Catching the social media wave

 

Dear Simon, Over the years I have often felt the pain of Lord Leverhulme, 19th century founder of the present day home products colossus Unilever, who famously said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half". When you have a small business such as Fishing Breaks the concept of a ‘marketing budget’ is largely for the birds. You do, essentially, as much as you can at as little cost as possible which has made the arrival of social media a godsend. But only up to a point. Posting on social media, unless you are doing something really fancy, is to all intents and purposes free but for the time, you expend creating and uploading the content. However, for all the warm glow you might feel from clicks, likes and shares the basic question Leverhulme posed more than a century ago remains the same: which bit of it makes a difference? And if so, as my supplementary question, why? Go viral with Si & Charley

I have been pondering this in the past week as, out of the blue, after a decade or more of postings that garnered no more than a few hundred views, we finally have one that has officially gone viral, which is to say over 100,000 views in the space of a few days. What is the content of this video you might ask. Some amazing fishing action? A monster trout? Sublime casting? Extraordinary scenery? No, our cabin angel Livvy simply chanced upon Si and Charley doing the April weed cut at Bullington Manor, filmed them for a few minutes on her phone, took it home, edited it down, set it to music and posted it on TikTok. In a day it hit 10K views which is no bad number so it went on Fishing Breaks Facebook and voila it is now 115K and counting. Quite why this has caught the social media wave I do not know but it is fascinating to see the comments that often show a true interest in this strange thing we do called weed cutting with people asking about its purpose, methodology and even where to buy an aluminium scythe! Anyway, judge for yourself.

Win a bottle of Mayfly wine An old friend of Fishing Breaks, wine merchant Pete Goss at the Mayfly Wine Co. recently sent me a bottle of this lovely red 2022 Saint-Chinian to try. But I thought why not go one better and have one of you try it by way of making the Quiz a Prize Quiz. But then I thought, how do you make the quiz Google-proof without making it impossible? The answer is a wine glass of Mayflies. Guess the number in the glass to win the bottle. Entries close 8am Monday 27 April.

Enter the competition here!

If you would like to buy the wine, of which Pete writes, “I've recently been working on a project with a biodynamic estate in the South of France and it is a Mayfly Limited Edition label. The wine is superb it looks very smart as well. It is unoaked and totally organic, medium bodied, excellent fruit - essentially the perfect riverbank red!” Click here for Mayfly Wine Co. website or email pete@mayflywine.co.uk. £126 for six bottles delivered. Artisan winery, Domaine La Lauzeta

The Great British River Talking of old friends of Fishing Breaks, Jack Perks, has just published his third book The Great British River which is a truly excellent book. I got to know Jack, an underwater cameraman and photographer by profession when he was in the throes of his slightly eccentric ambition to film all 54 British native fish in their native habitat that earnt him the monicker of the ‘fish twitcher’. With that seven year odyssey behind him, Jack has been working on two new books for the prestigious publishers Bloomsbury, the first of which is the The Great British River. It is the sort of book you buy as a gift but end up buying two, the second for yourself. It is packed with information describing the many types of British rivers from source to estuary, tracing their evolution, special characteristics, plus all the fish and creatures that depend on them for life. The Great British River is available from Amazon, Waterstones and bookshops.

The Secret Garden David Attenborough, despite fast approaching his 100th birthday, is still at it with a new series on the BBC that focusses on the secret lives of gardens, the first of six episodes based around the year in the life of a water mill in Oxfordshire. It is, in many respects, the perfect visualisation of my books Life of a Chalkstream and Tales from The Mill bringing to TV life what words cannot convey. There is some simply stunning cinematography, not least of the mayfly from nymph to adulthood. It also captures, and I never knew of this let alone having seen it, damselflies attacking mayfly mid-flight and eating them. Likewise the film crew spent ten man days in watery hides to film a few minutes of amazing otter action. All that said, and I know I am now bordering on the sacrilegious by critiquing anything Attenborough, the hour long script was a bit heavy on drama and jeopardy. You also suspected, in your heart of hearts, that extended sections had been recreated in a studio for our benefit. But for all that, it is most definitely worth an hour of your life.

Watch the trailer

My summer weather prediction If that old bit of country lore that goes, "Ash before oak, in for a soak; Oak before ash, in for a splash" is anywhere near accurate we are in for a dry summer as this spring the oak is in leaf long before the ash has even budded. In fact, things already seem to be heading in the dry direction. By the end of February, with some close to record wet winter months behind us, my mind was already turning to mitigation measures we may have to put in place for beats still flooded, or at least too wet to walk, on the opening day as was the case two seasons ago. However, none of that has occurred with a March that only recorded two thirds of normal rainfall in the chalkstream region and an April that looks headed in the same direction. Oddly, for all the sunny, dry days it has been, for the most part bitterly cold with morning after morning of frosts which is in contradiction to last year that was an almost frost-free spring but such is the ever changing nature of English weather.  A frosty morning on the River Itchen

Insects for the most part, bar a few hardy species who have adapted, suffer high mortality in times of frost which may explain why fish activity has been, from most of the reports I have seen, relatively retarded in the opening weeks despite ideal water levels and river clarity for the time of year. I did a bit of research on frost dates; here in Nether Wallop the algorithm based on Met Office data since 1960 predicts that the last date for a frost here in the valley will be 5/May with 168 frost free days to follow until frosts return on 20/October. You may check your own area at the web site Last Frost Date.

Quiz In The Great British River Jack lists the Modern Names and Meanings of some of our best known rivers. Match the Names to the Meanings for one English, Scottish and Welsh river. Names: Avon Tay Wye Meanings: Flowing Powerful River or water The answers are below.

Have a good weekend. PS The capybara by the name of Samba lives … but who knows where? The media frenzy about the capybara that escaped from Marwell Zoo over a month ago, at large on the River Itchen, has faded of late with no sightings and many fearing the worst. However, all might not be lost as our river keeper Si Fields spotted recent footprints at Breach Farm earlier in the week and there was local sighting the following day. Might make for an interesting fishing companion if you are at Breach Farm, Kanara or Qing Ya Xi …….  Best wishes,

Check & book dates here

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

Avon:  River or water Tay:     Powerful Wye:    Flowing