norfolk broads and Norwich DAA

[dant]

Thanks for the reply DanT . In a perverse way , although any fish kill is distressing , if its a natural occurrence as opposed to a man-made catastrophe , its easier to understand and come to terms with . I love fishing the Broads and rivers , having been going on holiday there since i was 9 or 10 ( wow !!! nearly 30 years now ) so any bad news does affect me . Still , i'm really looking fwd to next week . I'll let you know how i got on

 

Theres very little you can do about it really, other than an extremely expensive tidal barrier on Breydon water but as they havn't even dualed the last section of the A47 between Norwich and Gt Yarmouth. I can't see a multi-million pound tidal barrier happening too quickly..

 

Pretty much the whole of East Anglia due to it's land aspect is suceptible to the elements.

The river that always get the rough end of the stick seems to be the Thurne as the water especially in places like Horsey Mere and Somerton is partially brackish anyway due to seepage from the sea. This means theres not always the fresh water to dilute the saline surges...

 

In a way we were lucky with the timing of the surge last year as the fish had begun to move upriver anyway but not quite shoaled tightly into boat yards and dykes and other places they could get cut off. A month or so later and it could of been much worse.

 

John - I know exactly where you mean, Oby being just across the river from Upton. I grew up round that way.

It's a great area to fish as the river starts to change character around St Bennets and Oby, theres a slightly less powerful pull, a few more Broad entrances, dykes and bank features than there is just a mile or so downriver on the straighter piled lengths from Upton/Acle onwards.

 

I don't think there will of been a very highly discernible decrease in the numbers of larger Bream and Roach as it was mainly the younger year classes that we're affected, apart from the odd pockets..

 

But as you've mentioned the fish stocks were at their highest for years, so I don't think it'll take too long for a full recovery.

 

I think anglers catch reports will be good indicators as to the extent of the damage done..

 

Good luck on your fishing trips..

Edited June 12, 2007 by dant

[ChrisBishop]

More info/ story archive here

[John Weddup]

Has anyone fished bure this weekend.

 

Are the roach spread out to upton area yet or is it all bream.

 

Am coming up friday and would like to know what too target if possible.

 

Thanks

 

John

[dant]

Hi John...

 

As I work in London, I fear that my fishing trips on the Broads may be fewer this year than ever before and I havn't had the chance to get back to fish as yet..

BUT a good friend of mine had a large net of Bream on the feeder in-between St bennets and Thurne Dyke (closer to the latter) on Saturday night and reported that the shoals of Roach turned on, as normal at first light, his words were 'a bite a chuck'...

I was back that way last week and saw plenty of fish topping along the Upton to Acle stretch whilst walking the dog..

I think and hope I'm right in saying that the fish stocks may well of reached a level before the salt surge to of almost absorbed the resulting fish kill..

The reports and signs are that we'll have a strong seasons fishing for the Roach and Bream..

Maybe any effetcs of the fish kill will only be noticed in a year or two when there's fewer fish of a certain year class..

Pretty resilient things, The Broads, I reckon..

Good luck with your trip and let us know how you get on...

Dan T

[dant]

John or indeed anyone else who's planning a trip to the Broads..

 

It's always worth checking out The Great Yarmouth Mercury which comes out in print on Fridays for fishing reports and info or have a look here..

 

http://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/cont...3A17%3A03%3A527

 

http://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/cont...3A28%3A09%3A597

 

The EDP's worth a look on Wednesday too..

[John Weddup]

Fantastic just the news I needed.

 

The links are brilliant aswell.

 

John

[nomadpaul]

Just a quick update on my 4 nights boating/fishing on the Broads -

 

My fishing wasn't what i would call serious fishing but it was still quite enjoyable. There were lots of fish everywhere we stopped , and 1000's of fry in the water as well which , considering they're size i think are from this year . Good news

 

Overnight , We moored just below Ludham bridge , on the river entrance to Womack water , on the main river outside of Salhouse Broad and on the upper Ant , just above Hunsett Mill .

