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"THE SHAD HAVE ARRIVED"

Our May 1999 contribution from Jon Beer

Jean Williams owns and runs, ties the flies and makes the tea, in Sweet's Tackle Shop in the little town of Usk. Don't bother to mouse your little pointy thing back to the name of the shop: there is no web link to Sweet's and Jean Williams. There is no computer in the shop. There is no fax. There is a phone: it is one of those with a dial on the front - remember those? There is a glass counter with a faded sign asking customers not to lean on it and a large crack across the middle where everyone does. It has been like that as long as I can remember. It is just the nicest tackle shop in the world and if you are ever within the gravitational field of Usk I urge you go find it and see if I am not right.

And because Jean Williams is not on the net I will have to tell you what she has just phoned up to tell me: "the shad have arrived."

The shad is perhaps the least-know of the migratory fish to run into our rivers. It is a member of the herring family which may not get the pulse racing until I remind you that the tarpon is another one. In the rivers of south-western France the shad still plough upstream in vast silver shoals and are reckoned the equal of sea trout for fight and strength. These are Allis Shad and run up to 4kgs. We had Allis shad once but now they are all but gone from our rivers. What has just arrived in the waters of the Usk is the Twaite Shad, a slightly smaller cousin of the Allis, but still well-able to pull a fisherman's string more than somewhat. Which is exactly what they do at this time of year to the salmon anglers of the Wye - who are of course, delighted and fascinated to find an exotic herring on the end of their line when they have stumped up the cash for a syndicate rod and licence in order to catch a common-or-garden salmon.

You will see from all this that the shad can be taken on a fly and, on a trout rod, they can be superb fun with hard, dashing runs. What the shad will not do is leap. And it was the shad's reluctance to leap that saved the River Usk from environmental disaster. It happened like this:

Newport lies at the mouth of the River Usk. A dozen years ago there was a scheme to beautify and redevelop the docklands of Newport by the creation of a freshwater lake. A vast barrage across the tidal river would flood the old muddy estuary and create a paradise for windsurfers and jetskis and suchlike. But it would not be a paradise for the salmon and the fishermen of the Usk valley.

Salmon run the lovely waters of the Usk as far as Brecon and beyond: riparian owners and anglers the length of the valley were appalled at the prospect of the barrage and its effect on the migrating salmon. Fish-passes were promised, of course, but fish-passes are not perfect: they are nowhere near as good at passing fish as no barrier at all. The Usk Barrier would have devastated the salmon of the Usk. And for the humble shad, which does not care to leap, a fish-pass is all but useless. Any serious obstruction between the sea and the spawning gravels far upstream is a big problem for a shad. The rivers of Britain have been much-obstructed over the centuries until now the shad is only reliably found in the rivers of the Bristol Channel - the Wye, the Severn and the Usk. They are rare enough to be protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, section 9(4)(a) - where it is an offence to obstruct access to its spawning sites.

And so, largely because of this fine and feisty little fish that doesn't leap, the infamous Usk Barrage was defeated and the salmon and sea trout are free to run the river.

And if you have never caught a shad and would like to try, Jean Williams will sell you a ticket to the Usk Town Water Fishery Association. Give her a ring.

Sweets Fishing Tackle, (Jean Williams) Porthycarne Street, Usk, Powys. Tel: 01291 672 552

If you have your own information to add please drop us a line.

Jon Beer contributes regularly to publications including Trout & Salmon and The Telegraph. If you have any comments, do not hesitate to get in touch or use the message board.