Anchor Lake has been fishing its head off ! One angler had 9 in under 2 hours and there have been a couple of 7lb fish in amongst some limit bags including this cracker caught by Daniel Stocker which was also tagged so he headed home with £20 and an Easter Egg! Despite the concerns about C&R making the lake hard we see no evidence of it and today of the 14 anglers fishing 7 are on sport tickets, all catching using a variety of tactics including washing line, straight nymphs & dries.
After several weeks without substantial rain the rivers have started to drop away. I fished the Middle Torridge on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised at how well the river level has held up with it at a height that I would expect fish to be present. I fished the lies carefully and failed to move any fish. It was as always a delight to in the river with fresh green growth sprouting forth all around and birdsong filling the cool spring air.
Spring tides over the previous week should have encouraged a few fish into the river. Sea trout will start to show soon with every chance of double figure fish in the early season. Ideally we need some heavy rain within a couple of weeks to replenish the rivers. If the rain does not come it will be well worthwhile targetting the wild brown trout that populate our local rivers. Early season fishing sees the fish rising freely to bushy dry flies ideally fished in conjunction with a small beaded nymph in the so called New Zealand Style.
I received this report from Barnstaple & District Angling Clubs John Webber
“Just received details from Taw Cottage Beat. Owner John Saunders invited local angler Bob Lewington to fish his top beat on Good Friday afternoon, resulting in a fresh run 12lb salmon.Bob was wading in deep water with high bank when fish hooked and managed to net whilst still in the water. This was Bob’s his first catch of the season, which I understand brings total fish landed on the Taw to 14.”
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The day ticket Brightly and Weir Marsh Beats of the Taw have produced a fine couple of spring salmon with Andy Nixon catching a fine 10lb salmon and Len Francis one of 10lb 8oz. Day tickets can be obtained from Ivan Huxtable on 0777 9214909 or by calling in to The Rising Sun at Umberleigh where they also have fishing available. Click on the link below.
Below are a few notes from Roger Furniss relating to smolt survival. These highlight the range of problems that impact upon the smolt as they journey to the sea sea. Without smolt of course we have no salmon.
SWRA Council Meeting – 11 April 2017 Paper 5
From Headwater to Headland – Improving smolt survival in rivers and estuaries
From Roger Furniss
Introduction
I attended a two-day conference in Berwick with the above title, organised by Atlantic Salmon Trust and Tweed Foundation – Programme attached. The Proceedings will be published but there was so much information relevant to how we manage our rivers I have summarised the key points below.
At the end I draw some conclusions about how we should manage our rivers in the light of the information
Freshwater Influence on Smolt Production and Survival
1
impacts;
Smolt survival in the lower river, estuary and coastal waters
model survival to smolt;
– faster smolts more successful;
2
Conclusions
angling!
David Flynn from Bickington fished at Blakewell to land a fine brace of handsome brown trout scaling 4lb and 4lb 8oz.
Roger Weller landed a fine double figure rainbow trout of11lb 5oz he is on holiday from Cranleigh Surrey.
Peter Tyjas landed this fine silver spring salmon from a beat on the Fox and Hounds Country Hotel Water. Peter and the Devon School of Fly Fishing are hosting the West Country Fly Fishing Seminar at the Hotel on Sunday April 23rd.
For full details visit :- http://www.fly-fishing-tackle.co.uk/wffc2017/
The Torridge Fishery Associations Annual General Meeting was held at the Half Moon Inn at Sheepwash on March 31st and was very well supported by its membership. I always look forward to attending this meeting as this and the Annual Dinner is the time when most members get to meet up and share in their passion for the river and its health.
As always the river Environment was at the top of the agenda and of course the fish stocks. Paul Ashworth gave an update on the hatchery. The clubs project to attempt to stem the decline in salmon and sea trout numbers. The past winter has proved a successful one with brood stock successfully caught stripped and returned to the river. The result has been 30,000 fry stocked out into tributaries of the Torridge. It is impossible to know for sure if previous years stockings have proved fruitful but with a 95% survival to swim up fry stage there has to be a chance that a few eventually make it back as adult fish.
