Did you know that as a member of TAOA, you can fish in crystal clear water with perfectly manicured banks, and less than 20 yards from where you parked your car? Ok there is a bit of weed under the water in places, and you have to park a bit further away in wet weather, but check out the banks in this picture.
This was the scene by lunchtime today after our heroic work-party had slaved away with nail-scissors, and perhaps strimmers, brushcutters, pole-saws, bow-saws, hedge-trimmers and secateurs, not to mention rakes and bulk bags. Sadly our current fee rates don't allow us to employ a permanent team of groundsmen to keep it continually in billiard-table condition, but Nigel and his helpers do a pretty good job, and they're a lot cheaper! This time it was Andrew, Andy, Ian, Keith and myself helping out, but we did a pretty impressive job, I'm sure you'll agree.
The water really is gin-clear at the moment, and although there's some weed, I fished it for a while after the work-party and the weed wasn't a problem. I didn't actually catch any trout, but it was very sunny, so they were probably very deep, and I'm pretty hopeless at stillwater fishing. I did manage 4 lovely Perch however which made a nice change, plus one of the ubiquitous tiny Rudd whose greed got the better of him.
So if you're fed up of the murky river-water, don't forget the Reservoir - it's not just for Christmas (and the Winter season).
You may like to know that a recent invertebrate survey of the river yielded very encouraging results, and we should expect some good hatches of Blue-Winged Olives in particular. Let's hope the fish can actually see them when they do emerge.
Tight Lines
PeterB
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