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David,
A very sound reply. I shall be fishing the Great Ouse this coming season and have read some of Karen Twine's work. It is fascinating how some barbel stay put when others move around a great deal.
It is good to know that there are young fish but one wonders how many.
Regards,
Hugo
and the anglers are complaining that they are "Ottered out" because they are not catching. The only flaws in their argument are the fact that there has not been a single witnessed sighting of an Otter or evidence of spraints.
I have copied this Richard as I am truly amazed if this is the case. Perhaps the Ouse regulars would care to comment about the lack of evidence regarding Otter in the Ouse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Smart
I have copied this Richard as I am truly amazed if this is the case. Perhaps the Ouse regulars would care to comment about the lack of evidence regarding Otter in the Ouse.
Errr think you need to read Richards message again Neil, he's referring to his local Tench lakes
I believe that Richard WAS referring to his local tench lakes as an example on a thread about the Great Ouse... I'm not sure how the two are connected to be honest though:confused:
When I first started targeting the barbel of this river, soon after the turn of the millenium there were fish aplenty. We were spoilt for choice with viable stretches and at times it was more of a problem to find a parking space on some venues than finding a swim with fish in it. My first year on the river didn't commence until well into October but even then as a complete novice I landed 37 barbel between then and the end of the season, if only I knew then what I know now. Despite spending many hours on the bank I didn't see a single otter until some years later and when I did it was still a very rare occurence.
Contrast that with the season before last when I spent a good few months targeting the river's barbel during autumn and had 37 positive otter sightings on various venues, in fact over the last few years there isn't a stretch of the Ouse that I have fished after dark for more than a few sessions where I haven't seen otters. Those few months during 2011 I caught more than my fair share of barbel whilst many around me were struggling, sure fish were there to be caught but not in the numbers they used to be and I had to work bloody hard for each capture.
I have only witnessed one definite otter kill actually taking place and to be honest other than during a few prolonged cold snaps I haven't witnessed loads of carcasses strewn across the banks either but in reality would I expect to? I only occasionaly find the remains of fox kills but nobody debates that these happen do they?
Otters are not the cause of all the Ouse's problems but they are the straw the has in all likelyhood broken the camels back on this river, I think the only thing as equally ignorant as the "kill everything brigade" are those who would try to have you believe that the reintroduction of otters to an environment through whatever means, isn't going to have had a major impact on the specimen fish stocks that live within it Regardless, otters are here to stay and there is nothing any amount of keyboard tapping is going to do to change that so if Ms Twine's paper has a positive impact on the fish life in the Great Ouse then great...if not then I'll carry on doing my best to catch my fair share of barbel from what is left of the dwindling stocks