More or less protection for grayling?

More or less protection for grayling?

The Environment Agency (EA) have just launched a consultation on the current coarse fish close season that runs 15 March to 15 June. In essence the options suggested are: retaining the current statutory close season, retaining a close season but starting on 15 April and ending on 30 June or removing it altogether. This applies only to rivers; enclosed stillwaters and canals do not have close seasons.

I must admit I had always assumed the close season was something of a modern construct but in fact it dates back all the way to 1878 when the MP for Sheffield Anthony Mundella championed the legislation. It seems match angling was a big pastime with club competitions major events. However, this was long before the advent of keep nets so all fish were killed for the weigh-in and in the absence of a close season many spawning fish perished.

The original draft bill proposed a close season from 1 March to 31 May but this was hotly contested by the angling clubs in the North, the London Anglers Association and the Piscatorial Society. In the absence of a consensus a compromise was reached; 15 March - 15 June passed into law and it has remained as such for 140 years. The only significant change was the deregulation of stillwaters in 1995 and canals in 2000.

I have to also admit I was largely ignorant until today of the detail of the various coarse fish spawning period; stupidly I assumed that they were all of a piece but the chart from the Environment Agency is enlightening. Firstly, I think it shows the amazing knowledge of our Victorian forbears; in an age before the science we have today they really nailed it for a majority of the species. That said it is interesting to note that across all coarse fish the spawning season runs for seven months with some very distinct differences in behaviour.

On the basis of the grayling data which shows their peak spawning period being March to May I will be changing our self-imposed closed season. Currently on some of our rivers we grayling fish right through to 14/March; in future this will be taken back to 28/February. The earlier closures will remain unchanged.

As to the wider consultation I do rather find myself scratching my head at the second proposition with a revised close season of 15/April - 30/June. This removes protection for ten species during the first half of April, a peak spawning month and is doubly hard on pike, dace and grayling who will lose a full month of protection. Personally I would think 1/April makes more sense with some separate 1/March provision for dace, grayling and pike. As for removing the close season altogether I find the suggestion both repugnant and unconscionable in an age when we are trying to conserve wild species.

	Image courtesy of Chalkstream Fly

But my opinions are simply that: opinions. What we need is some hard science. In 2004 when this issue was last discussed at an official level the EA looked into commissioning research to fill the knowledge gaps, but it didn't happen as the cost of £200,000+ was considered prohibitive. I have no idea how we might go about paying or conducting such research but before changing anything it needs to be done. We've got along fine for 140 years; another two or three years to get it right is worth the wait.

If you'd like to have your say the EA press release says: Consultation has started on the future of the close season for coarse fish on rivers. To find out more click here. Next week we'll invite over 500,000 anglers to respond to the consultation when we send our January e-newsletter to online buyers.

Editor Note: The EA actually started the consultation process in May/June 2018 inviting 20,000 randomly selected anglers from across England to provide their views on the coarse fish close season. Of the 5,147 anglers that took part, 2,553 (49.6%) would like to see a change, with 2,190 (42.5%) wanting to keep the close season as it is. Only 404 (7.9%) are undecided. Of those opting for change, 1,695 (32.9%) are in favour of abolishing the close season altogether and 858 (16.7%) prefer a change to the current close season start and end dates.

100% Price Promise

The internet has changed if not everything then most things; my business is no different. I started Fishing Breaks in the world before the worldwide web when the main source of clients were adverts in 

Trout & Salmon and meticulously crafted mailshots to micro-targeted mailing lists. Goodness it was hard.

Pricing the fishing you sold was something of a dark art. Some agents charged a percentage as a booking fee. Others received commission from the owner. But most, relying on the ignorance of the clients, simply marked up the rates as much as they thought the market would stand. It led to many a fraught post-fishing conversation when two rods - one booked through an agent and the other direct through the owner - compared notes. If you thought Ryanair's Michael O'Leary was unpopular .......

Today the transparency and ubiquity of the internet lays all prices out there for all to see; a few clicks of a mouse will show you the best i.e. lowest price. I understand that. I do it every day as a consumer myself. My business should be no different. And it isn't.

