river reports

[Paul Rogers]

Paul , I am no expert but I don't think the amount of bait put in to rivers has any real effect on the bio mass ,however I think anglers chucking in large amounts of bait in popular swims / areas can spoil the fishing in that immediate area . As to stocking rivers and creating an artificial situation . Well I don't know if its a good or a bad thing , largely because there is not one single clearly identified causal factor that has lead to the decline of Barbel numbers in some rivers

Mike. If like me, you are old enough to remember the days when coach loads of anglers would criss-cross the country every weekend to fish matches, something that on my local river kennet (Not coaches, but affiliated clubs filling every stretch of the river every Saturday and Sunday ) happened until at least 2012; baited large quantities of feed into every swim Now matches are only held once a month, one or two beats are all that are used now, and the winning weights are usually under 3lb!!; and only perhaps 20 anglers attend a stretch that could hold 60 pegs. Prior to 2012, the matches would be full, and over 120 anglers were on the bank! Using an argument Fred Crouch gave in late 2009 in a Barbel Fisher magazine, if the feed stops, fish will either move to find a new supply. As the smaller silver fish decline, we are left with a bio -mass of a few large old fish; which with the river still not being able to support these due to poor water quality (lower River Kennet etc). So, if we as specimen hunters !! feed food stuff of questionable suitabilty such as pellets made from imported third world ingredients; containing such horrible subtances as PCB'S etc; we will see an ever sharper decline in Bio-mass.

 

[Paul Rogers]

Yes im very much in the same belief here as you mike

To everyone else I fish for me! It might be seen as selfish but at the same time it’s not effecting anyone or the fish in a positive or negative way if I don’t chose to share my experiences. I don’t post my captures in the river reports and I don’t post any information when I do mention a particular capture else where.
I put up the occasional nice photo in the bfw gallery if by chance someone wants to take a pic for me at the time of capture but to be brutally honest im putting the work in so Its my choice if I want to share any reward that might come off the back of it.

There’s enough people in the world that want to tell everyone about what they caught for various different reasons and that’s absolutely fine with me. Some of them I absolutely respect but I’m just not in the same camp.

I think it should be left exactly as it is….. a choice!! Not made to feel like your holding back information some people think they are supposedly entitled too… even if it’s just a picture with no information…… it’s still a choice!

I fish for me! I don’t need an attaboy or well done or great job or a million likes. I’d rather they went to my son because I’ll absolutely share his captures with everyone…… until the point he’s old enough to want to keep afew secrets back himself.

 

[Cliff Turner]

i think when posting regularly there's a fine line between being seen as someone who likes blowing their own trumpet and one that's genuinely sharing info that might be of interest to others. Id like to see more catch reports from our members and for my own posting I try to get the balance right (or am I overthinking this !!!!).

 

[Paul Rogers]

May I ask! Was one of the reasons orginally for the web site was to share information, to support one another in helping to catch. Sadly it is now the way of the net (pun) to be selfish and think only of ourselves....... Maybe I am a dinosaur, wishing for a return to the camaradie of angling, the innocence of youth and enjoying our sport. No offence intended or meant.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

May I ask! Was one of the reasons for the web site to share information to support one another in helping to catch. Sadly it is now the way of the net to be selfish and think only of ourselves....... Maybe I am a dinosaur, wishing for a return to the camaradie of angling, the innocence of youth and enjoying our sport.

I think I do ok regarding sharing information on bfw. Not all 4000 of my posts are full of total nonsense…… at least 10% of them makes for decent reading although im sure some might disagree

I just don’t post my captures in the reports. Most people know the river nene is my main barbel haunt and occasionally I might catch 1 or 2.
That about raps it up

 

[Graham Tremble]

Mike. If like me, you are old enough to remember the days when coach loads of anglers would criss-cross the country every weekend to fish matches, something that on my local river kennet (Not coaches, but affiliated clubs filling every stretch of the river every Saturday and Sunday ) happened until at least 2012; baited large quantities of feed into every swim Now matches are only held once a month, one or two beats are all that are used now, and the winning weights are usually under 3lb!!; and only perhaps 20 anglers attend a stretch that could hold 60 pegs. Prior to 2012, the matches would be full, and over 120 anglers were on the bank! Using an argument Fred Crouch gave in late 2009 in a Barbel Fisher magazine, if the feed stops, fish will either move to find a new supply. As the smaller silver fish decline, we are left with a bio -mass of a few large old fish; which with the river still not being able to support these due to poor water quality (lower River Kennet etc). So, if we as specimen hunters !! feed food stuff of questionable suitabilty such as pellets made from imported third world ingredients; containing such horrible subtances as PCB'S etc; we will see an ever sharper decline in Bio-mass.

