The Winter Solstice, light fades from the day and the natural world turns the corner. The journey towards Springs renewal begins again. I cannot understand why our own calendar is so out of sequence with that of the real world. The natural world we live in where the light is dictated to by the revolving world the moon and the sun.
Perhaps as anglers some of us are more finely tuned to the natural cycles of life. I certainly despair at what has happened so quickly. I first cast a line for salmon in the River East Lyn over forty years ago and in those first few seasons I was fortunate to connect with numerous salmon and glimpsed many more in the clear waters.
We walked the River today its tumbling waters rushing between boulders and fallen trees. The salmon should be spawning now; hopefully there are a few still cutting redds high up in many tributaries and head waters. I remember walking the river over thirty years ago in the depths of winter. Salmon were plentiful then with fish spawning even in the lower river. I gazed into the swirling waters of Vellacots today but sadly I saw no salmon.
It was good to see the new signs on the River today highlighting the amazing life cycle of the salmon. The river is still a joy to fish and has a good head of wild brown trout.
The reasons for their decline are both complex and many. Water quality probably isn’t a major factor on the Lyn. The main problems are probably out at sea where few salmon survive to return to the rivers of their birth. Predation by seals, otters, cormorants and other predators is undoubtedly a factor. The natural eco system is I believe out of balance and this has much to do with the hand of mankind. We exploit the vast oceans and seas depleting fish stocks and then do our utmost to protect the creatures that feed upon these depleted stocks. It is depressing to think that at the present rate salmon could be virtually extinct in South West Rivers within the next few years. I witness this dramatic decline in my lifetime and despair when I pick up todays Times newspaper. ” Conservationists have reacted angrily to the announcement that the target date for cleaning up the majority of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters has been pushed back by 36years to 2063.” FFs………
At least public awareness is growing regarding the rapid decline of the natural world. Is it too late?
Another sad note I have witnessed in recent years has been the increasing barriers to accessing the coast. This is undoubtedly a result of an increasing population and the demand to enjoy the marvelous coastline. Inconsiderate parking of cars and the dropping of litter are contributory factors. A lack of respect for Private land and over zealous land ownership can also lead to confrontation. When I started sea angling access to many areas of the coast were open access. Today no parking signs and barriers seem to blight the landscape.
In some parts of the South West fishing marks have become no go areas due to anti social behaviour. I dont have the answers to all of these issues but a little more tolerance and respect for others would go a long way.
I would like to thank all those who have followed North Devon Angling News throughout 2022 and to those who have contributed news stories and pictures. A special thanks to those who have sponsored the site over past years.
I welcome new sponsors for 2023 at very reasonable rates. Contact – [email protected]
With Christmas and New Year almost upon us, the 2022 fishing season is also drawing to a close, with the extended rainbow trout fishing ending on 31 December. We would like to thank the many anglers who have visited our waters this year. We have seen some fantastic fishing followed by very challenging conditions as the water dropped to unprecedented levels all over the UK and we have enjoyed meeting many of you on the bankside, at the Roadford Fly Fair and at the Fly Fishing Taster Day.
Your support during the season has been much appreciated as well as the all-important catch reports and written accounts of your fishing trips that are submitted – we find these immensely helpful for planning stockings, ensuring we focus efforts and resources where needed, and in encouraging new anglers to our sport.
Looking ahead to the opening of the 2023 season, plans are already well under way for the Roadford Fly Fair. This year saw a record number of visitors at the event who gave very positive feedback and enjoyed the day. It was a fantastic opportunity for the angling community to get together as well as stock up on supplies – a great way to kick off the new season! The date for next year’s Fly Fair is confirmed as Sunday 26 February. We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
Here are some more dates to look forward to – more details will follow but do put them in the diary:
26 February 2023 – Roadford Fly Fair
5 March 2023 – Kennick Fly Fishing Taster Day
9 March 2023 – Season Permit Preview day Kennick & Stithians
10 March 2023 – Season Permit Preview day Burrator & Siblyback
11 March 2023 – All Rainbow Trout waters open fully
2 April 2023 – Siblyback Team of 4 Competition (sponsored by Snowbee)
22 April 2023 – Stithians Fly Fishing Taster Day
14 May 2023 – Kennick Bank Pairs Competition
25 June 2023 – Kennick Peninsula Classic Competition
5 August 2023 – Kennick Fly Fishing Taster Day (National Angling Month)
Angling season tickets for 2023 will be available to purchase shortly before Christmas onwards if you are looking to get prepared in good time, or would even make an ideal gift.
We hope you have a happy and peaceful festive season and look forward to seeing more of you out on the water next year.
Christmas looms ever closer and if you have not purchased all those Christmas gifts yet why not visit your local tackle shop.
We are very fortunate to have several superb fishing tackle shops in North Devon all offering a vast array of quality tackle and bait. The local tackle shop is of course more than just a shop its also a social hub where anglers meet and talk fishing an essential ingredient for the future of angling. I always try and do a short piece each year to highlight North Devons tackle outlets.
