At last a salmon from ROWAC Club waters and it took a member from Devon to show the locals how to do it!  ROWAC member and seasoned Salmon maestro Matt Cooper travelled the 150 miles from his home last Saturday (27th Sept 2025) to fish the Wye. He caught two salmon on the day one from upstream near Builth Wells and one from Hom Stream on the Weirend beat of ROWACs water. The Fly caught hen fish was estimated to weigh 9lb, Matt wanted to get the rare creature back quickly and did not weigh the fish. This is the first Salmon caught in ROWAC waters since 4th September 2023, no salmon were caught the the disastrous season last year.

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I asked ROWAC Committee Salmon representative, Richard Woodhouse, for his Comments on this season which has been the worst since records were first kept of salmon numbers and the current total for the whole River stands at a meagre 44 fish according to the Wye Salmon Association. Richard tells me. “Conditions for salmon fishing this year at Ross have been dire. At the beginning of the season water levels were ideal and hopes were high. But with lack of rain, water levels quickly fell away to well below normal summer levels where they stayed until the drought was finally ended by the recent spell of wet weather in early September. It is as if in spring the fish knew a drought was on the way and delayed running the river. This scene is mirrored in rivers up and down the country.”

Currently River conditions for the Salmon angler are excellent with the Wye at a good height and clearly after the extensive drought fish are again inbound from the sea to spawn in the upper reaches. However this weekend the first named storm, Amy, bears down upon us and River conditions may change for the worse.