Impossible to ‘overfeed ‘ the lower Severn ( for example) I would have thought, even in its heyday. I used to fish a stretch in the 90’s that was deserted but plenty of Barbel were there, it did not need our bait to prosper. The fish simply aren’t there in the numbers they were.
G.T.

 

[David Maddison]

This is something I've noticed on here (lack of reports). And I think it's partly down to the way many barbel anglers post their catches these days..Facebook or Instagram.
I very rarely post my catches on fb now and have come off the many river groups I was part of.
I grew tired of the attitude and selfish few that would catch at all costs..ie..fishing through the heatwave when my local River was barely moving and over 20c water temperature, and bending the rules on certain stretches to catch that special fish! (And i was surprised at who some of the anglers were that were doing this).
When I did post though it wasn't just about what I'd caught. I usually put the current river level and trend and temperature and trend (in winter),..oh and bird of the day (b.o.t.d.) ..Yes I know Bryce Henderson started this
I still post some or all of these little details on here and another members only forum even when I blank!
I've always hoped that these posts help others that may be planning on fishing the rivers I fish and if they are travelling a long way it may help them decide if its worth the journey, or maybe even try for a different species?
Dave

 

[Chris Guy]

I fish the Ouse and Ivel. For my money, the extremely poor catch rates are generally down to the unholy amount of abstraction, plus chemical and sewerage pollution. The Ouse wanders through some of the most heavily farmed arable countryside in the UK, plus of course there are many large towns and smaller towns that it passes through. Take into consideration that the Trent for example, probably carries at least four times the amount of water than the the Ouse. Thus the impact of the combined pollution would be 4 fold on the Ouse, a much higher ratio.
As for abstraction, for housing and arable farming, this is just mind blowing, with huge housing estates going up every year, all taking water form our river. The last few summers have seen the lowest levels I've ever known, since I've been in the area, nearly 40 years.

 

[Adrian Mitchell]

This is something I've noticed on here (lack of reports). And I think it's partly down to the way many barbel anglers post their catches these days..Facebook or Instagram.
I very rarely post my catches on fb now and have come off the many river groups I was part of.
I grew tired of the attitude and selfish few that would catch at all costs..ie..fishing through the heatwave when my local River was barely moving and over 20c water temperature, and bending the rules on certain stretches to catch that special fish! (And i was surprised at who some of the anglers were that were doing this).
When I did post though it wasn't just about what I'd caught. I usually put the current river level and trend and temperature and trend (in winter),..oh and bird of the day (b.o.t.d.) ..Yes I know Bryce Henderson started this
I still post some or all of these little details on here and another members only forum even when I blank!
I've always hoped that these posts help others that may be planning on fishing the rivers I fish and if they are travelling a long way it may help them decide if its worth the journey, or maybe even try for a different species?
Dave

I was going to post on this subject this morning but you beat me to it David.You have put down exactly the same sentiments as myself.
Can only agree 100%.Also if I am in 2 minds whether to fish or not you normally pop up on here with your latest barbel capture confirming that I should go and always look forward to reading your posts.Carry on David!!!

 

[Terry Harman]

Mike. If like me, you are old enough to remember the days when coach loads of anglers would criss-cross the country every weekend to fish matches, something that on my local river kennet (Not coaches, but affiliated clubs filling every stretch of the river every Saturday and Sunday ) happened until at least 2012; baited large quantities of feed into every swim Now matches are only held once a month, one or two beats are all that are used now, and the winning weights are usually under 3lb!!; and only perhaps 20 anglers attend a stretch that could hold 60 pegs. Prior to 2012, the matches would be full, and over 120 anglers were on the bank! Using an argument Fred Crouch gave in late 2009 in a Barbel Fisher magazine, if the feed stops, fish will either move to find a new supply. As the smaller silver fish decline, we are left with a bio -mass of a few large old fish; which with the river still not being able to support these due to poor water quality (lower River Kennet etc). So, if we as specimen hunters !! feed food stuff of questionable suitabilty such as pellets made from imported third world ingredients; containing such horrible subtances as PCB'S etc; we will see an ever sharper decline in Bio-mass.

