River levels have remained very high for the past few weeks,
although grayling fishing was just about possible on odd days, with around a
dozen taken by the few brave enough to tackle the conditions. Best fish was a
pound and a half, from the river Lyd, and all taken on Czech nymphs. It has
been nigh on impossible to make even a guess at how the salmon spawning is
progressing, with rivers running big and dirty almost without a break. The
river Wolf, fed from Roadford reservoir, usually runs steady and clear with a
measured amount of compensation water from the dam – this year the lake has
overflowed, possibly for the first time since filling in the late 1980’s. When
I have looked at the Wolf over the past few days it has been well coloured and
running at a half-bank flood, with any observation of fish or redds being
totally impossible.
The upper Lyd was clearer but still massive, with no chance
of seeing fish in the pools. However,a pair of fish was seen cutting a redd on
a favoured shallow stretch. A few days later it was impossible to distinguish
the redd, despite being aware of the exact location. It is certain that fish
have been spawning, with redds also seen on the river Lew, but any accurate
assessment of the numbers is out of the question. Hopefully most of the fish
will have completed spawning by now, and would have been pretty difficult
targets for those morons who do still poach fish at this vulnerable time.
Already we are looking ahead to the new year, currently
waiting for a dry spell to enable routine trimming and maintenance of the beats
to take place. At present it is not possible to drive across the fields to
access the water. We really would appreciate just a little less rain for 2013.
