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Middle Severn, in decline or not???

M

Michael Hall

Senior Member
This season was the first were I have fished the Middle Severn with any regularity, fishing from Atcham down to Arley, and I have to admit that I am very pleased with my results. Some cracking fish and cracking days.

So I get confused when I hear, from respected anglers, that the Middle Severn is a river in decline, with reducing numbers of fish and an aging population.

What is the opinion of you seasoned Severn anglers? is this true or is it overstated? or are the fish just wising up and we need to adapt our methods to catch them?


Michael
 
Self proclaimed 'top' anglers, who expect to catch in numbers, not longer doing so. But its not their fault, being top anglers and all, so the river MUST be in decline!
Probably.

Also the barbel population is moving away from the sudden explosion after they were first introduced, into a more balanced out, natural level, with fewer, bigger fish.
Probably.

Otters.
Probably.
 
I think the middle Severn is in superb condition.....

Ok, so there aren't so many Barbel, but so what.... the other species are making a come back, including some superb Chub fishing.

Pockets of good Roach and Dace, and some monster Perch, and if you go a little further down, healthy populations with a good prey/predator balance.

Still some big Barbel around on the middle, so Tarka hasn't had them all, and enough smaller fish to hopefully sustain a natural population.

Just my thoughts of course.....

Steve
 
Match returns have always been the best ways of viewing angling potential on a river and with river match fishing in general decline there are less of them. But from reports received from clubs on the Severn returns from the middle things are on the up. However the area around Shrewsbury seems to have particular problems with returns on the decline. The lack of silver fish, particularly roach remain a real problem.

At the Severn fisheries conference last year it was proposed that more accurate returns from pleasure anglers were obtained. Finding a way to do this and getting anglers and angling clubs to provide return remains difficult.
 
I missed the "golden age" of barbel fishing on the middle severn when you could pitch up just about anywhere with a bucket of pellets and a feeder and expect to catch 20 or 30 barbel a day. I doubt it was ever like that, but it does seem that there was a good while when there were huge shoals of small barbel. There are still some good shoals and in the right swim on the right day you can still 'bag up' on 3 or 4 lb fish. But what you've got now is fewer splashers but more bigger fish, 7, 8, 9 lb barbel, with even the occasional 10 or 11. One of the problems is that some anglers haven't moved on and they are still chucking out a pellet feeder down the middle of a clear river on a sunny day and expecting a bite a chuck.
 
Andy Millichamp said:
I missed the "golden age" of barbel fishing on the middle severn when you could pitch up just about anywhere with a bucket of pellets and a feeder and expect to catch 20 or 30 barbel a day. I doubt it was ever like that, but it does seem that there was a good while when there were huge shoals of small barbel. There are still some good shoals and in the right swim on the right day you can still 'bag up' on 3 or 4 lb fish. But what you've got now is fewer splashers but more bigger fish, 7, 8, 9 lb barbel, with even the occasional 10 or 11. One of the problems is that some anglers haven't moved on and they are still chucking out a pellet feeder down the middle of a clear river on a sunny day and expecting a bite a chuck.
Click to expand...

I was there and there were huge shoals in particular places and matches could be won with 60-80 lbs of 2-3 lb barbel. However this was only around barbel alley not the entire river and with the right conditions.
Pleasure anglers could expect half a dozen fish in a days fishing with maggot feeder during the late summer months. If you caught a six pounder it was a red letter day, 8 lbers would get the cover of AT:D
Further up the river, there were few barbel and matches could be won with large bags of roach and dace...these seem to have gone in recent years as the barbel have progressed ever further up the river. Much the same is happening now on the Wye,

On a more up to date note, the Canal and Rivers Trust has just been confirmed as a charity and will take over the Severn navigable weirs from British Waterways. I understand they will be proposing hydro schemes on all the weirs. British waterways have been less than helpful about fish movements on the Severn over the years, arguing that the locks are adequate. A questionable position. The addition of hydro's to the weirs could make things even worse, so watch this space, as they say and get ready for some campaigning.
 
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They been saying that for years !. I will say that this year barbel fishing been a bit hit and miss but that because river been so low. Chub are getting big on the middle as well as some big barbel . I do get a little mad when I hear " Only caught 5 barbel biggest only just over 9 lb "
 
No problem on the middle with loads of decent fish to be caught with a bit of hard work and effort. Like has been said above to many still stick a pellet feeder down the middle in bright sunshine and expect to catch lol.
 
Hi men,

Deano , well said .

Me and Sue liked our little dabble , not even a whole day , just the one bite , but happy , and will be back for another day , perhaps on a charity event if I get an invite :D.

Hatter
 
Jeremy Evans said:
No problem on the middle with loads of decent fish to be caught with a bit of hard work and effort. Like has been said above to many still stick a pellet feeder down the middle in bright sunshine and expect to catch lol.
Click to expand...

have pellets blown then jez ? ;)
 
Is it a case of pellets being blown or are people over feeding them?

I have had better results on casters and maggots this year using a feed heavy with hemp, only a few pellets and casters or a maggot feeder.
 
I definitely agree with Michael.

I've caught really well this season on maggots, with plenty of hemp in the feeder, even on bright days when others were sitting it out the pellet.

It's worth persevering being pestered with minnows etc, as usually the barbel have switched on eventually.
 
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