Alan T

Fair a Far Salmon Ladder

11 posts in this topic

Can anybody update on the new salmon ladder that they can share with the members?

Has the work started, how long will it take, is the wall pool available for fishing during the work, what's the plans for assisting fish up over the falls (as we are getting into the time when more will be running), 

 

Alan

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Hi Alan, just back from the Wall/war zone. Causeway with pipes built across river then under construction along opposite bank heading to wards ladder. Croy has disappeared under mass of hardcore. Scaffolding above weir to restrict flow to fish pass to facilitate works, i believe. My comments unprintable!!

Steve

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Thanks for photos.

 I suppose you cant make an omelette without breaking a few eggs however it would be good to have some info about the project; start / finish dates, whos running it, any restrictions on fishing, how the fish are being helped to their spawning grounds, what the agreement for restoring the river bed etc. I may well have missed it, so apologies if there has been a previous communication on this.

Edited by Alan T

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Hi guys, I'm just wondering what the sketch/plan of the finished ladder will look like, please.

I was one of the original committee members at the inaugural formation of the club when Mr Henshelwood was the original Crown permit holder.

I was also heavily involved with the original coversion of the ramp into the current fish ladder.

I now live in Buckinghamshire. I take my hat off to the current members and committee. I have been following your various expeditions up and down the waters.

Tight Lines

Bruce 

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I do think this is a strange time of the year to be tackling this project. I do hope the powers that be, have given a great deal of thought, about not disrupting the flow of migratory fish?

Tight LineBruce

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Hi Bruce, follow this link for details of the falls at Cramond, there is a sketch on p6

http://www.rafts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Plain-English-Summary-2015s3628-Construction-Issue.pdf

Follow this link for general.overview.

http://www.rafts.org.uk/river-almond-barrier-project/

The Kirkton weir fish pass on the Almond is already completed, I was up there yesterday. Visually, that it is more of a conventional fish pass i.e a concrete box. That one has the potential to open up miles of spawning grounds to more fish.

Re the timing: my only thought is that there are budgets to be spent (the cost of the Almond barrier removals is massive) and timescales to spend it in, so maybe there was not the luxury to choose a date away from the main runs but not entirely sure. All for the greater good though.

 

 

 

 

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Hi there Alan T

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond, and so quickly too. That is quite an ambitious construction, but It looks like it should be pretty effective too.

My back ground briefly:

I was 23 years old when I last fished the almond in February 1968.

In that month I left the UK shores and spent forty odd years in South Africa, where I got married.

My wife and I returned to England in December 2010, and settled in the South East where the climes are a little warmer.

I enjoyed many many a fishing session on the lower reaches and tidal sections of the Almond in my youth. I used to live in nearby Clermiston and would cycle down Drum Brae North via Barnton to Cadwell Close. It was quite a cycle back up again, I can tell you!

My best fish was a seatrout of some 9.5 lbs. The scale count from the adipose fin to the lateral line determined it was a sea trout as opposed to the fewer number of scales of a salmon. I caught it on a number one mepps in half a spate.

Tom Wallace was the volunteer Bailif and he lived in one of the Cadwell Close houses. i witnessed him catch an 18.5lb samon in the pool just below the ruined building.  That was in early 1968. I tailed that fish with my bare hands.We called that the wall pool.

I have down loaded your "cammo" drawing of the river and see it is still called the wall pool today.

Another of the original members was Jimmy Dey. He was the head gardener on the Dalmany estate.

I will soon be visiting him in Penrith where he lives on the Dalmain estate as a retired gamekeeper. i will enjoy bring him up to date, thanks to your fantastic, and informative response.

From your own enthusiasm, I must assume that you have a role on the present committee?

Tight lines 

Bruce

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Hi Bruce,

Thanks for sharing your story. A trip down memory lane for you by all accounts.

I've heard the names that you mention but have never met the people personally. I'm sure some members have and may comment on the thread at some point.

I'm not a committee member but do take an interest in the river. I only target brown trout (mainly dry fly) and sea trout (dries and wets). For salmon I fish down the borders on larger rivers.

However there are members who target salmon on the Almond and do quite well from what I've heard.

Hopefully the barrier project will improve runs, open up spawning grounds etc. Nothing can better the complete removal of these structures as weirs are ecological disasters however having a good fish pass at each structure is a good start, and maybe all that can be hoped for.

Tight lines

Alan

 

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Hi there Alan,

I have been doing some further browsing around, and I see a report that there is an electro fishing Team, tasked with a weekly session, to electro fish the "trapped" fish (due to no access to the current fish pass)

Has anybody seen them in action?

Are they keeping a record of what fish they are re inserting above the Fair a Far waterfall?

Does the Cramond Angling Club committee have access to that data?

Can it , will it, be published in the News letter or elsewhere for anyone interested?

I hope I'm not perceived as a meddler, being a non fishing member of this forum.

I think It's wonderful and amazing that funds were able to be aquired for this £500,000 project.

Let's hope it turns into a brilliant success over the next few years.

I share your love of the trout fishing with dry flies, and am not averse to bead head nymphs and lures either. I have tied many hundreds of my own (successful) recipies over the years.

Unfortunately I don't have many options available on my limited pension budget around the Chilterns where I now live.

Tight lines

Bruce

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Some asked about the wall pool and mentioned the croy? 

The wall pool is now ruined with the amount of hard core left tight to the wall aprox 100 tonnes after completion, the croy has been destroyed with the atempt at moving the temporary road, in short the fishing is ruined from the weir down, apparently the river was meant to be left in a similar state to the original that most certainly has not the happened, cac is mainly trout fishers that aren't remotely interested in getting the remainder of temp road removed or putting the original croy and other holding spots back to original, shame on crammond angling club! 

Annoyed salmon fisher ?

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