Greeting for the new year to all our guests and readers of the blog. Alexander Jones ( who does all the clever stuff on the blog with photos, videos etc.)is just about to touch down in New Zealand for a month of trout fishing, so there will only be text in the next few weeks from the resident Luddite.
Minus 6 on the Tamar this morning, water splashing from the gauging weir has left a pendulum of ice the size of a rugby ball on the hanging brambles. Now that the main spawning season is over, I am delighted to report that we have seen more redds, of salmon, sea trout and brownies, than we have for several years. Although this may be in part to the fact that we have had relatively low water, making the redds more visible, it is still an excellent sign. We now pray for no devastating floods, as we have had so much of in recent winters, which must have done terrible damage to the slowly incubating ova.
Grayling fishing has been possible for most of the time, this again is due to the lowish river levels. Now that things have turned much colder, the fish have been harder to find, but can still be caught by searching the likely pools with deeply sunk nymphs.
Cormorants are about, and we are having no trouble filling our cull quota. Goosanders have also appeared on our rivers in the last month. The seemingly eternal debate with Natural England about a licence to control these serious salmonid predators goes on, with another meeting forthcoming. Maximising smolt output can only be beneficial to our salmon and sea trout, so fingers crossed for a sensible solution soon.
Meanwhile, from a Devonshire sparkling with frost in the low winter sun, all the very best for the season ahead. David Pilkington.
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