Quay sports has a friendly team of local anglers behind the counter willing to offer useful advice on all disciplines of angling.
(Above) The superb FoxArt limited edition prints are now available in store, only four of each print available
Will make lovely Christmas gift. all prints signed and numbered. More designs coming soon.
Summerlands Tackle in Westward Ho! is a long established family run tackle shop that carrys a vast range of tackle. A warm greeting is always given and it is rare to walk into the shop without meeting a fellow of the angle.
Anglers Heaven is conveniently situated adjacent to Bideford’s Pannier Market. Owner Tom Wade is extending the shop with a grand opening of the extension in the New Year. The shop carry’s a large stock of sea and Coarse tackle and works closely with Bideford Angling Club to promote local fishing.They also carry a wide selection of air rifles.
High Street Tackle in Ilfracombe offers one of the largest selections of lures in North Devon and is the domain of Danny Watson and Pauline Chard. Danny is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to the latest lures for bass fishing and has many contacts throughout the lure fishing community. The shop also stocks a range of essential tackles and baits for coarse and sea angling.
Danny is a keen supporter of Combe Martin SAC and plans to co host an open Lure Fishing competition in the summer of 2023. Danny is also a supplier of tackle for Reel Deal
Braunton based Chillcheater supply high quality clothing for outdoor enthuiasts with warm under layers and tough, wind and water repellent outers.
South Molton Angling Club members fished Blakewell on a cold and frosty morning to fish for their Mac Trophy. All members managed to tempt rainbow trout from the chill waters but none were big enough to beat Steve Bendles rainbow trout of 5lb caught earlier in the season.
A company that polluted nearly 5km of the River Mole, the principal tributary of the River Taw, in Devon has paid £18,000 in damages to local angling clubs and fishery owners following a legal claim. In July 2019 liquid anaerobic digestate deposited by agricultural contractors AJ Sing and Sons Ltd on fields north of South Molton entered the river, causing what was described by one Environment Agency officer as the worst fish kill they had seen in 30 years. An estimated 15,600 fish died as result of the pollution, including juvenile salmon, adult brown trout, sea trout and juvenile brown trout.
Represented by Fish Legal, the anglers’ damages claim followed a criminal prosecution brought by the Environment Agency (EA) where the company and an employee were fined a total of just £2,667 at Exeter Magistrates Court on 28 July 2021.
The anglers are donating all of the damages to help fund projects run by the Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT) in co-ordination with River Taw Fisheries & Conservation Association (RTFS) that improve and restore the habitat and spawning potential of the River Mole, giving fish populations the best chance of recovery.
Justin Neal, Fish Legal Solicitor, said: “The digestate was being spread at a time when there was rain and the leaking pipe was left for days, meaning that this highly damaging waste washed into what was a pristine river habitat, causing a total wipe-out of fish for a considerable distance.”
He added: “Whilst we are pleased that the EA prosecuted those responsible for pollution offences, we are finding in other cases across England and Wales that the spreading of digestate and fertiliser is not properly controlled with full oversight by regulators. Nevertheless, we hope that the money which was paid to our angler members can now be put to good use to assist the recovery of the catchment.”
Alex Gibson – River Taw Fisheries & Conservation Association
Alex Gibson, who was Chair of RTFCA at the time of the pollution incident and is also a claimant said: “It is not just anglers fishing below the polluted stretch, but all those who enjoy the river and its ecology that have felt the devastating effect of this pollution incident and unfortunately will continue to do so into the future. Our collective claim enables us to provide £18,000 to the WRT for river improvement work on the Mole.
He added: “We hope the fact that anglers on the river have come together to take legal action directly against these polluters will send a message to others in the catchment that they need to take care when dealing with highly toxic substances or pay the consequences.”
Statement from Alex Gibson
“We all remember too well the Mole pollution incident at the end of July 2019. Anaerobic digestate being spread as a fertiliser on fields north of South Molton by Alun Sing, a farmer and contractor, was allowed into the River Mole in large quantities.
The EA estimated that about 15k fish were killed over a 5km stretch. That made it an EA Category 1 incident. Adult sea trout, adult brown trout, juvenile salmon and juvenile brown trout, some of which would have become sea trout, were killed. Also killed were stone loach, bullhead and minnows. In short it was an ecological disaster.
The EA’s prosecution was successful and we then mounted a private action using the services of Fish Legal. This took the form of 5 RTFCA members of Fish Legal acting as claimants. I am pleased to say that our claim has now been successfully settled. The £18k received is being paid by the 5 claimants to WRT for river improvement work on the Mole.
Here are a few conclusions of my own.
Farmers should not be allowed to get away with polluting our rivers. Category 1 and where possible Category 2 incidents must be prosecuted by the EA.
