RIVER WILL GET 22,000 SALMON FRY

Up to 22,000 young salmon are to be released into the River Torridge next week.The Environment Agency says the move will boost the salmon population in one of Devon's best known rivers.

The Torridge once had a thriving salmon population, but a combination of over-fishing, farm pollution, loss of spawning beds and climatic factors has seen a dramatic drop in fish numbers.

The river is currently failing to meet its conservation limit - the level at which salmon need to spawn to sustain a healthy population.

The Environment Agency aims to reverse this trend by working in partnership with local farmers, anglers and riparian owners on a series of environmental improvements designed to restore fish numbers. The local salmon fry, which were reared at a special hatchery in Torridge, will be released into various tributaries of the Torridge including the Medland Brook.

Bob Collett of the Environment Agency said: "What we are trying to do is kickstart local salmon numbers by introducing fry into local tributaries while at the same time carrying out a number of improvements within the catchment to help ensure as many of the young fish as possible survive. It is a holistic approach to river management that involves us working closely with farmers and riparian owners."

The Torridge is a lovely little river that I used to visit once a year staying at a little hotel that is right on the river.

If anyone is going down that way, PM me and I'll give you the contact information.

And, if you are going down there, then you simply have to visit River Reads, in Torrington. A great fishing bookshop, and Keith's collection of Fishing memorabelia is excellent - **** Walker's fishing hats, Peter Stone's and Frank Sawyer's rods (I live in the same village as Sawyer did) and a lot more to boot.