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SAD REALISATION

I see the Ivel talked about a little here, it’s the only river I have barbel fished and spoiled me to be honest back around 2010. I couldn’t really hope to have travelled anywhere else in the country at the time and expect to catch a
 
Paul Collins said:
Suspect that firearms are necessary to scare them off.
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Personally I like the relative lack of anglers on the bank as I can trot daytimes and I'm likely to have a good choice of swims.
Would rather the Otters hadn't been introduced but I can appreciate a river not subject to 24/7 angling attention from trophy hunters.
Some locals have asked why it used to be packed daily and now isn't.
Explanation is not universally welcome.
 
Robert West said:
Hi phil
your definitely right, they’ve got no fear of human activity at all, I had one almost sniffing my boot last week as it went past
On the stour, my son had one in front of him ducking and diving he filmed it on his phone.
He feels that some how we need to make them afraid of us, there becoming almost tame, as you say they have no fear.
Most animals run at the sight of us. I like to see a diverse eco system and I never thought I’d see a otter in the wild
But as I said to my son how do you scare a otter🤔
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Had this once or twice. Hiss at them like your a bloody angry Tom cat, they REALLY don’t like that. Sounds mental but it works.
 
Robert West said:
Hi phil
your definitely right, they’ve got no fear of human activity at all, I had one almost sniffing my boot last week as it went past
On the stour, my son had one in front of him ducking and diving he filmed it on his phone.
He feels that some how we need to make them afraid of us, there becoming almost tame, as you say they have no fear.
Most animals run at the sight of us. I like to see a diverse eco system and I never thought I’d see a otter in the wild
But as I said to my son how do you scare a otter🤔
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I did hear a rumour (so could be nonsense) that people were feeding those particular Otters to help with the photo opportunities... it’s a bloody theme park down there these days. The Otters that live there when I was a kid were Human shy and you had to get up very early to see them, the Dog was enormous, never seen one that big since.
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
I did hear a rumour (so could be nonsense) that people were feeding those particular Otters to help with the photo opportunities... it’s a bloody theme park down there these days. The Otters that live there when I was a kid were Human shy and you had to get up very early to see them, the Dog was enormous, never seen one that big since.
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There is one on beat 3 Stephen, nothing knew in that, it is the numbers that are the problem.
 
So we really are no further forward all these years later, except the Otter is very much the people's hero, our very own Panda poster boy, even my own local nature reserve is delighted that Otters are in residence, no matter the fish stocks will crash, and the water birds will be hunted, for they have top billing.
I am afraid we cannot change the public's perceptions for they are fed constantly the likes of Countryfiles utter tosh that has nothing to do with the real issues anymore.
Perhaps a picture of an Otter biting the head off Swan for one of their calender shots might help?
 
Hi ,

Neil , the bit you put me and Sue on , where if you looked hard you could find us 😉 was I'm fairly sure a victim of the furry eating machine , which was a shame as you helped us find another piece of heaven . Another stretch where we made new swims on every visit , only bumping into the odd anglers , and none at all beyond the second field . It was the first place where under extreme high water we found barbel moved into in a little pond formed by the flood and joined by a chanel. We caught a few by lowering a bait in near the entrance , and as the water raged past we sat in comfort making tea and coffee 😋 .

But as you say , all these years and we are no farther forward , just taking it on the chin . My Ouse syndicate has produced a few barbel over the last could of years , so you never know I may get Sue back out , nearly did it this year as we sight fished watching barbel on the Colne .

Hatter
 
The thing is this whole otter debacle isnt just about barbel, I have witnessed a few rivers personally on how otter predation affects them and their fish populations, I think the large singular, or small groups of female barbel are the perfect prey for an otter and in some instances, back in the day, there seemed to be plenty of large barbel on many rivers and frankly we perhaps didnt notice their demise as it happened, until the tipping point came.

Ironically, otters in the short term and looking back, seemed to create a positive effect and the middle Severn is a perfect example of this. The Severn historically has always had chub and roach, but never was it known for really big chub or big Roach, a 4 pound chub was a good chub for the Severn, a 5 pounder rare, a 6 pounder was an occasional capture , 7 pounders unheard of, then came the pellet and boilie barbel fisherman and the chub and roach prospered on the nutritious free offerings and as the otters munched on the barbel they left the chub, pike and roach alone as they prospered on the bait that went in and more importantly there was little or predation from the ever increasing otter, because they focused on the barbel, but once the barbel population starts to fall or in some instances disappear, the otter turns its attention to other species, the next to get hit appears to be the big chub, we started to see 5 pound plus fish with clawed flanks and damaged tails, then swims where we caught chub we now blanked in, the same occurred with the pike. I am convinced there is safety from the otter in the shoal, and shoal sized barbel ( what are left) chub perch and roach seem to show no signs of damage. So, what I am saying is that once the barbel go or become to difficult too catch for the otter because of low numbers, they feed off other species, so what you will ultimately end up with is a river full of chublets, dacelets and mini trout with little or fish predation from perch or pike as the otter clears them out as well, good examples of this are the Teme, Windrush, Kennet, Lugg, Tern and maybe another dozen rivers I may not know about, the most perfect example has to be the Teme, a river I know well, the only barbel the Teme sees are the few that travel up from the lower Severn and they dont last long in the river and lower Severn barbel numbers are getting less because of the otter predation during the spring and summer time around Teme mouth and Powick, the lower Severn this year has suffered greatly because of this and I see no prospect of a recovery.

So river fishing has a grim future in my opinion and I blame the otter, so beware and watch for the signs, although there is little we can do, other than fish behind a fence.
 
