Not sure if it is a bit of "end of seasonitis" or not but Graham Nicol looks back at his season and feels things aren't like they used to be. Do you agree?
Well yet another season has quite simply flown by and I can summarise it easily into trout above average and salmon well below average and thus in aggregate so so. However, what was apparent that there appear to be patterns developing and these do not auger well for the future of game fishing. It may be that I am navigating through my grumpy stage of life where I find it easier to criticise everything and applaud little and this does not evolve just around fishing (just ask my long suffering wife!). Nevertheless, let’s discuss some of the issues that our beloved sport now has to circumnavigate
My first bug bear is lack of fly life. I have been a member of a club in Herts for close to 15 years and the decline experienced there has been dramatic. In the former years we had good hatches of a variety of upwings and sedges along with, fortunately, mayfly. Sadly only the mayfly remain and aside from that we have to rely on midge and some cranefly or daddies towards the end of the season. This is occurring all over the country and for the dry fly diehard it is extremely frustrating seeing little surface activity day after day and what there is appears to be fish feeding on “no see ums” which are challenging to match to say the least. I know there are areas where fly life still exists but most definitely less so than in the past. Evening rises are now effectively an oxymoron similar to happily married in that it does not exist. Many reasons are given from changing farming practices, water quality, abstraction and I am sure all are to blame and many more; but can any be reversed? What many people do not realise is the importance of fly life to many creatures. Bats, birds and fish all depend upon flies heavily in their diet and if they suffer then so do all the other creatures that depend upon them and thus the whole food chain is endangered. It is similar to the bee problem we have at the moment for they are our pollinators and no pollen, no fertilisation and thus no food.
Next on my list is the cost of fishing and in particular salmon. Irrespective of catches tickets rise and also the cost of getting there as our friendly governments continue to target the motorist as a soft touch for additional taxation revenue. The beats I fish in Scotland have raised their prices every year since I started fishing there and generally above the rate of inflation and yet their five year averages have declined. This season has been a disaster for them at about 50% and thus it will be interesting to see what they are prepared to charge next season. We salmon anglers get a rough deal for we book way in advance and then have no exit clause in the event of drought, flood or pollution. Although one ought not price fishing on a cost per salmon many are now doing this and favouring reducing their domestic trips and organising a trip to Russia or Iceland. Both appear expensive but again as their catches tend to be far superior work out to be cost effective. The same is true for prime chalkstream trout fishing where a day can be £500 for a four fish limit which technically could be achieved in half an hour! Most of these fish are stocked as well. Now I know supply matches demand and that is why prices are where they are but I suspect many beats are not fully let but they are not prepared to reduce rents. Poor economics in my view but they are using the exclusivity angle. Furthermore another grievance is some have increased the rods on their beats but kept rents unaltered...grrrr.
Now I am warming up on the grump stage I want to talk about water levels. Simply they are declining and look set to continue so. A combination of increased water extraction and climate change is pressuring rivers to the point many head waters dry up regularly. Once again I come back to my local club where the flow has become dire on account of extraction. We fight to challenge the water authorities on the amount they discharge only to find out they have been running at maximum (who checks what they actually take out?) and are soon to ask for permission to take more out. The argument we anglers have to overcome is “what is more important: water for human consumption or fish?”. Drier summers and wetter winters do not help the cause, especially those rivers that do not have the benefit of aquifers but if water authorities speeded up their act installing water meters and repairing old leaking infrastructure at least it would help. Building more reservoirs or creating a network of pipes accessing water from reservoirs that always have surplus to areas in need would help but of course that costs money! Don’t get me involved on house building in flood plains....
I am quite enjoying this now and so will swiftly move on to angler apathy. Why are so few members of organisations who are prepared to fight our cause? For a sport that has one of the highest participation rates out there affiliation to worthwhile causes is pitiful. The Angling Trust who merged with several groups to promote one unified voice continually struggles to build membership. You may not agree with all their motions and proposals but they are the principal body fighting our cause. Other bodies such as the Trout & Salmon Association and Wild Trout Trust are more specialised but carry out sound work with the latter being very much a hands on approach. For any angler bemoaning their sport and not being a member of any of these organisations they should hang their head in shame.
I want to finish on the subject of the next generation of anglers. My question is where are they? My local club has no junior members and those kids who take up fishing appear more interested in following the big carp route. These over stocked waters with lumps swimming around in them with bar codes on their sides and names such as Samson seem to be the fashion at the moment. Fine if that is your style but what about game fishing? Fishing a fly is not easy and access to water is a challenge. There are pockets of interest where local clubs organise event days to attract new devotees and I applaud their efforts but much more needs to be done to replace us old codgers. It is apparent that the problem lies with how children are brought up now. They don’t play outside preferring to stare into rectangular devices, schools do not promote the great outdoors as much, ‘elf an’ safety have their say and the anti-fishing brigade have successfully infiltrated schools (Peta). Finally there are not as many waters freely available for kids to try fishing on. Perhaps we will move out of this phase as common sense prevails and some of these practices and restraints are relaxed but don’t hold your breath for it will not be tomorrow.
Well I feel a lot better with all that off my chest for the moment and I am sure you are now more disillusioned but hey, one thing that always impresses me is how anglers adapt and Mother Nature can be extremely resilient.
Another cheery article to follow. You have been warned.