Environment Agency Fisheries Officer Paul Carter gave a report on the latest regarding staffing levels with the agency and highlighted the need for anglers to act as the eyes and ears of the river bank. Any environmental concerns or suspicious activity should be reported immediately either direct to Paul or via the agency’s hotline – 0800 807060. Paul expressed concern at the apparent lack of salmon spawning activity on the upper reaches of most local rivers. My own hope is that this is a temporary situation with a poor return of salmon as a result of the extensive and severe floods of 2012 washing out large areas of the salmon’s redds. In light of the ever decreasing stocks Paul emphasized the importance of catch and release and in particular ensuring large fish of over 70cm are returned to the river even later in the season as these fish are often the ones returned by anglers fishing earlier in the spring. Provisional 2016 returns for the Torridge indicated 58 salmon and 206 sea trout.
Izzy Moser from Devon Wildlife Trust gave an enlightening talk on the successful attempts to breed freshwater pearl mussel with the intent of reseeding areas of the Torridge where the species is threatened with extinction. These mollusks can live for over 100 years and require pollution free waters to survive. The creatures can also contribute to the rivers health by filtering large quantities of water as they feed. For more information on this fascinating project visit http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/freshwater-pearl-mussel-project
One of the major factors impacting upon the Freshwater mussel is that of sedimentation caused largely by farming practices. Devon Wildlife Trust is working with anglers towards a purer river that will benefit both mussels and salmon.
Adrian Dowding and his colleague Phil Turnball of the West Country Rivers Trust gave a presentation reporting upon an extensive fry survey undertaken last season. This did not make good reading with fry numbers very disappointing throughout most of the Torridge catchment despite extensive work over recent years to improve habitat. The survey highlights the urgent need for extensive efforts to address habitat issues on our rivers. The loss of salmon and sea trout in any of our West Country Rivers would be a tragedy.
Invasive species are also a major concern with Himalayan Balsam one area that anglers can make a difference. A campaign encourages anglers to pull up ten of these plants every time they visit the river.
Despite all of this concern for the river anglers remained upbeat and optimistic for the season ahead with river levels now dropping after several spates some fish should be caught. John Hellyer caught a fine 10lb salmon from the lower river, the second so far this season showing that a few salmon have already moved in.
The Half Moon Inn has for many years been the hub of fishing on the Torridge and fortunately this is set to continue as the new owners Andrew Orchard and Alan McIntosh have vowed to continue the Inns future as a premier fishing Inn that will undoubtedly be well supported by Charles Inniss whose years of knowledge and enthusiasm has provided inspiration for generations of visiting anglers.
Thirty anglers gathered at Blakewell Fishery for their Spring Competition a day that was to be blessed with warm spring sunshine. It was certainly a jovial atmosphere that pervaded the morning with old friends and new talking eagerly about the days fishing ahead. These competitions are little more than an excuse for a bunch of anglers to get together for a social with a bit of banter and a bent rod.
After the draw and a coffee we all set out to the lake that was tinged with colour after heavy rain two nights previous. This was probably a good thing as bright sunshine is seldom good for trout fishing. The morning session saw anglers enjoy steady sport with the fish fighting hard in the cool water. Glancing around the lake it was apparent that a multitude of patterns were producing fish. My first peg proved challenging and I only managed the one trout a handsome brown that was to be the heaviest brown of the day at 3lb 5oz.
My next peg proved more productive and within the second hour I had completed my mornings quota of five trout.(below)
This gave me the opportunity to wonder around the lake and capture a few images before lunch.
The hour-long lunch break saw the hungry anglers tucking into a hearty meal of sausages, potato stew, salad, fresh bread and red cabbage and onion. This was washed down with a cool can of beer followed by a slice of delicious homemade cake.
All of this was of course punctuated by plenty of tales of fish and fishy places.
The afternoon session is often the hardest and that one fish can often prove hard to tempt. But with a blue sky and fresh green buds all around it was not too much of a problem if it took a while to complete the days bag.
The competition came to a close at 4.00pm and all but two of the thirty anglers had completed their six fish limit. The scales showed that it had been a very close event with just three pounds separating the top twenty-five anglers.
Result
1st Andy Facey – 6 fish – 15lb 7oz
2nd John Buxton – 6 fish – 14lb 15oz
3rd – Phil Martin – 6 Fish – 14lb 10oz
4th = Wayne Thomas – 6 Fish – 14lb 9oz
Colin Matthews – 6 Fish – 14lb 9oz
Paul Grisley – 6 Fish – 14lb 9oz
Whilst none of the big trout for which the fishery is renowned were caught several were glimpsed in the lake. A fine 13lb double figure rainbow was landed the previous day.
The fisheries facilities have been upgraded with a new toilet, fish weighing room and extended decking that will prove a hit on summer evenings when John and Richard Nickel plan a few summer BBQs and fishing events.