At Fishing Breaks I give you my 100% Price Promise. You will not be able to buy our fishing cheaper anywhere else. There are no booking fees. No credit card charges. The prices you see on the web site are those we have agreed with the owner. If they sell direct to the public our prices will be precisely the same.

If you see or hear any different let me know. I am determined to offer not only the best service but the best price. Always.

New for 2019 - Coombe Mill

It is always exciting to have a new beat. Most years I manage to entice one or two into the Fishing Breaks fold so for 2019 I am delighted to welcome Coombe Mill.

	Coombe Mill

For those of you who know our current beats on the River Avon, namely Avon Springs and Upavon Farm, Coombe Mill is pretty well equidistant between the two so upstream of Avon Springs with the Services Dry Fly Fishing Association largely occupying the six miles of water in between. In fact where Coombe Mill starts the Army water ends; it is proper Frank Sawyer territory.

We sent our Guide Bob Preston, something of a grayling addict, to do a post trout season recce. I hesitate to tell you this but Bob lost count at fifty, though with due modesty he says they were mostly small. But regardless this gives you an indication of how prolific this section of the Avon, an all wild fishery, can be.

The season opens April 15 (£125/Rod) with the prime Mayfly May 15 - June 15 (£145/Rod) though many of you will know that the Avon has regular Danica hatches all through the summer. Coombe Mill is for one or two Rods, with a resident keeper and all the facilities including a rather quaint Shepherds Hut that doubles as the fishing cabin. More details here .....

The Otters' Tale talk 

It is always good to be invited back. In November I hosted a 

Life of a Chalkstream lunch and talk at the Sir Harold Hillier Jermyns House just outside Romsey, Hampshire. 

It was a full house and a lovely crowd with the most fun bit for me always the Q&A session at the end. In fact it went on so long (I think it was interesting ....) that the chef appeared to complain that our lunch was getting cold!

I'm delighted to be going back for The Otters' Tale. The talk takes place at 11.30am on Thursday February 28^th. For tickets and information contact the event organiser Terry Lewis terry.lewis@hants.gov.uk 01794 369319

The Quiz

A New Year of questions to hopefully entertain and enlighten. As ever it is just for fun with the answers at the bottom of the Newsletter.

1)     Which Conference opened on this day in 1919?

2)     What is a tepal?

3)     What is the origin of the term 'coarse' in relation to fish?

All the best for 2019.

Best wishes,

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk

Founder & Managing Director

www.fishingbreaks.co.uk

Answers:

1)     The Paris Peace Conference that resulted in the Treaty of Versailles.

2)     A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower. The snowdrop has six; outer and inner rings of three.

3)     In the Middle Ages when bream and their like were commonly eaten the flesh was often described in the literature of the time as 'coarse'.

