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Strange happenings on the Suffolk Stour


tiddlertamer

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I fished the Suffolk Stour last week.

 

I fished a normally fast flowing section of tributary, which isn’t the norm for this river, which cuts off from the main river not a million miles from Sudbury.

 

When I last saw it in summer it had a good flow.

 

After a wet winter, I came back expecting a high level and yet the flow had stopped completely.

 

This didn’t make sense unless the local water board or Environment Agency has some sort of barriers/flood control in place and were using it. :unsure:

 

Anyone guess or know what’s going on?

 

The change was quite dramatic and completely changed the nature of this stretch of river.

Edited by tiddlertamer

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days without taking a fish. (Hemingway - The old man and the sea)

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Hi let me know which section you mean and I will tell you what I know.

 

regards

 

John

 

 

The stretch leading down from the Salmon Leap. Known to some as 'pike ditch'.

Edited by tiddlertamer

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days without taking a fish. (Hemingway - The old man and the sea)

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I never realised you fished so locally. The Suffolk Stour is often used just to move water around and must be one of the worst managed rivers in the country with little or no thought given to the environment nor to biodiversity as for the fee paying anglers they are just treated as irrelevances and rubbish by the powers that be. I expect that they have got all the floodgates open in SUDBURY and closed all the gates above...would seem pretty average for them. Although if its been like it for a week then I know just where to go to get some great Perch and Roach from...hehehe

 

Just a Toad learning the river in all its moods even when the mood is promoted by morons in authority.

 

No doubt John Weddup will be able to fill us in on the exact reason.

Edited by watatoad

From a spark a fire will flare up

English by birth, Cockney by the Grace of God

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Watatoad is correct.

 

Only this week a non angler has written in local paper about how the water meadows you were fishing on are badly managed with the water flow. As the river is totally controlled by the opening of gates along its length you can have some very strange things happening.

 

The flow through what we call the pike ditch is controlled by the fixed structure called the salmon jump. This totally depends on what is done with the floodgates on croft weirpool.Shut the gates water backs up and goes over salmon jump.

 

As for management by the EA its got worse with cost cutting as at weekends all they will do is open gates never close them. So if flood water has run off they will allow the river too empty itself until monday when it resembles a drought zone. They also seem to throw them open on fridays if heavy rain is forecast for the weekend but in this area the forecast of heavy rain often ends up as a small shower.

 

I could quote you EA fisheries reports made over last few years were the biomass of fish stocks has dropped dramatically and I am sure some of it is down to the wish to remove any floodwater from the system as quick as possible.

 

On the other hand for a few weeks now the level has been kept going by pumped water for the reservoirs. This generally makes fishing more difficult for some reason. Of course this can stop and start quite quickly.

 

regards

 

john

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Watatoad is correct.

 

Only this week a non angler has written in local paper about how the water meadows you were fishing on are badly managed with the water flow. As the river is totally controlled by the opening of gates along its length you can have some very strange things happening.

 

The flow through what we call the pike ditch is controlled by the fixed structure called the salmon jump. This totally depends on what is done with the floodgates on croft weirpool.Shut the gates water backs up and goes over salmon jump.

 

As for management by the EA its got worse with cost cutting as at weekends all they will do is open gates never close them. So if flood water has run off they will allow the river too empty itself until monday when it resembles a drought zone. They also seem to throw them open on fridays if heavy rain is forecast for the weekend but in this area the forecast of heavy rain often ends up as a small shower.

 

I could quote you EA fisheries reports made over last few years were the biomass of fish stocks has dropped dramatically and I am sure some of it is down to the wish to remove any floodwater from the system as quick as possible.

 

On the other hand for a few weeks now the level has been kept going by pumped water for the reservoirs. This generally makes fishing more difficult for some reason. Of course this can stop and start quite quickly.

 

regards

 

john

 

Thanks for the information.

 

What's the rationale for the Environment Agency's behaviour. Is it an attempt to minimise any risk around flooding in the town irregardless of any damage being done to the river's health?

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days without taking a fish. (Hemingway - The old man and the sea)

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Thanks for the information.

 

What's the rationale for the Environment Agency's behaviour. Is it an attempt to minimise any risk around flooding in the town irregardless of any damage being done to the river's health?

