I gather that the river may just be clearing a little, after what seems like weeks or months of swollen tea-coloured flows. Not that it's dropping much, but that might be connected with the testing of the Bewl overflow system I suspect.
If it does clear, then if you're a Winter Fisher, or just wandering along for a walk, you may be able to spot indications of the reason why the river is closed to Trout fishing until April. If it's shallow and clear enough, look for gravel beds, and areas where the gravel looks to have particularly clean patches, a bit like footsteps. I won't try to explain the details of what's going on, but these patches may well be Redds, where female trout have cleared a small area of gravel to lay their eggs.
A pretty good explanation of the process can be found on the Wild Trout Trust website at https://www.wildtrout.org/wttblog/redd-spotting
Of course the Trout that we stock in the river should not be capable of reproducing anyway, but we do have an increasing number of Wild Browns in the river, especially at Trottenden. The Catch Returns don't differentiate Wild Browns from Stocked Browns, but, from the increasing numbers of Browns caught, and anecdotally (and in the Catch Return comments), it's clear that more and more wild ones are being caught. It's not always easy to tell the difference for certain, but if it's under 12 inches, then it would not have been stocked.
So, if you are wading in the river, it's worth watching out for possible Redds, and try to avoid likely gravelly areas, and if you're just near the river, keep a lookout for them.
Cheers
PeterB
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