Third book blues

Third book blues At a recent Otters' Tale book talk a member of the audience asked whether I had found writing it, my second book, difficult. Apparently second books are the most hard. Being the smartarse I am I replied that I'll tell you when I have written the third. Now I've I just completed my third book (typed THE END on Monday) I slightly rue my glib reply for the answer is emphatically no - it is the third that is the hardest. The new book is a million miles away from the first two. It is the story of the horse Frankel who raced 2010-12 and is generally regarded as the greatest racehorse who has ever lived. How come, you might wonder, did this book come about? Not much to do with rivers or nature ..... After the success of the first two the publishers Harper Collins were very kind. You may write any book you like as long as it is a) non-fiction b) something you know something about. Well, in a previous life and for the first decade of my working life I was a bookie. Aside from fishing horse racing was the thing that had always fascinated me the most. I even did a stint in a racing stable, too big to be a jockey but fit enough to wield a pitch fork. I am still not sure where the Frankel notion came from but it chimed with Harper Collins who had published the million-selling Sea Biscuit book back in 2002 which in turn became a film. So, since April I have walked all the places Frankel ever ran. Visited all the places he ever lived. Met most of the people who did, or have, a significant place in his life. He is alive and well living in considerable luxury in Suffolk servicing 180 mares a year at £175,000 a time. Yes, do the maths*. I must admit it has in some respects been hard book to write based on fact but also on memories ten years past with some of the main characters no longer with us. I've been through definite stages during the writing: excitement to start with. Hating it for a while. But as it came to an end rather wishing it would not. It is all done now bar some fiddling about so I can come out from my self-imposed mental exile. Horse (working title) is out in June in time for Royal Ascot but for now it is back to that monthly column for Trout & Salmon. Welcome back fish. *£31.5 million pa When a joke comes true Many of you will remember our grizzled Scottish fishing guide Duncan Weston who died a couple of years ago. Despite living 'down south' for most of his adult life Duncan never lost his thick Glaswegian accent; plenty of us only understood one word in three of what he said. But Duncan was a great one for telling jokes which were worth the mental translation. His favourite went like this: A ghillie and his fisherman are sitting on a rock concluding a week of salmon fishing. The angler is bemoaning his lack of success and the cost of the trip. "If you take into account my flight, my hotel, my fishing and your wages," he says to the ghillie, "that single salmon we caught cost over £5,000". The ghillie ponders this thought for a moment and then replies, "Aye, well it is probably a good thing that you didna' catch two!" An article in The Sunday Times this past weekend reminded me of Duncan's joke. It was headlined: Spey salmon tip the scales at £60,000 each. The article reads: "Scottish fly-fishing, the so-called pastime of princes, has produced the world's most expensive fish - salmon costing £60,000 each. The fish were among 500,000 released from an artificial hatchery to restock the Spey, one of Scotland's finest salmon rivers and famous in angling circles. But a study using genetic fingerprinting techniques, which was conducted by the Spey Fishery Board, showed that out of more than 800 salmon caught, only two came from the £120,000 hatchery. Despite objections from conservationists, however, the Spey board has now announced its intention to double the hatchery output this year to 1m salmon eggs." On the basis of a single article it is maybe dangerous to jump to a conclusions as to the rights and wrongs of the Spey stocking programme but a Finnish study that was published the same week seems to suggest that it doesn't make much sense. In the years immediately after the Second World War Finland committed itself to hydropower but with an eye to the difficulties that might cause to migratory fish the legislation provided for fish passes. However these were not effective so fish were reared to compensate for falling numbers. The study by the University of Eastern Finland has found