 

We caught plenty of quality Roach and Perch up to about a pound , small bream up to about 2lb , and the odd eel/gudgeon/Ruffe - I do have to say that i caught one Ruffe which was the biggest specimen of the fish i have ever seen It was almost palm sized......so big i had to take a piccie of it which i will load up here soon - That was from Ludham bridge - The two best places for the fishing were Ludham bridge and the section outside Salhouse Broad - The upper ant stop wasn't so good as the weed on the river bed made it very hard to fish - The stop near Womack water was ok but windy . We stopped here on tuesday night , the night of the storm and had amazing views of its movement , looking roughly southwest . So spectacular was it that we just sat in total darkness for about 2 hours just so's we could see the lightning in all its glory - Amazing

 

We had a few nature highlights - At Womack water , we witnessed a Barn owl , tracking across the field opposite our mooring , and in the darkness , as the storm raged on the horizon , we watched the bats flit along the surface of the river - We also had the luck of having a bird of prey , a Marsh Harrier i think , hunting the riverside reeds/marshlands on the right hand side of the river as we travelled downstream into Horning - We seemed to be travelling parallel to its flight/hunting path for about 300 yards or more - fantastic to watch - Also saw a couple of swimming Grass snakes which always gets the women screaming

 

The water levels were very very high . So much so , that even though we had quite a low boat - 6' 9" clearance - we couldn't get under Wroxham bridge ( Or should that be Roy's of Wroxham bridge ).....and the chap in the tackle shop said there wasn't anything going under at this particular time

 

All in all , we had a great time , as always , and to top it all off , i even had my licence checked - the 1st time in 30 odd years of fishing - whilst moored up outside Salhouse - scared the living bejesus out of me though when he first appeared by the side of our boat , like a silent stalker.......good to see though

 

Paul

 

All in

Edited June 23, 2007 by nomadpaul

[dant]

Glad you had a good time NP and glad to hear the fish levels appear to be as high as the water's.

 

I'm quite surprised you couldn't get through at Wroxham. The water must of been very high. The Broads due to the surrounding marshes e.t.c tend to hold excess rainwater and release it very slowly, combine that with the increasing high tides and there may be more problems in the future with flood water.

 

Also glad to hear you enjoyed the wildlife. It's sounds very much like a Marsh Harrier you saw, they're the kings of the reedbeds and on the increase which is promising. I can remember a time not very long ago when there was only one higly secret pair in Norfolk there must be 1 or 2 hundred by now..

 

For some reason the River Ant has nearly always been a poorer river than the other Broadland rivers, fishing wise. The Junction with The Bure is a bit of hotspot though.

[nomadpaul]

Glad you had a good time NP and glad to hear the fish levels appear to be as high as the water's.

 

I'm quite surprised you couldn't get through at Wroxham. The water must of been very high. The Broads due to the surrounding marshes e.t.c tend to hold excess rainwater and release it very slowly, combine that with the increasing high tides and there may be more problems in the future with flood water.

 

Also glad to hear you enjoyed the wildlife. It's sounds very much like a Marsh Harrier you saw, they're the kings of the reedbeds and on the increase which is promising. I can remember a time not very long ago when there was only one higly secret pair in Norfolk there must be 1 or 2 hundred by now..

 

For some reason the River Ant has nearly always been a poorer river than the other Broadland rivers, fishing wise. The Junction with The Bure is a bit of hotspot though.

There was actually a couple of warning signs on the river coming into Wroxham warning pleasure craft not to go under the bridge - we didn't see any boats moored on the upper side . We also couldn't have a walk around the nature trail at Hoveton Great Broad due to flooding

[John Weddup]

I also have just returned from a thursday night till saturday lunchtime trip.

 

Fished all day friday on river bure near thurne mouth and caught quality roach to 1lbs and a few skimmers. My friend who came with me was a bit keener and started really early and had several bream to 6lbs. We struggled to lift his net out. He heavily baited with at least 20 balls of groundbait and feeder over top.

 

Fished this morning till 12 and had lots of big skimmers about a 1lb to 1.5 lbs. Had also several roach to 1lbs again.

 

There were not hundeds of small roach but often this early they do not show. We had lots of quality roach and what was better was the amount of small skimers form 8oz up to 1.5lb. There were loads so the future looks good.

 

john