I don’t believe I’m going to say this but I’m gonna have to disagree with dear old Fred Crouch paul … too many anglers can have the opposite effect too many lines in the water and the barbel will just bugger off only to come back and feed On what’s baits been thrown in when everyone has gone. I’ve seen it first hand this year i fish a stretch of the nene on the pdaa ticket and downstream there is a stretch run by another club … in between the two stretches there is maybe a thousand yards of river that no one could fish .. this year a small group of anglers got one half of of the no man’s land and the controlling club downstream got the other half…. Guess what that little thousand yard stretch fished its head off while above and below it people struggled… and that little stretch has never seen any bait
My thoughts are that’s where the barbel always were like a little bit of sanctuary and only ventured out of there to feed in darkness when everyone has to be off the water obviously a few barbel will make a mistake and there are obviously some residents but the majority off the fish were in a stretch where no bait went in

 

[David Maddison]

I was going to post on this subject this morning but you beat me to it David.You have put down exactly the same sentiments as myself.
Can only agree 100%.Also if I am in 2 minds whether to fish or not you normally pop up on here with your latest barbel capture confirming that I should go and always look forward to reading your posts.Carry on David!!!

Many thanks Adrian
What many anglers don't do is put a post up when they blank!..And I do blank just like anyone else . But I've found it may help others to mention the conditions I was faced with, then they can decide for themselves.
Regards
Dave

 

[David Maddison]

Something I think is very relevant here is that social media has clearly had a negative impact on certain stretches of river I have fished.
Its a double edged sword imo when anglers are posting on YouTube as I believe it will benefit clubs by encouraging more anglers to join that follow these individuals..but the stretches they are fishing in turn become far far busier!
Its sad really as we have miles and miles of riverbank on ydaa and leedsdasa books yet many choose the same small stretch
Maybe it's just a 'quick fix' many want??, without really putting in the time effort and many blanks!
...now we are where we are at now.
Dave

 

[Adrian Mitchell]

Something I think is very relevant here is that social media has clearly had a negative impact on certain stretches of river I have fished.
Its a double edged sword imo when anglers are posting on YouTube as I believe it will benefit clubs by encouraging more anglers to join that follow these individuals..but the stretches they are fishing in turn become far far busier!
Its sad really as we have miles and miles of riverbank on ydaa and leedsdasa books yet many choose the same small stretch
Maybe it's just a 'quick fix' many want??, without really putting in the time effort and many blanks!
...now we are where we are at now.
Dave

Again agree David.I think I have reported more blank sessions than succesfull ones this season.Have always been the holder of one club book(Bradford no1),but have become disillusioned with fishing Cowthorpe.Not solely because of blanking but also because of increasing anglers on the bank with a minority of them not observing angling etiquette.eg:stood on the top of the bank asking"have you caught owt?".Then setting up in the next peg anyway.Having loud conversations into their mobiles or conversations with their mates 3 pegs away using foul and abusive language.Although I can swear with the best of them, especially after losing fish, is it really needed in "normal" conversation.
Have broken the habit of a lifetime and now have a Leeds.dasa book following recommendations on here.Hopefully find some peace and quiet as well as fish this season.You"ll be cursing me if you find me in your favourite swim.

