Saturday 21 June 2014

Grey Conditions


The past three trips to the river have presented me with pretty horrible water conditions, so I surprised when I arrive on the riverbank today just how low and clear the water was. Perfect for a bit of barbel spotting, and I did spot a couple.

But within an hour the water had risen about a foot, was murky grey and had a ton of crap washing through. Somewhere upstream someone is pumping this extra water in - I don't think it's polluted, the masses of weed I caught was teaming with insect life - but it made fishing pretty impossible.

I didn't know how long it would last, perhaps an hour, perhaps all week. As well as making bait presentation painful, I'm not sure the fish would feed in these conditions. Dejected I went home.

With limited fishing time I think I need to find a few more venues to fish, time for a bit of research...

9 comments:

  1. Brian,

    I walked the river on the 22/5/2014 a good few miles of it. It has been like this since then, a mate fishing on opening day said the weed is horrendous.

    The colour should not be like this, the Wandle trust informed the EA. They came down and took samples and it appears it is not polluted. It seems to be coming from above Water Meads. The amount of weed and clumps of earth I saw when I walked it was unreal. It really should not be like this.

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    1. Yeah, I walked a long way up on the opening day. Didn't think it was pollution because of the insects on the weed and a dip with the net revealed loads of insect life and haven't seen any dead fish.

      Problem is haven't even seen an eel, fishing meat for 3 days and spoken to people trotting maggots and not even getting small silvers, none.

      Something is not right.

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  2. Brian you got whats app?, message me, you up for Marsh Farm Sunday next week?? Let me know mate, ps the river has still got thousands of litres of excess water from the floods we had in the late winter, guessing they are letting it out into the river gradually as to not cause any ill affect, but clarity has been an issue since before the season last ended, actually from about late Jan it hasn't been the same, i suppose we wont get the clarity back for some weeks, maybe even months by which time summer would have been and gone and the autumn weather systems will be dumping their loads on it, we just have to make it work!. Tight Lines mate see you soon. James.

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    1. Haven't got What's App, and missed your email - sorry. Working on getting Sunday on The Farm, I'll let you know later in the week. Can it still be flood water? Seems like that should be long gone - even though there was a lot of it. If it continues like this the barbel will have to feed so we'll work something out. Any luck with the barracuda?

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    2. Not to worry mate, download whats app on your iphone its free, it says something about 0.69p for the following year but ignore that.

      The excess water I imagine will be a mix of held up floodwater and excess groundwater still in the water-table, but that's just my thinking I could be wrong.

      Tight lines if you go mate.

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  3. My guess is the extra water is coming from Beddington sewage works. My local stretch is where it joins the river. Early hours of the morning the water conditions are fantastic but after 8am until early evening, extra water flows through and turns the water very grey. I've yet to see any fish loss so im guessing the water isn't polluted in any way, which is good news after the tragic fish loss of the last few incidents. Im also encountering similar problems with the weed, last trip out it managed to cqtch my line and was more difficult to reel in than the ghostie I caught last week!

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    1. Thanks James, an early morning trip is on the cards then. Or at least a

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    2. Opps... Or at least a barbel spotting mission. The weed is a nightmare, if I can get around it with an early start that's the way forward. Hooked a clump of weed that broke me off on Saturday - not good. Hopefully things will improve sooner rather than later.

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  4. I've had three sessions on the Wandle this season - and not a bite! Went last night to a 'banker' swim below the Electricity subs station (the area where baking bread is always in the air) and expected a fish straightaway, but nothing. The river doesn't smell quite right, either. Odd stuff. Hope things pick up! Jason

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