Late January, still remarkably dry, and pretty cold. At last, the axis of our planet is tilting back towards summer, no longer is it pitch black at 8 in the morning, and the sun is now setting at 5 in the evening. Despite the cold (ice and frost most mornings) and the slow pace of change, Nature is beginning to acknowledge the encroaching new season. Mallard are all paired up, and woodpeckers are drumming in the Lyd valley, informing any other bird about who is nesting where, and with whom.
The midday sun now has a little more presence, enough to make yours truly strip down to shirt sleeves while wielding a post banger on Bottom Beat yesterday. The broken fence, maintaining shade and cover on Hairy Mary pool, is now back up after being demolished by a tree last season. Alexander Jones is still locked in mortal combat with some huge trout in New Zealand, he will need to re-adjust to our little brownies again soon.
So far the settled dry weather has kept the rivers nice and steady, great news for the salmon and sea trout eggs buried in the gravels, and the low temperatures are actually just what they need for correct incubation. It has been quite chilly when immersed to the groin in the Tamar trying to catch grayling, but a lot of fun, enlivened by a few out of season brownies and an odd peal kelt, along with a grayling or two. Bruno Vincent showed us all how to do it, with seven grayling to 12 inches from the Lyd last weekend. Memo to self; 'Must try harder'.
Tight Lines, David Pilkington
Tuesday 24 January 2017
Tuesday 3 January 2017
A very Happy New Year, and tight lines for the 2017 season.
Greeting for the new year to all our guests and readers of the blog. Alexander Jones ( who does all the clever stuff on the blog with photos, videos etc.)is just about to touch down in New Zealand for a month of trout fishing, so there will only be text in the next few weeks from the resident Luddite.
Minus 6 on the Tamar this morning, water splashing from the gauging weir has left a pendulum of ice the size of a rugby ball on the hanging brambles. Now that the main spawning season is over, I am delighted to report that we have seen more redds, of salmon, sea trout and brownies, than we have for several years. Although this may be in part to the fact that we have had relatively low water, making the redds more visible, it is still an excellent sign. We now pray for no devastating floods, as we have had so much of in recent winters, which must have done terrible damage to the slowly incubating ova.
Grayling fishing has been possible for most of the time, this again is due to the lowish river levels. Now that things have turned much colder, the fish have been harder to find, but can still be caught by searching the likely pools with deeply sunk nymphs.
Cormorants are about, and we are having no trouble filling our cull quota. Goosanders have also appeared on our rivers in the last month. The seemingly eternal debate with Natural England about a licence to control these serious salmonid predators goes on, with another meeting forthcoming. Maximising smolt output can only be beneficial to our salmon and sea trout, so fingers crossed for a sensible solution soon.
Meanwhile, from a Devonshire sparkling with frost in the low winter sun, all the very best for the season ahead. David Pilkington.
Minus 6 on the Tamar this morning, water splashing from the gauging weir has left a pendulum of ice the size of a rugby ball on the hanging brambles. Now that the main spawning season is over, I am delighted to report that we have seen more redds, of salmon, sea trout and brownies, than we have for several years. Although this may be in part to the fact that we have had relatively low water, making the redds more visible, it is still an excellent sign. We now pray for no devastating floods, as we have had so much of in recent winters, which must have done terrible damage to the slowly incubating ova.
Grayling fishing has been possible for most of the time, this again is due to the lowish river levels. Now that things have turned much colder, the fish have been harder to find, but can still be caught by searching the likely pools with deeply sunk nymphs.
Cormorants are about, and we are having no trouble filling our cull quota. Goosanders have also appeared on our rivers in the last month. The seemingly eternal debate with Natural England about a licence to control these serious salmonid predators goes on, with another meeting forthcoming. Maximising smolt output can only be beneficial to our salmon and sea trout, so fingers crossed for a sensible solution soon.
Meanwhile, from a Devonshire sparkling with frost in the low winter sun, all the very best for the season ahead. David Pilkington.
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