A Couple of Hours on the Avon

[paulf]

I must admit to being one of those people who spend a lot of time reading forums and rarely post. I also follow quite a few blogs too. They all serve as motivation/inspiration for those moments when I can't get out fishing.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying "it is about time I posted something"!

I'm a UK based angler and my home river is the Kennet. As I don't have a fat back account or salary I don't get to fish near home where it is very exclusive fly fishing instead I'm a member of a couple of clubs which gives me access to the middle/lower Kennet and also to the Avon and its tributaries in Wiltshire. All the sections I fish are what are described as mixed fisheries, i.e. not prime trout fishing.

Yesterday I decided to head south to fish the Avon not far from Stonehenge. It had been raining heavily overnight and I wasn't too sure what the water colour would be like. I was delighted to find the water clear.

It was about 7am when I started to fish and I decided to use a nymph. I hadn't long slid in to the stream (a carrier off the main river) when I noticed a rise only a few yards ahead. Taking the hint I switched to a dry and covered the area where I had seen the rise. 3rd or 4th cast and I was in. A nice wild brown of about 10" was duly caught and released.

I contimued to wade up the carrier covering the water as I went. I rose several but only landed 2 more.

With 3 trout landed and looking at my watch I thought I had better head home. My wife is very understanding but I didn't want to push my luck.

As I got near my car I decided to remove some fishing line with weights and float (bobber) that some child had broken off in a tree. As I waded out under the branch a fish rose just across from me. I couldn't resist so I cast to it and first time up it came. The strike was a success and trout number 4 was landed and released.

A perfect end to the trip.

Oh, and I did remove the lost line before I went home.

Paul

[ksbioteacher]

Thanks for sharing a fine experience

[ofuros]

Nice contribution Paulf.......
Don't forget to take your camera next time, we all love to see trout in their
local environs from different parts of this big old world.
Enjoyed.

[tinydries]

Sounds like a good time.

Forgive my ignorance, but is there no free trout/grayling fishing in England? I understand that as such an old country every bit of land is owned by somebody, but having to pay to fish would bother me.

[paulf]

Actually there are some sections of free fishing in England and Wales - same legal system. Scotland has its own legal system and regulation which someone else might be able to comment on.

In general all tidal waters are free fishing, however, there might not be a right of access but if you are in a boat you're normally OK.

In true freshwater it is a very different situation and most rivers are privately controlled. As it happens the section I was fishing was part public or free fishing. About a 150 yards only the rest controlled by a local club.

Most free fishing tends to be in urban or semi-urban areas where the right to fish was granted by the monarch as part of a Royal Charter sometime in the Middle Ages. Control now rests with local government, i.e. town council. The local geology and industrial history will determine the presence of trout and grayling.

There is an excellent book recently published called "Trout in Dirty Places" written by Theo Pike. It is all about trout and grayling fishing in urban areas and a lot of the fishing written about is free or, if not, cheap. (Did you know there is free fishing on the Itchen in Winchester?)

I live in an area dominated by the famous chalk streams. Not only are they prestigious waters but they are located in the one of the most affluent and populace parts of the country. This simply means they are beyond my means or beyond what I can justify to myself or my wife! For example a section of river upstream of one of my club waters charges about £2500 a year to fish, my club £60 a year.

If I were to live another 60 to 70 miles west then there would be a lot wild trout fishing available to me at very modest cost.

A long winded answer but hopefully giving a sense of the situation over here!

Paul

[Ernest]

It's interesting to read about the fishing elsewhere. If my encyclopedia can be believed the population density of Great Britain is about eight times that of Wisconsin. That would put a real squeeze on the fishing with or without private control of most of the resource.

[paulf]

Ernest you're encyclopedia is probably correct. And when you consider that some parts do have a low population density you can imagine what the rest is like. On the otherhand we do have some incredibly beautiful countryside.

I think this is why I found being over in Normandy earlier this year so strange - the landscape was a lot like south west England but it didn't have the same number people.

[Satoshi]

The population density of our country is even larger than the UK, but most of our rivers or streams are open to public. Accordingly, fish disappears completely in some streams close to big cities within a few months after the opening day, although the license fee is not cheap. Privately owned river is perhaps inevitable to keep good fishery in streams running through a densely populated area.

Satoshi

[tinydries]

You know, I didn't consider population density combined with open fishing = fished-out streams. In that regard, I can see paying a fee to keep up the quality of the fishery.

[paulf]

It is a difficult one. I find myself green with envy at the apparent ease of access to unspoilt water and lack of angling pressure. On the otherhand I don't want to see places fished out. My experience of free fishing in England is that it attracts a disproportionate number of casual anglers some of whom exhibit a total disregard for regualtion, fish environment etc. It is this minority that cause the problems. The majority, as ever, appreciate what they have.

A lot of UK fishing ends up in the hands of clubs and the subscriptions are normally very reasonable. Equally it is a free market so the most desirable fishing commands a premium that most a can not sensibly afford.

I guess Satoshi experiences the worst of both worlds with easy public access to fishing and high population levels? But surely, many parts of the USA must have high population ldensity too - what do anglers do there?