that the fish stocking practice is failing to meet the latest legal and scientific requirements. Before the dams there were 25 rivers used by mating salmon and another 72 that were home to anadromous brown (sea) trout. Today there are just four productive salmon rivers and only a small population of wild migratory brown trout, migratory whitefish and grayling have survived. Professor Anssi Vainikka who led the study says: "New genetic studies have shown that fish farming alters the genetic traits of farmed fish. As fish adapt to the farm environment, their genetic traits change and they no longer survive in the wild as well as they used to." The study has concluded that fish stocking does not have the potential to permanently replace the natural reproductive cycles of migratory fish and that the dams are also impacting on the non-migratory populations who are unable to move to freely to different parts of their native river system or to entirely new rivers. In our little niche of the chalkstreams, where there is a concerted effort to remove obstructions along with a salmon parr introduction programme, I'd think I'd echo all that Rivers Walks The BBC are running a new series called River Walks that airs at 7.30pm on Monday evenings. It seems to have been made regionally as here down in the south we started with the River Itchen whilst in the north-east it was the River Tees. Leckford Eel Traps It is definitely worth a watch if sometimes a little cack-handed. I stared in amazement as during the River Dove programme they cut to some stock shots of ...... wait for it ...... mackerel. However, the guy from the National Trust explained very clearly and persuasively why they are removing the eighty or so stone weirs from the Dove that date back many centuries. Not sure what they will do when beavers appear. Which all links very nicely to my own river walk when I'll be hosting a small group to visit some of the iconic chalkstream venues, see traditional weed cutting in action, examine what is left of the historic water meadows and take a look into the secret life of a chalkstream. We'll meet for my Life of a Chalkstream talk over morning coffee before heading off for a trip around my favourite parts of the River Test. It will be at the height of June when the valley looks at its most glorious and we'll end up in a good pub near the river for a late lunch. For more details and to book click here. But back to the BBC River Walks; of the eleven shows three are on chalkstreams: Deben, Itchen and Stour. The remainder are the Dart, Dove, Exe, Hodder, Lea, Nidd, Severn and Tees. Watch it on BBC iPlayer   Have your say The Environment Agency are currently conducting their occasional National Angling Survey so now is the time to have your say. You may have to pay ..... It is quite the survey so I'd recommend setting aside 15 minutes and a strong cup of tea. Judging by the questions and the leading answers you are invited to tick I am fairly sure where they are going on this one: it's an effort to prove that angling is good for mental health and wellbeing. There is also a rather curious question as to how physically demanding your fishing excursions might be! However there is bit of a hidden agenda: once again the government are trying to encourage support for a fishing licence for sea angling. Last time they tried this it was shot down in flames by a vigorous press and social media campaign. If you want to say no there is opportunity enough within the survey. Here is the link if you wish to participate.  The Quiz A few Christmas themed questions to close out the year and seasonal joke to share.  Why are the sales of advent calendars on the slide? Because their days are numbered. As Basil Brush would say, boom boom! As ever three questions to test your brilliance. Answers at the bottom of the page. 1)  When did it last snow in the UK on Christmas Day? 2)  When, and by whom, were Christmas Crackers invented? 3) Who sung and when was the first public performance of the song White Christmas written by Irving Berlin? As this will be the last full Newsletter of the year (2018 in photos next time) to you all, thank you for all your support and have a truly wonderful holiday break. Happy Christmas!   Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Director www.fishingbreaks.co.uk 1)  2010 2)  By confectioner Tom Smith in London in 1847 as promotional packaging for his bonbon sweets. 3)  Bing Crosby on the radio on Christmas Day 1941.