Lawrence is absolutely right in what he says about the Otters starting on the Barbel then moving down through the food chain. I fish the Lower Severn at least 5 times a week in what used to be prime barbel areas and by this time in the season I would reasonable have expected to have caught a hundred or so fish. This season to date I have had 12 fish from about 50 sessions and it is not just Barbel that are missing but Chub and Bream as I would always catch plenty of these in between the Barbel. We have had several periods of ideal conditions for Barbel with high river levels, coloured water and mild temperatures but still no fish showing. I don't fish the middle Severn much but poor returns from that area are also appearing on facebook and the only Barbel that seem to be caught are small pockets of fish up towards Bridgnorth and are probably repeat captures. How else can you explain such a poor season and lack of fish. I don't just see 1 Otter when I am fishing but lines of them swimming up the edge which are obviously family groups. Then there are also the Cormorants and they are a daily appearance also. I see the Swans are now dying from the Bird flu epidemic locally so they will soon be missing from the Otters diet so what will they start on next; they are already clearing out residential ponds in Worcester of Koi Carp.
 
Steven Hodges said:
Lawrence is absolutely right in what he says about the Otters starting on the Barbel then moving down through the food chain. I fish the Lower Severn at least 5 times a week in what used to be prime barbel areas and by this time in the season I would reasonable have expected to have caught a hundred or so fish. This season to date I have had 12 fish from about 50 sessions and it is not just Barbel that are missing but Chub and Bream as I would always catch plenty of these in between the Barbel. We have had several periods of ideal conditions for Barbel with high river levels, coloured water and mild temperatures but still no fish showing. I don't fish the middle Severn much but poor returns from that area are also appearing on facebook and the only Barbel that seem to be caught are small pockets of fish up towards Bridgnorth and are probably repeat captures. How else can you explain such a poor season and lack of fish. I don't just see 1 Otter when I am fishing but lines of them swimming up the edge which are obviously family groups. Then there are also the Cormorants and they are a daily appearance also. I see the Swans are now dying from the Bird flu epidemic locally so they will soon be missing from the Otters diet so what will they start on next; they are already clearing out residential ponds in Worcester of Koi Carp.
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Same for me Steve, last year I had 90 fish on the Lower, this year on about 12 or 13. Bream also absent.
 
I have just read Bruno Broughton's fact sheet, which unfortunately is not dated http://www.bruno-broughton.co.uk/pdf/Otters_the_facts.pdf

Amongst others points, I thought this was of interest

Impacts on Fish Stocks
Eurasian otters eat a range of fish species, but generally they take whatever is most abundant. Studies reveal that on average the fish they take are less than 300mm length; although very large fish can be taken, their choice of fish prey generally reflects what is available in the environment around them. For a variety of reasons fish populations in some river and still water fisheries have come to be dominated by large individuals. Large fish may be more vulnerable to predation, and their loss will be more noticeable.

However, it is clear that not all fisheries are being adversely affected by otters. Evidence gathered so far indicates that specimen barbel and chub populations have been hit hardest in smaller rivers, particularly where stocks are dominated by older fish, but rivers in the north and west, where otters have always been present, appear to be less affected.
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi ,

Neil , the bit you put me and Sue on , where if you looked hard you could find us 😉 was I'm fairly sure a victim of the furry eating machine , which was a shame as you helped us find another piece of heaven . Another stretch where we made new swims on every visit , only bumping into the odd anglers , and none at all beyond the second field . It was the first place where under extreme high water we found barbel moved into in a little pond formed by the flood and joined by a chanel. We caught a few by lowering a bait in near the entrance , and as the water raged past we sat in comfort making tea and coffee 😋 .

But as you say , all these years and we are no farther forward , just taking it on the chin . My Ouse syndicate has produced a few barbel over the last could of years , so you never know I may get Sue back out , nearly did it this year as we sight fished watching barbel on the Colne .

Hatter
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What a place? Certainly very unique and virtually unspoilt, with a good head of Barbel too, hell of a drive for you and Sue, but you must have thought it worthwhile. We have moved a little bit closer to there in the last couple of weeks, and I am making plans to revisit, the old club is no more, but is managed by another club.Barbel are very thin on the ground, as with most rivers sadly, but still chub etc. Haven't been fishing for months, due to illness and move, add a suicide tragedy and dealing with all that, its been a real bad year, but I am edging towards throwing some gear in the car...just need to get out on the bank, even another blank would be a bonus. Will let you into anything worth knowing about that place.
 
Damian Kimmins said:
D

The EA won't tell you it's because the rivers are dirty!
Do they not eat anything else then? Other species that are doing well?
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Forgive me Damian, but (not meaning to disagree with you) I can only speak for the Trent) its much cleaner than ever before buddy, and the EU that do the surveys confirm it. With this comes a river with more clarity, so the Cormorants have a field day with barbel, as they feed head down facing forward. I've tired stalking barbel in Spain and France and they are very easy stalked, with a long fly rod and nymph, or maggots. Its another reason most people fish mid-river these days water clarity? Then the predators have a field day too. How many times do your hear Match-Anglers complain about pike taking fish as they play then in? www.rivertrentangler.com "The Trent a clean river" Worth a read guys.
 
In Feb 2020 we had record flood levels on the Lower Severn, over 7 metres at Kempsey. The floods started to subside at the beginning of March and the river became fishable for the last 10 days of the season and the Barbel were still around and the river fished well, I personally caught 14 Barbel during the last week of the season so these floods did not get rid of the barbel as some have suggested. Since then the barbel would have moved upriver to spawn around Diglis/Teme mouth where I suspect they could have subject to predation. It is also very worrying that the Chub and Bream shoals seem to have disappeared also.
 
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