Next month sees the fishery host a Snowbee Open day when the latest tackle will be on display and available to try out with casting instruction from the Snowbee and Blakewell teams.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club traveled to Wessex Waters Clatworthy Reservoir where they enjoyed some exciting sport. David Eldred won the competition with a five fish limit bag totaling 23lb 6oz that included a superb rainbow of 9lb 10oz. In runner up spot was Danny Ford with 21lb 12oz and third Richard Hopson with five fish for 18lb.
The River Fly Partnership
“Riverfly Partnership tutors deliver one-day workshops to fishing clubs and other organisations committed to establishing a group to monitor the biological water quality of their local waters.
Anglers are natural guardians of the river environment, and are in an ideal position to monitor the health of the watercourses they fish, by using the riverflies they aim to imitate with their artificial flies. Many angling and other interested groups expressed an interest to be able to carry out health checks on their waters. The Riverfly Partnership spearheads an initiative to allow interested groups to take action that will help conserve the river environment. This initiative provides a simple monitoring technique which groups can use to detect any severe perturbations in river water quality and puts them in direct communication with the local Ecological Contact of the Environment Agency (EA) / Scottish Environment Protection Agency – participating areas (SEPA) / National Resources Wales (NRW) / Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). “
I joined a group of enthusiastic volunteers for a days training on the River Fly Initiative at The Fox and Hounds Country Hotel near Eggesford. The course was run in conjunction with the North Devon Biosphere and our tutor’s for the day were Matthew Edworthy from the North Devon Biospere and Izzy Moser from the Devon Wildlife Trust.
The group of volunteers was a mix of anglers and members of the community with a passion for Devon’s wildlife. All understood the importance of a healthy river and how the river fly population can act as a natural barometer to its health. Fly Fishers of course have a long established link to a rivers fly life as it is these creatures that the anglers mimic when trying to tempt the trout that live within the river.
It was observations by anglers that had helped to establish the vital link between the abundance of fly life and the richness of the river habitat. Observations over many decades revealed an alarming decline in fly populations. It was this that had lead to the River Fly Initiative.
The sampling of a section of river and careful gathering of data relating to fly life populations is a proven way of detecting any decline in the river health. This can show up problems long before any fish kill or visible signs of an issue.
The first part of the day was spent in the classroom where we were given a thought provoking briefing on health and safety and the risks we may encounter at the waters edge including the ever-present threat of Leptospirosis/Weils disease and lyme disease. We were then briefed on the identification of the fly groups we would be looking for within the river.
Caddisfly (sedge) larvae – Cased Caddis Caseless caddis
Up-wing fly larvae – Mayfly Ephemeridae , Blue-winged olive, Flat-bodied Heptageniidae, olive Baetidae
Stonefly Larvae Stone Flies
Freshwater Shrimp Gammarus
The life cycle of these river dwellers proved to be a fascinating insight into the rich variety of the life within our rivers and as an angler for close to fifty years I was somewhat dismayed at my lack of knowledge. Though this was one of the reasons I had enrolled on the course as knowledge of the river life enhances each day spent by the waters edge fishing.
The previous night had seen heavy rain fall over much of North Devon resulting in a brown and swollen River Taw. It seemed that our all-important practical session would be impacted upon but fortunately one of our party owned a delightful property with a small stream running through its meadow. After lunch we all tramped down to the river with our nets and buckets. Along the way we were delighted to see numerous rare snakehead fritillary flowers in the meadow.
It was refreshing to share in the joy of messing around in the river with a group of like-minded people. Whilst the exercise had a valuable purpose I could not help but remember childhood days spent exploring a babbling brook. My angling life began with this fascination for rivers and the life within.
The sampling method involves 3 minutes of intense riverbed kicking and a minute of rock turning. This resulted in several buckets full of river life and detritus to take away and analyze.
To our delight it soon became apparent that we had struck upon a rich vein of river life with all our target species present in good numbers. Sorting the fly larvae into their respective groups proved a fascinating exercise and there were plenty of enthusiastic exclamations as various larvae were revealed.
We returned to the Fox and Hounds for a briefing on logging our data and how this vital information would be used by the Environment Agency to monitor river health. There is of course a political background to this citizen science for a significant reduction in funding means that those that care about the environment have to get out there and work for the protection of the riverside habitat. It is my belief that the rivers are the arteries of our green and pleasant land. As an angler I of course have an additional link to the river in that I cast my line into it in the hope of connecting with its fish.
http://www.riverflies.org/rp-riverfly-monitoring-initiative