Healthy Rivers

[gozzer]

Do you not think that the extreme flooding over the last few years, might have had an adverse effect on the fish stocks in the river??

John.

[Worms]

Do you not think that the extreme flooding over the last few years, might have had an adverse effect on the fish stocks in the river??

John.

It doesn't seem to have adversely affected the rivers that I fish. My worry is that we may have lost a lot of fry that will only show as a loss of adult fish in a few years time.

[gozzer]

It doesn't seem to have adversely affected the rivers that I fish. My worry is that we may have lost a lot of fry that will only show as a loss of adult fish in a few years time.

 

I meant the flooding on the R Wye in particular.

It's had more than it's fair share in the last few years.

 

John.

[poledark]

MARCH 2009 UPDATE

 

I have fished a couple of regular stretches on the River Wye for the past few years, producing fantastic chub action. The action was still good last winter even though there was suddenly regular otter sightings. Even disturbed an otter under a bank eating two chub at the same time.

 

This winter, the chub are scarce. The affects of predation are far worse than I hoped. I expected a fall in numbers as I saw the otters so often but I did not catch even one chub the last couple of visits but there are loads of fresh otter tracks.

 

The trouble in these situations is that the otters need to eat a lot of fish. They dont care about the natural balance, they will move on when they have eaten whats available.

 

Hopefully, not a problem near you soon, especially you Tigger!!

 

 

I have been fortunate in growing up in England and fishing in a pretty much Otter free world, with thriving stocks of fish. When I fished a river, I expected that the fish I caught last week/season would still be there. I paid my fees, the landowner made some money, and I was able to enjoy the environment.

 

Jeff, you are wasting your time with your post, "there are none so blind, that they canot see"

 

Den

Edited March 17, 2009 by poledark

[gozzer]

I have been fortunate in growing up in England and fishing in a pretty much Otter free world, with thriving stocks of fish. When I fished a river, I expected that the fish I caught last week/season would still be there. I paid my fees, the landowner made some money, and I was able to enjoy the environment.

 

Jeff, you are wasting your time with your post, "there are none so blind, that they canot see"

 

Den

 

That's a very generalised post Den, especially from you.

 

I grew up in a similar time, and I knew then that the same fish would not necessarily be there year on year.

The nature of rivers is that they change over time. Floods change swims, and fish move, sometimes onto a different length. Bank management by the river board, meant that whole sections of river changed, along with the species that occupied them. Building by the river changed it, and it's resident population. Predation by birds, pike, mink etc all took their toll on the number of fish. All with no otters to be found!

That's what I love about the rivers, they change year by year, both naturally, (and by human intervention ).

That's one of the reasons I'm in favour of keeping the closed season on rivers. It's like discovering a 'new' water every year, and you have to find the fish all over again.

 

I've only seen one otter over the last ten years on Yorkshire waters, hundreds of mink, but only one otter.

To blame the lack of fish in any river on just one thing, the otter, is IMO, a very short sighted view.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

Loads of roach and bream went missing from the fens in the 90s. Must have been zander, as they were a 'newly' introduced predator. Easy to leap to that conclusion.

 

Except it wasn't. It was excessive pumping, leaving new spawn out to dry and sucking immature fish out to sea.

 

The only population the zander had an effect on was the pike - another predator.

 

Interesting that some who are fiercely defensive of having pike or perch in a water for the good - or balance - of that water, are so scared about other predators which are not fish.

 

Fish do not exist for us to catch. If there is an unnaturally high otter population along a certain stretch of river, there will be temporarily increased predation. Nature will compensate in time, and you may have to fish elsewhere in the meantime.

 

If we anglers are so keen to shoot anything that eats fish, whether furred or feathered, surely we should also advocate throwing pike and zander up the banks, like the good old days?

 

If I go fishing and don't catch very much but see an otter, is that worse than going fishing and catching loads?

 

What we should do is cover all rivers with an inpenetrable tunnel of fine wire mesh, dug 10ft into the banks, to stop any nature getting in. That way, the rivers will remain for their primary purpose - for blokes wearing faux army gear to catch stacks of fish and put them back again.

 

Please leave litter in the bins provided.

 

[Steve Walker]

I agree with Anderoo - and if I saw an otter, I'd have had a great day, whether I caught anything or not.

 

This is the range of the European otter, and has been for most of the period since the glaciers retreated. There are and always have been plenty of fish coexisting with otters.

 

[Andy_1984]

i hope to actaully see an otter in the flesh one day and a red squirell.

 

otters are quite welcome to as many fish as they want. its all part of the cycle of life, get over it.

 

what was this topic about again..........

[poledark]

"otters are quite welcome to as many fish as they want. its all part of the cycle of life, get over it."

 

Would that be YOUR fish, or the ones that belong to someone else? You and anyone else has no right to make judgements on what should be allowed to eat someone else property. Otters should be treated the same as any other predator, and where they are seen to be a threat to someones stock of fish, then the owner should be allowed to take steps to protect his stock.

 

I used to fish a little river and each little twist and turn held a couple of chub up to about 2.5 lbs and maybe a roach or two. How long would it take a pair of Otters to clean them out? Persistantly hunting a short stretch every day and night.

 

Den

[Worms]

I meant the flooding on the R Wye in particular.

It's had more than it's fair share in the last few years.

 

John.

You're not wrong there. My comments on the Lugg and Teme are because they have suffered the same severe flooding as the Wye (the Lugg flows into the Wye just downstream of Hereford) and the Teme floods everytime it rains!

 

In the summer floods of 2007 the Teme flooded up the Severn with grayling found on the county ground!

 

I don't doubt that fish are lost in floods it's just that last year's floods on the local rivers were quite a bit lower than 2007 and the fishing in 2008 was pretty sh1t hot, well for me anyway.

 

I suppose 5% here and 5% there adds up and a variety of reasons can cause a river to fish badly. I look forward to the new season to see what turns up.