Winter Barbel /chub blanks and Sewage discharge (fly tipping) what are your thoughts ?

[Mark Swaby]

Up until two weeks ago I was catching Barbel or Chub from the Colne my local river most sessions apart from the Otter disturbed ones. Now the Colne is never an easy river these days but its never unfishable, even with all this rain most stretches are still within their banks. In Winter I usually keep sessions short 3 hours either morning or late afternoon. Two weeks ago the river came up, the odd day its been well coloured but mostly it has a slight tinge. In the last 2 weeks I have blanked 5 sessions in a row on 3 sections of river, not even a pluck on my fingers. Two weeks ago two local sewage treatment works started discharging raw sewage. Its something I have long suspected but this seems to have totally lined up with my blank sessions. One of the sewage works is a major one and when it discharges sewage its over 100 million litres every 24 hours and the Colne is not a big river. Barbel and Chub are being caught on our club section upstream of the works. Has anyone else experiencing similar or thinking they have a similar situation.

 

[Jim Brook]

I suspect that your observations are correct, a particular spot on my local river Wharfe in Yorkshire has a spot that I used to fish regularly where I used to cast across to the outlet that was almost like a mini waterfall providing clean oxygenated water that the barbel favoured under low water conditions that is until the untreated sewage discharged from it then a cast immediately up stream would produce a almost instant bite. Also noticeable was that the gooseanders would move into the sewage discharge to hunt as I think the small fry would feed on all the crap suspended in the water and maybe felt safe in the coloured stinky water.

 

[Jim Brook]

I should also add that the river smells noticeably different once darkness has fallen and a walk along most stretches of river with a torch would show you all you need to see unfortunately not all outlets are monitored and once the anglers paddle boarders dog walkers etc are safely home the utility companies just do as they please.

 

[Mark Swaby]

I remember fishing the Great Ouse back in the 90's and around 1 am in the morning the weir at Turvey would suddenly foam up 12ft high and pieces would break off and float across the fields. A well known Barbel angler now passed over said it was Algae dying off but I knew it had to be the local sewage works discharging illegally. I know what you mean Jim, the river has a heavy smell of sewage filth every evening recently. Much higher than the daytime smell.

 

[Tim Marks]

I have thought similar about the Thames for several years.

One stretch I used to fish regularly started to smell after it got dark. There appeared to be almost no chub there, yet the stretches close by had plenty....and the few barbel that we used to target there seem to have vanished.

Recently I had a good fish from another stretch and the river had looked perfect. The next day I went back as the gauge and the temperature were almost the same. One look at the river and I knew I would blank - it was a nasty grey colour.

 

[Jim Brook]

I have thought similar about the Thames for several years.

One stretch I used to fish regularly started to smell after it got dark. There appeared to be almost no chub there, yet the stretches close by had plenty....and the few barbel that we used to target there seem to have vanished.

Recently I had a good fish from another stretch and the river had looked perfect. The next day I went back as the gauge and the temperature were almost the same. One look at the river and I knew I would blank - it was a nasty grey colour.

That grey colour is the giveaway it’s from the combined drains and gose straight into the river untreated from a lot of the smaller outlets that I come across. I’ve seen seagulls swoop down for the toilet paper thinking it’s a food source! I wish I had the means to carefully place a few bags of fast setting concrete ballast in place and see what the outcome would be?

 

[Paul Bullinger]

Up until two weeks ago I was catching Barbel or Chub from the Colne my local river most sessions apart from the Otter disturbed ones. Now the Colne is never an easy river these days but its never unfishable, even with all this rain most stretches are still within their banks. In Winter I usually keep sessions short 3 hours either morning or late afternoon. Two weeks ago the river came up, the odd day its been well coloured but mostly it has a slight tinge. In the last 2 weeks I have blanked 5 sessions in a row on 3 sections of river, not even a pluck on my fingers. Two weeks ago two local sewage treatment works started discharging raw sewage. Its something I have long suspected but this seems to have totally lined up with my blank sessions. One of the sewage works is a major one and when it discharges sewage its over 100 million litres every 24 hours and the Colne is not a big river. Barbel and Chub are being caught on our club section upstream of the works. Has anyone else experiencing similar or thinking they have a similar situation.

Hi Mark. You make some interesting observations regarding the health of our rivers.
To be clear, I am not a chest beating environmentalist but a normal bloke who has been fishing for 70 years!
What I have observed over this lifetime of fishing rivers throughout the UK is their gradual decline in both water quality and catch rates. In addition is the demise of invertebrates and oxygenating plants.
So, what's causing this? Common sense says it's pollution from agriculture and water companies.
However, that has to be proved. Therein lies the problem.
Anglers KNOW what's causing it, but without extensive scientific research and monitoring of outfall pipes and run-off from fields, there is no way the "finger can be pointed" to any particular perpetrator.
It's a sorry state of affairs but one which, although it's difficult to say, we're powerless to change.