A true Winter Story!

You will be pleased to know that I have started scanning some of my old fishing pictures (as Father Christmas brought me an 'all singing and dancing' Scanner/ Printer / tea maker etc) and intend to put them on my blog in due course!

This is one that I found in my album the other day! It brought back fond memories to me so I thought I might share them with you!

Proud of my catch 15th April 1994

A 14lb Torridge salmon, me stood outside the entrance of the Half Moon Inn at Sheepwash in Devon!

This is the salmon that I refer to in my Catch To Date report for 1994. It weighed 14lb and is my largest salmon to date. I caught it on the Holsdon Beat of the River Torridge, the Half Moon Inn used to rent it from the National Trust but as far as I know no fishing is allowed there any more! I remember the circumstances very well!

It was a lovely spring day, sunny and quite hot. Access to the river was down a very steep, long bank and through some woods! It was dead easy going down the bank, the thought of returning back up though was far from my thoughts. I was on a mission!

The beat was split into 2 sections and you had to fish one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, sharing the beat with the syndicate who fished the opposite bank. The change over had to be a 12.00 noon!. The bottom beat had a weir on it at the far end and I had just started fishing the weir pool at about 11.30 am so I had 1/2 hour before I had to pack up! The water conditions were good for spinning, as there had been rain earlier in the week and the water was at a good height but falling (this was before the Fly Only rule came into force at the HMI after April 1st or whenever it is!)

I was fishing a silver toby and had just started chucking right over to the far side into the fast water below the weir. It swung round quite quickly in the fast current. I did this 2 or 3 times and then felt a knock! Must have been a rock or something I thought! Just at this moment a Range Rover came down the field on the far side and an elderly guy got out with his rods and gear ready to start fishing at 12.00 noon! 'Morning' I shouted. 'Morning' he replied, 'had any luck'? 'Not a touch' I replied. 'I've been fishing all morning and haven't even seen a fish'!

I continued fishing as time was running out and this pool looked like my last chance of the morning! Another cast landed right in the white water just below the weir. It swung round again. 2 knocks this time! Weird, must be a snag in the river! I cast again, this time, to my complete surprise, the knock turned into a savage and solid pull, the line tightened and I was in to what seemed like a decent salmon!

The fish fought like hell! It must be double figures, I was thinking! All the time I was being watched by the guy on the far side who kept looking at his watch! It was a powerful fish and this combined with the fast current at this point made the job of playing the fish that much harder! Then I realised that I had left my landing net further upstream! Bollocks! Now what shall I do?

There was no choice but to dive in after the fish or even, dare I say, tail it? I had seen it done but had never tried it myself! The trouble was I had trees all around me so I couldn't raise the rod high in order to control the fish and the current seemed too fast to tail the fish very easily! I decided that there was only one thing for it! I must get in the river and try to get the fish between me and the bank, however, this wasn't easy as the flow was strong and the water deep (about up to my thighs). My plan was this! As soon as I could get the fish close in and holding position in the stream, between me and the bank, I would chuck my rod as far as I could up the bank and then lunge at the fish with both arms and heave it out of the water and up the bank as far as I could manage! This was a cracking fish and I had no intention of losing it, especially with the opposition guy over the other side watching every move I was making!

When the time was right I put my plan into action! It was all over in a few seconds but it seemed like a life time! My plan worked perfectly and the salmon landed safely half way up the bank with me safely lead on top of it! It was an absolute cracker of a salmon!

I had by now overrun my time on the beat so I had to walk back along the river for about a mile so that I could start fishing the next beat. This fish was hell of a weight and at some point I would have to carry it back up the hill to the car! Not a pleasant prospect I thought!

