Steve Arnold
Well-known member
The river flow has eased finally in the river Lot, so I checked out a couple of my fishing spots. My wife is away back to Scotland tomorrow and I have two weeks to do little other than fish!
The first spot was above a barrage and HE station, last week it was running through like a train as both the HE and barrage were wide open. Today it was like a pond, no sign of any flow at all.
Next I took a walk some distance downstream, again very little flow and the water level had dropped about 20' to summer levels. But the weeks of flood conditions had moved a fallen tree out of my favourite swim and a lot of the dead Japanese Knotweed had been flattened or washed away. There were several swims I could access for my winter fishing. Everything is still a mess and covered in silt, that will dry out soon but there is still a lot of rubbish I will have to clear. I don't like gardening but needs must as this is good fishing territory!
One little shingle island had been under 20' of very hard running river, many of the tree had been pushed over. But I broke through the tangle to find some nice swims I had previously missed.
The bottom here is mostly small stones with many empty mussel shells, it's a river very rich in life....
I looked for a shortcut back up to the fields, had to break through some tree branches and cross some little gullies. The water had drained from these but suddenly I noticed hundreds of tiny fish. Most were dead but in one tiny hole I noticed a fin twitch and these fish were mostly alive......
I had a piece of cellophane in my pocket and quickly scooped up what was alive, tiny barbel, roach, bleak and crayfish. So it was back through the tumble of trees for me and I dropped the precious package in the shallows......
Not all these babies swam away, but enough to cheer me up. It's a barbel nursery here and I doubt many will survive - but it was my good fortune to give them a second chance!
When I looked again at the main river I noticed the flow was picking up. Probably the HE station generating power for luchtime, but I did not hang about as the water level could rise rapidly if the main barrage opened up. There were a couple of gullies between me and the field and I was not hanging about to find how quickly they might fill.
By the time I had walked back to my car the river was pushing through quite fast. This section is almost like sea fishing with the changes in water depth and flow, but far less predictable!
The first spot was above a barrage and HE station, last week it was running through like a train as both the HE and barrage were wide open. Today it was like a pond, no sign of any flow at all.
Next I took a walk some distance downstream, again very little flow and the water level had dropped about 20' to summer levels. But the weeks of flood conditions had moved a fallen tree out of my favourite swim and a lot of the dead Japanese Knotweed had been flattened or washed away. There were several swims I could access for my winter fishing. Everything is still a mess and covered in silt, that will dry out soon but there is still a lot of rubbish I will have to clear. I don't like gardening but needs must as this is good fishing territory!
One little shingle island had been under 20' of very hard running river, many of the tree had been pushed over. But I broke through the tangle to find some nice swims I had previously missed.
The bottom here is mostly small stones with many empty mussel shells, it's a river very rich in life....
I looked for a shortcut back up to the fields, had to break through some tree branches and cross some little gullies. The water had drained from these but suddenly I noticed hundreds of tiny fish. Most were dead but in one tiny hole I noticed a fin twitch and these fish were mostly alive......
I had a piece of cellophane in my pocket and quickly scooped up what was alive, tiny barbel, roach, bleak and crayfish. So it was back through the tumble of trees for me and I dropped the precious package in the shallows......
Not all these babies swam away, but enough to cheer me up. It's a barbel nursery here and I doubt many will survive - but it was my good fortune to give them a second chance!
When I looked again at the main river I noticed the flow was picking up. Probably the HE station generating power for luchtime, but I did not hang about as the water level could rise rapidly if the main barrage opened up. There were a couple of gullies between me and the field and I was not hanging about to find how quickly they might fill.
By the time I had walked back to my car the river was pushing through quite fast. This section is almost like sea fishing with the changes in water depth and flow, but far less predictable!