talking fishing with such knowledgeable people.
Finally, we talked to George Woodward, a gillie and former Enforcement Office for the Environment Agency. We visited his home just below Ross to record some of his memories. During our visit, he produced a pile of old photographs which he has loaned for used at the exhibition. He also loaned a satchel full of purchase details of estates on the Wye down the years, to show how the value has changed with improving salmon fishing which commands a premium.
In between all this, I managed a few hours fishing with my friend Keith on the Dore. He is a fly fishing fanatic, whereas I am an occasional dabbler and using a 6’ 2wt fly rod under a tunnel of undergrowth with barely enough space to roll cast proved beyond my limited skills. I kept getting snagged on trees and probably spooked most of the fish as I unravelled the knots.
I did ‘rise’ one small brownie which shook the hook free and I ended up fishless. I always use barbless hooks – I’d rather do that and lose a fish, than risk any damage.
The next day, I looked behind Bredwardine Bridge where Grannam were hatching and spinning, and saw some fish taking. Most were small, probably dace or trout, but one looked a better fish. I got my usual fly tackle out and managed to catch him on my third cast, and what a great fight from a wild brownie. He leapt right out of the water twice and briefly snagged me in ranunculus before I brought him to hand and released him. What a beautiful fish. Sandy was busy taking the photos and after everyone she has met in recent weeks, she now wants to learn to fly fish so I gave her a brief lesson in the meadow.
That signalled the end of our stay and what a great time we had. And so much work to do editing the recordings down into sound bytes for the Museum, and scanning photographs. As ever, there wasn’t enough time so we will be returning at the end of June for more recordings and hopefully a little more fishing too.
What a great experience for us both and our sincere thanks are sent to everyone who gave their time to be part of this exciting new project for Angling Heritage.
Keith Armishaw
9.5.2013