It's a fake!

It's a fake! You buy a new line. The reviews in the angling press were outstanding. You think it is the answer to your casting woes. With great anticipation you re-spool your favourite reel. But, however hard you try, your casting goes backwards. After a couple of hopeless trips you consign said line to the bin, curse your choice (not to mention the reviewer) before reverting to the old faithful. Harmony restored. Now it would have never occurred to me that my new line was a fake. We all know the counterfeiters have a field day with luxury goods. But fly lines? Who would bother? Well, apparently Ian Bailey and Richard Tramer with the former now in prison for eight months and latter with the seven months suspended. It seem that this pair, based in the West Midlands, were selling fake lines under the brand names we all know well: Rio, Snowbee, Greys, Hardy and Loop. And it was more than just a market stall operation. Through eBay accounts Telewatcher, The Line Man and Hardyclassics Bailey had turnover in excess of £150,000. When the police raided his home near Chester they confiscated more than 5,000 lines. All credit has to go to Chris Hartley of Guide Flyfishing who first alerted North Yorkshire Trading Standards and Russell Weston of Snowbee who gave evidence at the Scarborough Magistrates'' Court hearing outlining the damage to the brand reputation when the fake line did not perform as it should. Three books for Christmas This has been a good year for books; you are spoilt for choice when it comes to buying this Christmas. I've picked out three to hopefully point you in the right direction. The Lost Words Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris have created more of a work of art than a book. Amazing writing. Beautiful drawings. Every page a visual delight that charts the words that are vanishing from the language of children. Hamish Hamilton £20. The Fly Fisher People often ask me what is the best reference book for fly fishing; until now I have always said (and will continue to say) Charles Jardine's Classic Guide to Fly-fishing for Trout. However, as it is long out of print having been published way back in 1991 virgin copies are often hard to find though I see a few on Amazon as of today. But The Fly Fisher: The Essence and Essentials of Fly Fishing comes very close if written with the US market and a broader readership in mind. Gestalten £40. Silver Shoals With the sub-title The five fish that made Britain, this is written by my friend Charles Rangeley-Wilson. I am too hopelessly biased to offer an objective review (I loved it) so here is Mark Cocker's choice from The Spectator Books of the Year. "It has been a fishy year for me and Charles Rangeley-Wilson's terrific Silver Shoals: Five Fish That Made Britain is among its highlights. The author manages to lay bare this country's abuse of its astonishing former fish abundance, but without name-calling or losing his sense of simple wonder at fish as vital, vibrantly wild inhabitants of our encircling seas and waters." Just so you know the fish are carp, cod, eels, salmon and herring. Chatto £18.99 Beavers cause a stir I really didn't know that my piece on beavers in the last Newsletter would create quite such a stir - I have never had such a bulging postbag. It seems beavers excite passions both sides of the aisle, though I'd say the consensus was five to one against introduction. Beaver dam on River Otter I am not going to recite all the arguments again but I thought you might enjoy a taste of the comments that were made that very much illustrate the spectrum of opinion. "As you say, the environment has gone from when these animals used to live. The people that want to release them, often do not and could not own the land that they want to release them in. Beavers, wolves, lynx and like have no place in this country any more. I have asked some of the rewilders how compensation would be paid to landowners for damage caused by the aforementioned animals. No answer."  "Do not fuss about Essex! - they are here (Wiltshire), or at least throughout last year a pair have been resident on the lake at Orchardleigh, 3 miles from Frome and a very short distance from the headwaters of the Wylye. Nobody knows their origin but one can only assume that they have come from the established introductions in the West Country. The Wilts Fishery Association keepers went down last spring to hear about the implications of the West Country introductions on the Otter. No surprises, but we can be pretty confident that they will be with us on the chalk streams before very long. Bank damage is probably more worrying than tree damage - any Tay ghillie will confirm that." "I am told by a reliable chum that there are two types of European beaver available on the "restocking" market - one is a placid number, the other a grumpy type. Apparently, cos no one else wants them, the latter are coming here. I also hear that the Tay population is now thought to exceed 600, despite hundreds per annum being killed by farmers etc. My man painted a very comical tale of ghillies furiously taking dams down, only to return the next day to find a bigger, stronger one in place, built by the grumpy ones." "How do the people responsible for these regulations get things so wrong so often? The words silk purse and a*******e spring to mind. Earlier this year whilst strolling the banks of the river Otter I came across an old local walking his dog. He told me that since the introduction of beavers to this small watercourse (they've had Otters present for years) he has been berated on several occasions for having the audacity to walk his dog there because ' it disturbs the beavers '!" "For the first time as a keen reader of your newsletters, I find myself in strong disagreement with your view - in this instance on beavers. The European beaver was once an indigenous member of Britain's fauna, as indeed were wolves, bears, lynx and wild boar. It would be difficult to find suitable space for all of these species to be reintroduced, but in the case of beavers there are profound potential benefits in terms of significantly increasing biodiversity and reducing the likelihood of rivers flooding. I understand that as a riparian owner and someone who makes a living from the desire that many of us have to enjoy fishing our lovely rivers, you will have reservations about the ecological changes that beavers will bring." I always try to keep an open mind on these things so I will report further when I take up the kind invitation from the River Otter Fisheries Association to see what is happening first hand. A correction If you are reading this whilst serving time at Her Majesty's pleasure having been marched off a beach clutching an undersized sea bass I do apologise. I am entirely to blame. In the last Newsletter I wrote: So now a catch limit of one fish (under 42cm) per angler per day is in force until the end of the year. That should of course read OVER 42cm. My sincere apologies for the error and thank you to all of you who took the time to write in. The Quiz Apologies for the lack of a quiz last time; too exhausted by chasing beavers!  As ever three questions to test your brilliance, or lack of. Answers at the bottom of the page. 1)   Who invented the printing press? 2)   Helene Hanff's book featured what number on          Charing Cross Road? 3)   Where is the oldest bookstore in the world? Enjoy the weekend. Best wishes,   Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Director www.fishingbreaks.co.uk 1)   Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century 2)   84 3)   The Bertrand Chiado bookshop in Portugal opened in 1732.