 

In my personal opinion The Environment Agency does not have a rationale as locally it is being run and managed by people who are lazy stupid cretinous imbecilic morons who are blatantly and obviously totally uneducated in even the most basic environmental needs and issues who have a complete disregard for any consideration for the environment nature biodiversity wildlife the natural environment local needs river and water management whose only interest and ability is to be paid far more than they are worth as they are worth less then nothing and who by their actions are directly responsible for damaging and destroying the environment and harming the local economy a retarded monkey with a lobotomy could probably do a better job of managing the local water systems and environment

 

Are there any advantages of such actions well yes there are some, when water and in particular waterways are treated in this manner the banks and building close to the river are soon undermined and collapse which in turn washes silt and mud further down river this will before too long damage pumping stations whether for water or industry it will cause much wider spread flooding alter the course of the river change the estuary which will in turn increase erosion to our sea defenses deplete coarse fish stocks make the area uninhabitable for Otters

 

Therefore so long as the environment agency wants to

 

endanger life - by having undermined river banks which can then collapse when walked on and buildings which too can collapse and may well destroy natural and man made flood defenses

 

increase insurance risk - by undermining buildings and creating larger areas which are prone to flooding

 

damage industry - by damaging expensive pumping and filtering equipment

 

destroy local economy - by dissuading anglers and tourists from coming into the area and staying in hotels and guest houses this will also effect takings of restaurants, cafe's, garages, bakers, newsagents, sweet shops, tackle shops and many other small businesses

 

Kill off many natural species - who need the river for their survival

 

cause riverside trees to fall down

 

cause dams to be created by the collapse of listed buildings, trees, locks, bridges, other buildings and banks

 

ruin the area's biodiversity

 

destroy a beautiful tourist loved part of the British countryside

 

kill off the local Otter population

 

ruin natural and man made flood defenses

 

increase coastal erosion

 

eradicate angling in the area

 

change the course of the river

 

change the current flood plains

 

alter the water table

 

prevent water extraction by agricultural business and farmers

 

knock down lock gates and listed buildings

 

remove the need for conservation areas or other protected natural areas and scientifically important areas

 

However it does mean that they have also saved the cost of

installing automatic floodgates

efficiently managing the waterway

 

plus they prove that as suspected the Environment Agency has a complete failure to understand any aspect of the environment.

 

EDIT:

Though if the water gets low enough in the flood gates pool at the croft I might be able to get a photo of the catfish in there that plagues me when I fish it.

END EDIT:

Edited by watatoad

From a spark a fire will flare up

English by birth, Cockney by the Grace of God

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Apart from that they are not doing a very good job :D:D

 

On my way home a few minutes ago I crossed the river Glem and thought it might have risen a little since I crossed it yesterday afternoon. Quite the reverse it has dropped at least 1ft.

 

This will be the result of the gates being opened at the old factory at liston. They have a lovely big electric one which they love playing with. It can be operated by E.A. or security staff at the factory site. They used to love opening it when a wall of water had built up and send a tidal wave down river. It often would submerge anglers downstream until one day in a match they did this to my mate mick who is a gentle giant at 6ft6 and 18 stone of muscle. He quickly packed up and payed them a visit.

 

We will see what tomorrow brings in the way of extra water but at present there in none.

 

regards

 

john

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Also forgot to mention coming back from Colchester where I was fishing I came through Wormingford where the work on the new pipeline is progressing which is for the enlargement of abberton reservoir.

 

It has a width of 1.2 metres and will draw the transferred water from wormingford.

 

So the stour is rapidly becoming part of the reservoir system.

 

John

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On my way home a few minutes ago I crossed the river Glem and thought it might have risen a little since I crossed it yesterday afternoon. Quite the reverse it has dropped at least 1ft.

 

Funny you should say that John, the same thing has happened to the Thames! We had the expected downpour last night and this morning, and I really expected the river to be very high and chocolate coloured. I had a look at the EA site this morning and it said the river had actually dropped overnight! So I popped down quickly and had a look, and the site was right, it was low and quite clear. Very strange.

 

We have a similar situation here with locks, weirs and flood defences, since the horrendous flooding of 2007 any excess water is run off quickly.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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