Category: DAA News

It is with regret that we bring you the following news.

Dear Member

I write to advise all members of the Association of the very sad news that Dennis Mitchell has passed away . Dennis was a stalwart member going back many years of both the Dart and Lower Teign Angling Associations and was also chairman of the Dart Fisheries Association, his involvement in the management and support for angling in local rivers went back to the time of South West Water when he was a board member of that organisation long before the days of the Environment Agency.

Dennis was also very involved with the Salmon and Trout Association and even quite recently was concerned about the renaming of this group to the Wildfish Association. Dennis was a life member of the Dart Angling Association and attended committee meetings until a couple of years ago, apart from as his vast fisheries knowledge which we all always hugely valued and admired he was a dear friend and we will miss him greatly.

P.I.Prowse

DAA Hon Secretary

Good to see another generation of the Dart clan enjoying their fishing.

Isobel Dart looking after her tea while out fishing with her dad Rob Dart junior.

Here are is a brace of nice brownies. caught by Rob Darts son Robert Dart Jr.

Member Jeff Robbins is a seasoned angler but has not had much experience with the fly upriver, hence the pleased expression on capturing this brownie, one of the stock fish recently introduced to the river.

A nice seatrout from Totnes weirpool, caught by Kevin Hoare

The Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is a citizen science project run by the RIiverfly Partnership, that enables trained volunteers, such as anglers and conservationists, to protect river water quality by monitoring eight pollution sensitive invertebrates and complement the work carried out by statutory agency staff across the UK.

Given the frequent news reports concerning the amount of sewage and other effluent entering our rivers you will see the importance of this monitoring, which can give early warning when things are going wrong.

Luke, our local coordinator, is looking for volunteers to assist in this important work. Participants would require a days training (free) and a training day is arranged for 10am – 3pm Saturday June 25th at Prince Hall Training Centre.

Once trained, volunteers would be tasked with collecting samples of invertebrates from in-river sites on the Dart, identifying and counting the target species. Equipment is provided.

This will not take up too much of your time. After your training day you would be asked, with another volunteer, to survey a specific location (possibly more if you wish) twice a year, in June and September. Each survey would take just a morning or afternoon.

Obviously, this should be of some interest to our members but you don’t have to be a member or even an angler to take part – only to have concern for our rivers and the wildlife they support.

If you are interested and want more information please contact Luke at riverfly@dartaa.org.uk

To read more about the Riverfly Partnership’s work visit their website www.riverflies.org

The fishing regulations have been amended. Please have a look and see if there are any changes that affect you.

They can be found HERE.

Buckfastleigh fish pass aims to stop fall in salmon population – BBC News

Members please note that Wilsons Water as shown on the map is currently not available to us, due to a change of ownership. Any change in this situation will be reported here.

These shots of a Kingfisher were captured by David Marles on a recent trip to the river.