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

The '' problem '' as I see it is this . I primarily fish various stretches of the Yorkshire Ouse as its only a 5 minute drive from my home , I also regularly walk the river banks in my role as a bailiff for York and district amalgamation of Anglers and also walk other club/association stretches for the exercise . I'' follow'' various facebook pages where people publicise where they have caught a big fish or a notable multiple catch . If you know the stretches well it is an absolute doddle to work out where all the Barbel are being caught . There is indisputably a direct correlation between a social media report and a sudden increase of anglers on that particular stretch .Sometimes there are so many anglers turning up to the hot stretch that you literally cannot find anywhere to park ! My conclusion? Indiscreet social media reporting of notable catches in clearly identified swims / stretches does spoil it for others as the stretch gets hammered ,litter increases,etiqeutte is poor etc etc .Now if you can live with this sort of behaviour and don't mind turning up for a days fishing only to find you are struggling to park and many of the swims are taken then fair enough . Personally I just turn round and go somewhere else .
In terms of catch reports / photographs I can see no problem in sticking up a photo of your special catch as long as you dont make it obvious where you caught the fish , there is a happy medium . In years gone by I used to regularly put up reports of my visits to various rivers on BFW being careful not to give exact locations , I did catch some big Barbel and did mention that fact on occasion along with the odd trophy shot . However I began to notice that people were recognising my face and clearly noting where I was fishing and before long the swims I was fishing in suddenly became a lot more popular . On a couple of occasions I even had people following me which was a little perturbing . In the end I got fed up of this and now only occasionally put a report in or maybe the odd mat shot of a notable fish . The moral of the tale is always remember that if you REALLY don't want to know where you are fishing and what you are catching then don't tell anyone . It's a sad situation and as someone remarked a bit of a catch 22 .The big fish / specimen hunting scene has always been dogged with this problem , social media has made it an awful lot worse .All this said, the reports we get on here which don't identify the stretch of river and are observations on an individuals day out are a joy to read ,they can also be very helpful if they make reference to river conditions ,handy for someone planning a trip from some distance away

 

[David Clewer]

Of course,part of the secrecy problem could be publicity bans by clubs/syndicates In respect of the waters they control. The middle HA syndicate that I am fortunate enough to have been a member of since its inception, has a no publicity requirement. That doesn’t stop members from reporting catches (not that I have had much to report in the last couple of seasons) but it does mean that you cannot say where you caught them other than in general terms, such as the middle Avon, Ringwood area or, most famously, somewhere between Christchurch and Salisbury!

While I can appreciate that some anglers may not wish to publish details of their catches, for the majority of us it is just interesting to know what is being caught. We don’t want details of the swim, rig or bait, although that can be helpful to some in terms of improving their approach, we just want to know that fish of whatever species have been caught from a certain river to gain an idea of how that river is fishing.

I agree that there seem to be less fish about these days than there were back in the day but reading some of the river report threads on here, you would think that there weren’t any fish in some rivers and I know that is certainly not the case in my local waters, the Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon,although the lack of catch reports might indicate otherwise.


Dave

 

[Paul Rogers]

I don’t believe I’m going to say this but I’m gonna have to disagree with dear old Fred Crouch paul … too many anglers can have the opposite effect too many lines in the water and the barbel will just bugger off only to come back and feed On what’s baits been thrown in when everyone has gone. I’ve seen it first hand this year i fish a stretch of the nene on the pdaa ticket and downstream there is a stretch run by another club … in between the two stretches there is maybe a thousand yards of river that no one could fish .. this year a small group of anglers got one half of of the no man’s land and the controlling club downstream got the other half…. Guess what that little thousand yard stretch fished its head off while above and below it people struggled… and that little stretch has never seen any bait
My thoughts are that’s where the barbel always were like a little bit of sanctuary and only ventured out of there to feed in darkness when everyone has to be off the water obviously a few barbel will make a mistake and there are obviously some residents but the majority off the fish were in a stretch where no bait went in

Terry. I believe you have misinterpreted the argument I expressed that Fred had raised. I don't know if you have read the article written in 2006 (not 2009 as mentioned above), which has been reprinted as a Bygone article in Barbel fisher 52. Fred was not referring just to barbel; he was addressing the problem that may arise for the health of a river if food decreases; if it is an unhealthy river, natural food is not there, so the fish(all spieces) are reliant on anglers baits. Therefore, when there were many more anglers on the banks fishing matches or pleasure fishing; there was a constant artifical supply of food into almost every swim for two days a week. Without it, the river becomes a shadow of it'self, as I referred to in a post above; the River Kennet now on the stretches not fished by the assocaited clubs, are almost barren of silvers. You can trott maggots for hours( which i have done) for no results, except maybe a single chub in each swim after hours of trying.
So, Terry you are referring to a situation you face, that is created by pressure on the fish, something I agree with. however, the fish move to remove themselves from this, which contradicts the logic of my argument, but isn't relevant to it. May I suggest that the situation you refer to, is actuallly caused by the catch at any cost attitude and also by the reverse as in being secretive to protect!
I felt sorry when in a post above Richard Issac said, he fishes for himself; and then in the next sentence said he hopes his son will be able to carry on doing the same. Sorry if we don't act; as Fred said in his article; paraphrased by me "We will not have the fish to catch if we don't change ".