Offers of Enforcement Undertakings should be declined as RTFCA did in this case. By offering money direct to affected parties the polluter seeks to avoid prosecution. If farmers are not prosecuted there is no deterrent effect to bad practice.
Private actions can be successfully brought, but only by concerted action using a specialist service, namely Fish Legal. It was disappointing that only 5 Fish Legal members could be found among RTFCA riparian owners. More members will be encouraged to join Fish Legal and I would make the point more generally for all owners of fisheries elsewhere.
As RTFCA has always been aware, anaerobic digesters, of which we have 3 on our river system, and the spreading of digestate from them are a continuing threat to our river and need to be properly regulated and overseen by the EA.
This incident happened during my chairmanship and has reached its conclusion during Andy Gray’s. I hope Andy never has to face anything similar. The RTFCA Committee asked me to continue taking responsibility until the file could be closed. Thankfully we have now reached that stage.
Thanks are due to the other claimants and to the RTFCA Committee, both of which groups, I would suggest, have made the right decisions during this long, drawn-out process.
The success of our private claim though is really down to the excellent work done by Fish Legal and in particular by Justin Neal. For many reasons this was never going to be a straightforward case. I have enjoyed working with Justin, but we will both be happy to close the file.”
Fish Legal is a not-for-profit organisation of dedicated lawyers who use the law on behalf of anglers to fight polluters and others who damage and threaten the water environment. Fish Legal secures compensation for its members to help restore polluted waters and challenges Government and regulators when they fail to protect fisheries.
Fish Legal represented five fisheries on the Mole and the River Taw including the Barle Fishing Club, the Wampford Syndicate and three riparian owners.
The River Mole sub-catchment is a highly important spawning and nursery area for salmon in the Taw catchment. The impact on juvenile salmon from this incident will potentially result in some reduction to the number of adult salmon returning to the River Mole in 2021, 2022 and 2023 migration periods.
The dead fish included 1,127 adult brown trout, 14 adult sea trout, 1,222 brown trout fry, 328 brown trout parr, 1,155 salmon fry and 315 salmon parr
Fish Legal took legal action on behalf of a member club on the River Leadon in a similar incident in 2016 when an employee instructed to fertilise one of the orchards at a farm near Dymock in Gloucestershire failed to check the valves before turning on the irrigation system designed to take the digestate fertiliser from a lagoon to the orchard. https://fishlegal.net/case-studies/river-leadon/
Sadly I have to report that the annual programme to rear 30,000 swim-up fry at our hatchery will once again not be going ahead. The EA would only allow us to access and use the fish pass at Monkokehampton Weir on the River Okement to trap our broodstock if unbelievably strict health and safety rules were followed. Our chairman Paul and vice-chairman Steve have worked incredibly hard in an effort to reach an agreed way forward: sadly to no avail. The main stumbling block has been the inability of the EA to respond promptly to any suggestions that Paul and Steve made. This confirms our suspicions that the EA would be delighted if the hatchery closed down permanently. But we are not giving up and are determined that the hatchery will be operational next year so that we can continue to support the development of a hatchery hub for all the south west rivers at Colliford reservoir.
Our Fishery Enforcement Officer
For personal reasons Callum Underhill, who has been the Fishery Enforcement officer for the North Devon rivers for the last two years, will be leaving to work nearer his family home in Wessex. Callum has been a great support for our river especially with regard to the hatchery and we wish him well for the future.
The Annual Dinner
Over 40 members and guests enjoyed a convivial evening at The Half Moon with good company and an excellent meal on Saturday 24th September. Thank you all for supporting the raffle so generously which made a profit of £1,520. We were delighted that Mark Wormald was able to join us for the evening. He donated a copy of his book, “The Catch: Fishing for Ted Hughes” to the raffle. Much of the book is based on the Torridge where Ted Hughes so enjoyed his fishing. If you would like a copy contact Adam at The Half Moon who has copies: it would make an excellent Xmas gift.
The prize winners of the raffle: the case of wine Anthony Wilmington, the £50 Half Moon voucher Simon Hillcox, the £50 Snowbee voucher Martin Weeks and the book donated by Mark Wormald was won by a friend of Graham Henderson.
The Fishing Season
Due to a complete lack of water the salmon fishing was virtually non-existent and no more than 15 fish were caught by the rods for the whole season. Sea trout fishing was also extremely difficult. On the plus side anglers, prior to the heatwave in July, enjoyed some excellent brown trout fishing with several fish over 2lb caught. It has been suggested that the brown trout are getting larger as they are gorging themselves on baby signal crayfish. One thing for sure the whole catchment is now infested with signal crayfish. 2011 was the last really dry year and this was followed by a very wet year in 2012 with good river flows and good numbers of salmon and sea trout: so here’s hoping for better fishing conditions in 2023: we certainly deserve it.
My very best wishes to you all for the festive season. Charles.
