The 1st day of May heralds the opening of a glorious season for anglers, a time when an all-rounder like myself is torn as to where to cast next. With the countryside and nature bursting into life it is certainly a great time to be at the water’s edge.
On Mondays I fish a middle Torridge beat and with the river at perfect height and colour salmon were the intended target. I tied on a pleasing brightly coloured salmon fly that I felt confidence in and fished through all the known lies methodically. With conditions perfect there was that essential degree of expectation.
The line tightened a couple of times as wild browns intercepted the fly as it swam across the river. Beautiful spotted fish that I will target later when the river drops further making the pursuit of salmon even less hopeful.
I savoured the abundance of wild flowers on the river bank. Each year when I walk the beat rod in hand I witness these wonders of natures cycle.
Old rails assist the angler to climb from the water and I cannot help but mourn the loss of abundance within the river. The decline of salmon is surely a wake up that all is not well within our natural world?
Years ago, previous generations fished this river and on good days a horse and cart would transport the salmon caught from the river. The ghillies of the day would apparently limit the anglers to 3 salmon of between 15lb and 20lb as they couldn’t carry them up the hills! The taking of these fish would have impacted upon the salmon populations as would the netting in the estuary. This was not however the main reason for the salmons decline. Today there are multiple issues impacting upon the salmon mostly symptoms of a sick planet that has been plunged into an eco-logical downturn by mankind’s growth and greed over recent centuries. Sadly, our generation has witnessed one of the greatest collapses in the natural world. Is there hope? We can try and raise awareness but I fear the general populace cares little for the arteries of the land. Read the latest political agendas from councillors; how many have the health of the countryside at the top of the agenda?
On a positive note, there have been a couple of fresh run spring salmon caught on the lower Taw.
