River Kennet - Any truth to the rumours?

[upstream gardener]

Hi,

 

This is one for fellow Kennet fishers. I just heard that the EA recently electrofished the Padworth stretch upstream of the bridge and came up with 20 barbel (good), a few perch, the odd chub, one roach and zero dace (very bad).

 

Anyone any idea about this - is it true? Anyone know what steps the EA are going to take to reverse this ecological disaster?

 

M

[Chris Plumb]

Hi,

 

This is one for fellow Kennet fishers. I just heard that the EA recently electrofished the Padworth stretch upstream of the bridge and came up with 20 barbel (good), a few perch, the odd chub, one roach and zero dace (very bad).

 

Anyone any idea about this - is it true? Anyone know what steps the EA are going to take to reverse this ecological disaster?

 

M

 

Dunno if they've done that stretch but they have been electrofishing large swathes of the Kennet catchement this winter so wouldn't be surprised. However the haul you itemise above seems tiny - that stretch is stiff with barbel - I'd have expected many more that 20 to turn up. Doesn't sound like they've been very 'effecient'! I've not trotted it for a while so don't know if the dace have disappeared...

 

 

C.

[upstream gardener]

Dunno if they've done that stretch but they have been electrofishing large swathes of the Kennet catchement this winter so wouldn't be surprised. However the haul you itemise above seems tiny - that stretch is stiff with barbel - I'd have expected many more that 20 to turn up. Doesn't sound like they've been very 'effecient'! I've not trotted it for a while so don't know if the dace have disappeared...

 

 

C.

My thoughts on the barbel Chris, but no dace or roach is worrying - especially as I was planning a sneaky couple hours this afternoon!

 

You would expect the roach/dace to outnumber the barbel by a large margin on that stretch. What have been the results elsewhere do you know?

 

Thanks

 

M

[Steve Walker]

A point to mention on electrofishing - it is size selective, and catches longer fish disproportionately.

[Dick Dastardly]

A point to mention on electrofishing - it is size selective, and catches longer fish disproportionately.

 

Hence forth why its a strange tool to use for "sampling" or "stock monitoring" but a good one for pike removal. I hope this wasn't their main agenda?

[upstream gardener]

Thanks - I never knew it was selective for longer fish - hence the barbel! I wish I had stuck with plan A - I went further upstream for my sneaky session and spent 3 hours drowning maggots at thatcham to absolutley no avail!

 

M

[The Flying Tench]

I've seen the EA do a couple of stretches: on the Lambourn a couple of years ago - loads of small roach, and some perch surprisingly, and about 3 grayling plus a reasonable pike; and at Colthrop - mainly small silver fish again, a few trout and a couple of chub. The point is on each occasion they only did a small stretch, maybe 100 yards. So I guess a key question is which stretch at Padworth they did.

 

Someone told me he was catching good roach at Padworth about 4 years ago, and then the next year they weren't around. His theory was that they had stayed down on the Benyons. I roach fished the year he said they weren't around. I still caught plenty of small ones, but nothing decent.

[upstream gardener]

I've seen the EA do a couple of stretches: on the Lambourn a couple of years ago - loads of small roach, and some perch surprisingly, and about 3 grayling plus a reasonable pike; and at Colthrop - mainly small silver fish again, a few trout and a couple of chub. The point is on each occasion they only did a small stretch, maybe 100 yards. So I guess a key question is which stretch at Padworth they did.

 

Someone told me he was catching good roach at Padworth about 4 years ago, and then the next year they weren't around. His theory was that they had stayed down on the Benyons. I roach fished the year he said they weren't around. I still caught plenty of small ones, but nothing decent.

 

Thanks FT,

 

My understanding is that it was immediately above the bridge on the TAA stretch. I am new to the Kennet this year and have only fished this bit for barbel - so I would be interested in anyone else's experiences this year with trotting. Certainly the Lodon hasn't been producing for the past couple of years - which is why I am tyring the Kennet!

 

M

[JV44]

Thanks FT,

 

My understanding is that it was immediately above the bridge on the TAA stretch. I am new to the Kennet this year and have only fished this bit for barbel - so I would be interested in anyone else's experiences this year with trotting. Certainly the Lodon hasn't been producing for the past couple of years - which is why I am tyring the Kennet!

 

M

Fishing the NAA bit just above Padworth mill a couple of weeks ago i heard a guy on the other bank [south] saying to his kids he had caught a large roach from that section a couple of years ago .

2lb1oz was the figure he quoted but i have no idea if his statement is actually true ,does look very big Roach habitat to me though so who knows Steve .

[The Flying Tench]

Thanks FT,

 

My understanding is that it was immediately above the bridge on the TAA stretch.

Certainly that's a bit where I saw people trotting and catching silvers about 3 years ago.