The River Teme Barbel PHD Project

[bobbyb]

Attention fellow anglers!

I'm sure quite a few of you have had the pleasure of fishing the Teme over the years and still do so. Do you keep records or have any old ones tucked away in the loft? Could you help out if so? Anything caught over the next couple seasons would be great if you could log too. Please get involved.

'This research project is investigating the fisheries of the River Teme, focussing on European barbel. As sampling the river's fish community can be challenging, we are also collecting angler catch data. To help us, please complete the form below.
If you have any further questions about the survey before filling it in then please contact: Catie Gutmann Roberts (cgutmannroberts@bournemouth.ac.uk)
This project is being carried out at Bournemouth University in collaboration with The Severn Rivers Trust, The Barbel Society and the Environment Agency'.

http://www.barbelsociety.co.uk/index.php/teme-angler-catch-questionairre/

 

[bobbyb]

*Bump to top of forum*

 

[Titus]

Trefor west should be your man, but whether he will be interested in getting involved with the BS again is anyone's guess.

I would ignore completely any returns from Dave Mason's stretch as those fish were fed daily and practically pets which will obviously skew the results of any census.

 

[Ray Wood 1]

Trefor west should be your man, but whether he will be interested in getting involved with the BS again is anyone's guess.

Hi Ade,
Trefor was a staunch BS supporter your post indicates that is no longer the case, what went wrong?

Regards
Ray

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

I believe Trefor took exception to the bank clearance undertaken by the BS on Bransford when he was involved with the Bransford Club on the opposite bank.

However as this was 7 or so years ago it may be something subsequent.

Graham

 

[bobbyb]

In an ideal world, everyone would put everything thats happened in the past to bed and crack on when it comes to things like this. Lone Angler are very supportive of the BS, you could assume that includes Trefor.

You could argue most prolific stretches of the Teme that held populations of barbel were fed like pets mate. Any and all data is welcome. From big name anglers to the old chap who occasionally fished on a Sunday before the pub. The more the merrier. If you've got data, please input it.

 

[Titus]

You could argue most prolific stretches of the Teme that held populations of barbel were fed like pets mate. Any and all data is welcome. .

You could argue that but you would be wrong. Dave's stretch was the only one on the river which was fed every day and the fish would literally come charging out of the far bank cover to mop up the handfuls of pellets as soon as they heard them hit the water.
He had even built a viewing platform in an overhanging tree on one pool to show customers of his guiding service how prolific it was.
Although every swim was fed every day he always fished them in rotation resting each swim for two days after fishing it for one in high season.
Even though the opposite bank is controlled by the BAA it was virtually unfishable because Dave made it his business to fall certain trees (willows in the main) ensuring they were still attached to the roots and push the branches into the bank where they would quickly take root and form an impenetrable living barrier to anyone wanting to fish opposite his bank.
I have no idea what the results are like from there these days under the present incumbent but the returns from that half mile stretch during the 10 years Dave Mason was running his guiding service from it were by no means typical of the rest of the river and will skew any survey, but hey, perhaps you're not interested in a true historical record.

PS. I'm not your mate mate.

 

[bobbyb]

Not really too sure what you think was happening on the rest of the Teme in peak barbel fishing years, but, thanks for raising your concerns Ade. Much appreciated.

 

[Titus]

I fished it during those days Bobby so I do have a bit of a clue. The rest of the river fished ok but it was never the kind of heaven that some people would have you believe.
Dave's bit fished well as did the haven which was treated the same way, Martin Cullens cottage also produced some good fish and returns but the thing all of these had in common was they were well managed fisheries run by one individual who controlled the amount and type of feed going in and in the main, run as a business.

By contrast the rest of the river which was club or syndicate controlled would go through times when the fish were hounded into taking refuge during the day and only feeding at night or even vacating the area completely during certain busy times. At other times when the river was devoid of anglers the fish were left on the edge of starvation due to the fact that there were no anglers on the banks.
Don't get me wrong, the smarter anglers would always catch because they would fish where the fish were today not where they were last week and they would fish to the conditions, including how busy or quiet the fishery was.

The Teme has always been a spate river and in times of flood the fish would gorge themselves with natural food washed in off the banks and as a result of erosion.
The reason the fish fed so heavily in times of flood is because the Teme is is a hungry river. This is mainly because it rises in the acid peat of Wales and runs for at least half of it's length over sandstone slabs.
It's relatively short length and low ph does not support a lot of weed growth or natural food, if you want to really find out what has happened to Teme stocks you would be better off looking at weed growth, which supports invertebrate life in the river, and correlate those results with changes in farming practices, in particular phosphate fertiliser use in the catchment.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

And the effect serious long term flooding and coloured water has to those points raised by Ade.

Ask Rob S about the change in population levels on their bit after the last long term major flood.

Graham. Solved.

 

[bobbyb]

Me too Ade, I agree with some of your points. The student has it covered.

Cheers.

 

[Titus]

I should have added that you would be more than welcome to my records but I stopped being obsessive about numbers and counting and recording my fishing trips in the early 90s, around the same time I started fishing the Teme.