 

[Paul Rogers]

The '' problem '' as I see it is this . I primarily fish various stretches of the Yorkshire Ouse as its only a 5 minute drive from my home , I also regularly walk the river banks in my role as a bailiff for York and district amalgamation of Anglers and also walk other club/association stretches for the exercise . I'' follow'' various facebook pages where people publicise where they have caught a big fish or a notable multiple catch . If you know the stretches well it is an absolute doddle to work out where all the Barbel are being caught . There is indisputably a direct correlation between a social media report and a sudden increase of anglers on that particular stretch .Sometimes there are so many anglers turning up to the hot stretch that you literally cannot find anywhere to park ! My conclusion? Indiscreet social media reporting of notable catches in clearly identified swims / stretches does spoil it for others as the stretch gets hammered ,litter increases etc etc .Now if you can live with this sort of behaviour and don't mind turning up for a days fishing only to find you are struggling to park and many of the swims are taken then fair enough . Personally I just turn round and go somewhere else . In terms of catch reports / photographs I can see no problem in sticking up a photo of your special catch as long as you dont make it obvious where you caught the fish , there is a happy medium . In years gone by I used to regularly put up reports of my visits to various rivers being careful not to give exact locations , I did catch some big Barbel and did mention that fact on occasion along with the odd trophy shot . However I began to notice that people were recognising my face and clearly noting where I was fishing and before long the swims I was fishing in suddenly became a lot more popular . On a couple of occasions I even had people following me which was a little perturbing . In the end I got fed up of this and now only occasionally put a report in or maybe the odd mat shot of a notable fish . The moral of the tale is always remember that if you really don't want to know where you are fishing and what you are catching then don't tell anyone . It's a sad situation and as someone remarked a bit of a catch 22 .The big fish / specimen hunting scene has always been dogged with this problem , social media has made it an awful lot worse .All this said, the reports we get on here which don't identify the stretch of river and are observations on an individuals day out are a joy to read ,they can also be very helpful if they make reference to river conditions ,handy for someone planning a trip from some distance away

Mike. My point is that we should post on Social media for every Dick and Harry ( no offence to anyone with these names); but if on a private group such as this, the numbers of anglers on your stretch of river willl be more limited, and if the problem arises; I feel sorry that we have allowed ourselves to become a catch fish at any cost group of anglers. I must put my won hands up, and say in the past, I have fallen into the trap; but in maturity realise we must change to protect. Instead of being paranoid and looking over our shoulders, we should be open and educating to those who need to change too.

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Fair enough Paul .but no group is truly private , not even BFW . There is nothing to stop people joining BFW then telling all there mates what they have just read . As I said in my previous post ,put up reports by all means ,if they are discreet in terms of areas fished ,then they can do very little harm and can bring knowledge and pleasure to many , me included . There will always be those who will go to any length to find out where notable fish have been caught , you will never stop these individuals .If you have time have a trawal through the list of BFW members ,you will be surprised at the 'names ' you will find , they never post or contribute but are very happy to harvest information from the site .[ *edit ,not sure if you can now see all members of the site ,you used to be able to to ] With a little common sense we can share our experiences , observations and red letter days without spoiling the fishing for ourselves and others .

 

[Terry Harman]

A bloke last year fished the last couple of days on the nene at castor in a particular swim ..he had a day we all dream of 3x16,s in a day along with other back up doubles over the two days …. He then proceeded to post all his pics on Facebook and castor regulars recognised the swim straight away not a popular swim by any means…. I would say his chances of getting back in that swim in March this year are zero to very unlikely if I had been him i would have only told 3-4 angling mates people who I regularly fish with there is no way any pics would have ended up on the internet
I suppose the reason people don’t post stuff is there are anglers out there who will fish off the back of other people’s hard work and pioneering so why should they reap the rewards
As you know paul yourself being a member of the catchers we fill in catch returns but we only list the river not the area but we will always divulge lots of other info to fellow catchers but that is reciprocated
To be honest I never look at the river reports preferring to find my own way on any given stretch of river I’m fishing

 

[Terry Harman]

I’ll give you one word where social media has destroyed a fishery attracted lots off undesirables attracting rule breakers a few of those being very well known anglers this in turn has led to damage to fish due to catch at all cost merchants…….. the word…. COLLINGHAM