Taking another dump

Based on Rob Mungovan of the Wild Trout Trust’s visit and advice, buying the new gravel and organizing the permissions and logistics of carrying it out next May, needs to be presented as a fait accompli to the AGM in November, or it can get bogged down in discussions and delays. I need to present it as decided and this is how we are going to do it..  a report rather than an invitation to debate.

“ this is what the club’s doing… now sign it off”. It’s a benign dictatorship in action, but without the threat of the Gulag to keep the party in line.

( “any dissent and you will be banished to fishing up in the terrible wilds of the village beat for a whole year!” would be a really useful incentive. Maybe I should propose to get that authority through the AGM this year?)

The much trickier and angst inducing discussions for me are with the farmer. We need to bring in some 20 ton lorries to dump 80 tons of stone most likely in his yard. To then decant it into 10 ton trailer to transfer it to the brookside and have a long arm excavator to distribute it into the stream. And then work out the many logistics, weight and widths of vehicle,which of the bridges can take the load and who has the locks for which gates, issues with public footpaths etc.

And then when its finally dropped into the stream, to rake it around and manually distribute it across the bed, I need to rely on volunteers being available,…. and turning up.

My other discussion with Rob was with regards to the Groynes, in which many of the flow deflectors have now disintegrated and gone, leaving the posts behind, or are now under the current and barely functioning.

Members have started to grumble that there are less Trout in the area and that its harder to fish; less enjoyable. Nostalgically remembering ‘those good old days’ of a mere five or ten years ago, while forgetting that twenty years ago it was virtually a Trout free zone; just a muddy, shallow canal full of Chub and Dace.

Personally, I think it’s changed in character and how the fish interact with its present state. I am sure we have more adult fish up there under the banks that come out in the big hatches of Grannoms and Mayflies and often appear just after dusk.

Nearly everyone fishing there misses them by just being in the water at the wrong time. Either not starting fishing until summer when the main iconic daytime hatches have long passed, or leaving too early in an evening. So much mysteriously happens in the dark. When the fishermen are safely home loading the dishwasher before bedtime, our Trout are moving out into the flow and readying for a veritable feast, or a midnight snack at the very least.

Then those smaller fish that seem to be out in stream and on the feed constantly that make up much of the catch return, These are generally the ‘Oncers’, the very occasional sporadic risers, they are harder to specifically target now with a fly, with a stream now more mature and overgrown.

In past times when faced with a clearer stream ahead without the trees low over the surface and a series of parallel flow deflectors, you could see those occasional rising fish ahead so much easier, with often three or four clear targets to move onto as you worked upstream. And, if you were probing around blind with a fly,  you had those obvious 5 or 6 stereo-typical lies around each set of flow deflectors to probe and prod and drift through. There was a formality and pattern to follow.

While focused in on that bit of localized water you were more likely to pick up the tell-tale signs of occasional activity, that nowadays you walk past oblivious to. In the anarchy of an overgrown and wild looking stream, it can seem confusing, aimless and almost barren.

It kind of reminds me of good zoos and shitty zoos.. In a shit zoo (that’s not a breed of dog) there’s loads of miserable animals to see because the cages, though awful for the captives, make it easily visible for the paying public. In good zoos the cages are more natural and the animals feel more at home.. but for the public, they can spend ages just looking, but often not seeing.

There’s also the growing issue of dense drifts of Club Rushes and Reed Mace  that have started to establish unfortunately, and further obscure the waters ahead for the fisherman in the Groynes. Narrowing the channel to a slither in places and creating a casting nightmare. It only takes one pathetic droopy stalk a few meters ahead  to really bugger up your stealth and drift, as you cannot avoid casting over it and usually end up caught in it. This has become our annual weed cut, of four or five nights in August armed with scythes, keeping it just in check, as we can’t eradicate it.( without the use of chemicals)

We could do with the flow adjustments of new deflectors to control these emergent weeds and  restrict them to establish in the margins only, where they will be of some use to the habitat. And then help to sort the silt out of the channel to keep that gravel and those Rununculus beds clear.  Trap the silts away in the sides, or flush them gradually further downstream. (and eventually into the big river and out to sea).

When the areas are working, even in low water, the speed and press of the current we have created often takes people by surprise when trying to wade against it, and the flows are really effective at shifting out silt. So I do need to make some adjustments in the Groynes to address this, as well as helping the fishermen ‘feel there’s more Trout in the area or more obvious areas to target, without flirting with the shit zoo model.( as adopted by many beats on the River Test)

This work can be done with the usual brush bundles (faggots)or with Cordwood; short fresh logs cut to a regular length,used for building or fire woods, a sort of waste product of the timber industry. We could get a truck load and distribute them along the banks for a team of volunteers to then position and fix where needed.  By myself or with one other I can do the faggot bundles, but for heavier logs I need to rely on more manpower and volunteers that can be available when needed.I can see organizing the materials, but lacking the manpower.

However Rob Mungovan suggested another solution; Dig’nDump. I’ll let his words from his report back to me explain it:-

“The technique of “dig ‘n dump” is proposed where the bed appears gravel rich and has a uniform profile. The techniques can aid pool creation, meandering, channel narrowing, and give improved habitat diversity. A shallow scrape in the riverbed is carefully excavated to create a pool, and the arising material is utilised to shape or ‘pinch’ the channel”

So while we have the excavator hired for putting those gravelsin, we could also get a day of ‘digging ‘n dumping’ out of it. Which will also involve procuring Environment Agency permits or licences, farmer permissions, and finding a skilled operator that can take direction and is sympathetic to the work that we are proposing. And, the not so small matter ofinadvertently creating further opportunities for obstruction and truculence at the AGM on a cold dark November night.

And, it means having a dumper working in the stream again, which I swore I would never lower myself to, but with a better operator and it being overseen by someone used to this operation, the WTT, I feel a bit easier about my proposed transgression and nod to modernity.

The farmer has a problem with the dense emergent weeds above the culvert and would like to dig them out, they will return however as sure as eggs are eggs. The water impounded by that bugger-of-a-bridge into a long slow silt filled channel is the perfect habitat for it to keep regenerating.  By doing this he will potentially release a lot of silt down into our lower beats.

I also have a problem above the Culvert that the long slow channel has no tree cover at all and with our rising water temps threatening our Trout, I’m desperate to plant trees and try and shave a few potential degrees off. The farmer is always reluctant to allow my lumberjack ambitions for the water sides. But hopefully I can convince him that a better long term solution to his problem is to shade these emergent weeds with more trees along the banksides there, robbing the pesky Reeds and Rushes of vigour. This will also stabilise the banksides and create better drainage.

For a large scale tree planting, if I get commitment,  will need volunteers. ( you’re no doubt seeing a pattern emerging here).

Have a great weekend wherever in the world you are and whatever you’re up to!

Chris Avery