Tracy&James | Sunday, 24 July 2022
Tracy has been working away from home quite a bit recently so I’ve been left to fend for myself. Normally I would use this time to go fishing, however the weather has been so warm and bright that I didn’t think it would be worth making the drive to the river Dee. I did happen to pass by a couple of beats a week or so ago and this confirmed my suspicions that it was too hot – there was nothing rising, apart from a few very small fish, and the anglers I spoke to were all struggling. As such, I’ve been taking lots of walks along our local river, the Elwy, but not doing much fishing.
On one of these walks I stopped to view the state of the river from a bridge – I don’t know any fly fishers who can walk across a bridge without having a peer in to the water below. This wasn’t just a quick glance though, I paused for some time to study the water. During this time I was joined by a holidaying couple from a nearby caravan park. They threw some bread from the bridge – I’m not sure what to, there weren’t any ducks about and I watched the white sliced go floating downstream under the bridge no doubt to be collected by some gulls somewhere before the estuary. They then started a conversation about how lovely the river was and how clear the water was – I couldn’t agree with them though.
Being as friendly as it’s possible for me (I know!) I pointed out that the bottom of the river was blanketed by a thick algae that meant the whole area was a homogenous brown colour. I then guided them to the other side of the bridge where you could see down to a riffle. Here the stones and pebbles are washed by the turbulent water above to maintain their natural colour – thus it was easy to see the various hues of ‘rock’. Going back to the original side where the water was in a slow glide, it was immediately apparent to them that the bottom was made up of the same stones yet all that could be seen was a carpet of ‘brown’. I mentioned that this would be choking any insect life which is the building blocks for a healthy eco-system, so although the water was clear the river was far from healthy. I also pointed out that there wasn’t a single tuft of green weed to be seen upstream of the bridge, this observation certainly made an impression on them. I didn’t get into a discussion about insect hatches but perhaps I should have – I’ve never seen a hatch of anything at all in this stretch of river, and I’ve certainly spent some time looking.
As they departed, somewhat less jolly than when they’d arrived, they asked what could be done. I pointed out the sewage works just upstream of the bridge and noted that routine discharges from such plants has to be stopped and then, perhaps in a decade or so, the river will recover. I don’t hold up much hope for an end to the discharges though.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. What I did notice was a trout eking out an existence within the algae carpeted area (I zoomed in on it for one of the photos). It was generally tucked in against the bank but would venture out to take something almost invisible off the surface. The river is heavily tree lined in this area, so I suspect this trout’s diet comprises mainly of terrestrials falling from the canopy. I watched this fish for quite a while, and on my walk home I thought about how good the river could be without the discharges that we pump into it. I also thought that I should go back and catch the trout – but then that’s natural for a fly fisher.
James.
