THE word elusive is one that frequently precedes salmon, trout and grayling but is never more appropriate than in front of ’rain’ this year.

Last week there were flood warnings, and as the club started to move all the kit out of the rivers, and thought of rearranging the work teams preparing for the worst, it turned out to be a lovely sunny day! With only 17.5" of rain recorded to date, it has been a very dry year.

Countering that, throughout the year rain seems to have fallen exactly when needed and kept rivers topped up except for the lower Wye beats who reported "water lost somewhere in transit"!

This is all building up to the suggestion that we might be in for some perfect conditions for salmon migration (and fishing!) as well as a boost for all the coarse fisheries, trout and grayling too.

Reports have shown steady catches of Wye grayling, barbel and trout while the low water on the Usk has made for some very picky trout. In between, the rather meagre rises have sent salmon grilse well up the Wye and encouraged the odd old-stager to take. There have been one or two fresh fish too.

So with just under a fortnight of the trout season, a month of the salmon season left, WUF encourages members to make the most of the promised weather in which ever river you prefer.