I fished for a couple of hours more to no avail and decided to call it a day and go back to the Half Moon for a pint! Now then, how am I going to carry this fish up that steep long bank back to the car with all my other gear I thought? It didn't look easy at all. Ah, I know! I took the sling from my landing net and threaded it through the gills of the salmon. I then heaved the fish on to my back and secured the sling over my shoulder! Job done! I would have to carry the net in my hand with my rod but so what! God was it hot! Spring? It was more like high summer! The bank got steeper and steeper and I was sweating like a pig! The climb was murder! Will I ever reach the top I wondered. I kept stopping and wiping my brow and looking back down into the beautiful valley with the river meandering through it. What a sight!

I was puffing, panting, sweating and other things when I came out of the trees at the very top of the hill (mountain more like). In front of me was the style and beyond that I could see my car. To my surprise though a young, quite attractive girl was standing on the step of the style with a camera admiring the 'breathtaking' view (literally). 'High' I said. 'High, have you been fishing' she asked. I was not looking my best after this epic journey and didn't have much breath left so I just turned around to show her the salmon hanging down my back. All I heard was a loud scream! Then another! And another! When I turned around she had run off! Christ I thought, has she never seen a fish before?

I lit a cigarette and looked back at the amazing view while I leant against the style. Then I looked down at the salmon lying on the grass. It was a magnificent prize! What a fantastic day? It was certainly one that I have never forgot!

The Great Trout Escape!

Rod alerted me to this picture and story in the Telegraph newspaper recently. These brown trout worked out how to escape from their fish pond into the river and gain freedom! Remarkable? Well not really to us fishermen but a miracle no doubt to the non fishing public!

Freedom is the River Itchen in Hampshire!

The owners of a trout farm were left baffled when fish were going missing. But then a wildlife photographer caught their extraordinary escape route on camera.

He pictured the trout making giant leaps out of their pond straight into the metal feed pipe three feet above the water level.

They then fought against the current for 30 feet until they reached the end of the eight inch wide pipe, which emerges underwater in a tributary of the River Itchen near Alresford, Hants.
The wildlife photographer Dennis Bright, 59, captured the amazing aerobatic fish earlier this week at the trout farm.

He said: "It was an incredible sight. Swimming against the current is instinctive for trout as they head up stream to spawn but they are doing a remarkable job getting through that pipe.
"They are jumping for freedom in large volumes but sadly I think their fate will be less than happy - there are otter, herons and many other predators feeding from the stream.
"I imagine the trout are quite stressed in the ponds because it is a free-for-all for predators. When birds come along the fish don't stand a chance."
David Riley, owner of Hampshire Trout Farms, said he would be extremely surprised if more than one or two fish were making it through.
He said: "I have been a farmer here for about 30 years and have never seen a fish make it to the other side but I know Dennis and if he says he has seen it I believe him."
"November and December is the mating season in the river and it is natural for them to jump at waterflows. It is not entirely impossible that they are getting through the pipe but if they do it would just be one or two.
"The pipe leads to the watercress fields which are only 150 yards long. If they were getting there in large quantities we would certainly see them.
"We already lose quite a lot of our fish to natural predators and I wouldn't like to think we are losing any more through the pipe.
"We do have a grill and deflectors that we can put on the pipe. Those that are not taken by otter or birds are used to restock rivers for sport."
The Brown Trout belongs to the same family as the Atlantic salmon. It is a medium sized fish, growing to 20 kg or more in some localities although in many smaller rivers a mature weight of 1 kg (2 lb) or less is common.
They prefer cold (15.5-18.3ºC), well-oxygenated upland waters, especially large streams in mountainous areas. Their diet includes invertebrates from the streambed, small fish, frogs, and insects flying near the water's surface.

Driven by instinct

It is instinct rather than cunning that drives the brown trout to make their leap for freedom.
The fish will be trying to get upstream to spawn.
David Bassett, of the British Trout Association, said: "They will be thinking that water falling from the pipe is a waterfall leading upstream. Then they will follow their natural life cycle to get upstream."
Paul Knight, of the Salmon and Trout Association, said the fish would also be attracted to the pipe because it would be bringing in water full of oxygen.
Mr Knight said: "They will follow instinct. I don't think they would be looking up at the pipe and thinking, 'Come on lads, let's go for it.'"