Worried About Your River Running out of Water? Make Your Voice Heard

[FishingMagic]

River levels are worryingly low right across the South East and here in the Thames Valley many of the Thames tributaries have been suffering from a dangerous combination of low flows and over abstraction by the water companies. The Lea and Colne catchments are particularly badly affected


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[john step]

You want to see the Trent. Very little flow.

 

[Another Dave]

My little river is pretty much unfishable right now, in fact i haven't bothered for weeks. In the summer it was dead shallow but the fishing was OK. Now the temperatures have dropped there's hardly a fish to be seen in the cold clear foot of water that makes up most of the swims. We've had rain, but the level is back down to the minimum within half a day.

 

[Another Dave]

This is after yesterday's rain.

 

[nottskev]

I'm within reach of several rivers, and they're not drying up, so maybe I shouldn't complain. But I do worry why two of them - the lower Derwent and the Dove - both formerly prolific coarse fisheries - now only seem to throw up small grayling to myself and any of the few friends who still have the heart to fish them.

Asking why often gets the answer "things go in cycles". I've known cycles where one species of coarse fish takes a temporary dominance, like when you can catch barbel but not roach or vice versa, but having all the coarse fish apparently disappear is a new version of a "cycle".

Local club officials agree it's happening and say "cycles". They referred it to the EA who replied that it could be "the changing habitat" or the "cleaner river". If we can't have coarse fish in a clean river, I think that kind of explanation needs some further explanation!

 

[103841]

Cycles of social culture more like with certain species.

 

[Another Dave]

Looks like i prayed for rain too hard. Just tried to do a bit of lure fishing and it's all branches, twigs and leaves. Gave up after getting soaked in more rain and losing a £4 lure on some random debris that had washed down.