An Avon roach (and a visit to the Avon Roach Project)

[Tengisgol]

Preparations were as of old; bread left to go hard and stale, soaked, pulped with a potato masher and left to drain for twenty-four hours in a landing net. My rod was made up with 3lb Maxima straight through and a Richard Cleaver fluted float set ready with an inch of dulled brass rod instead of bulk shot.

I didn’t have a lot of time to play with, arriving at the river at 4pm. I’d already found some steady walking pace flow (so I knew where I was headed) and the first tangerine-size ball of mash was on its way to the bottom at a rod length out before my box was off my back.

The float drew line off the reel and bobbed as I held it back, slowing the pinch of flake to the same speed as the lower section of the water in front of me. Where I knew the roach would be waiting. Fragments of bread would be stirring them as the light left the sky and their instincts would trigger a feeding frenzy.

Three times the float banged under before it was too dark to see its path, with two fabulous Avon roach and a clonking dace my prize (that’s a big float!):




And the reason I knew the roach would be waiting is down to the vision, hard work and ‘never say die’ commitment of Trevor Harrop and Budgie of the Avon Roach Project. Believe me, what they have done here is a feat beyond comprehension. Two men who sat by our iconic river, nigh empty of roach (reduced to a population below critical levels), with elbows on knees, and weren’t prepared to do nothing. Beyond that, you need to wait for the book and, if the content is anything like as charismatic and fun as the author, it will be a ‘must have’ read.

Which leads me on to the Avon Roach Project itself and the morning I spent with Trevor Harrop earlier this week showing me his operation.

Have a look here for the real detail:

http://avonroachproject.blogspot.com/?m=1

Sheer bloody-mindedness, ingenuity and hard work created a three year cycle that involves placing spawning boards designed through trial and error (‘must be eight millimetre minnow mesh’), removing the boards with attached eggs into tanks where they are protected, hatched and grown on, transferred into holding ponds and then secreted back into the river after three years.

All along the middle Avon, Trevor and Budgie’s roach, and their new offspring, are visible once again off the bridges and rolling at dusk as things should be. The talk along the valley is once again two’s and three’s and the roach men have that madness back in their eyes, me included.

Here are a few photos of Trevor at work:







And I shall leave you with the majestic Avon at dusk:



They may NOT want it, but Trevor and Budgie deserve a medal (from the Queen).

[Lea Dweller]

I agree 100% with your comments Phil! Trevor and Budgie, in fact EVERYONE involved deserve more than a medal even if if they do not want it! We live in a throwaway society, where the kind of effort shown here is not rewarded or even understood by most people. Fishing and Roach have been a part of my life, from my first efforts in Hampstead Ponds and the Regents Canal, to my current efforts in The Lea in Stanstead Abbotts. Thank you to everyone involved in The Avon Project!

[Dave Burr]

Top work, Top man.

[Cray Stalker]

Fantastic work by Trevor Harop, Budgie Price & freinds,

All of the real hard work, time and effort that has been done over these last few years is worth every penny and minute,

Well done lads

[Olly]

There have been many who have contributed in the fundraising by donations of items for the annual raffle after the match. Peter Drennan being a regular and many many others over the 10 years. Also the buyers - generously spending/buying thus raising £1000 of pounds.

It was announced that the funds are now enough to keep the Project going with no more matches - dinners - auctions- etc.I will miss them after 10 years along with many others. Perhaps something else like their book launch.

[ItchenRoach]

another fine post tengisgol great photos look forward to reading about the roach fishing on the avon this autumn/winter.tight lines ray

[Vole]

Excellent work by all concerned.
I was wondering if predation could possibly be the whole picture, and thinking it couldn't, so might there be food critters that had gone missing, and would bridge the gap in the growth of roach fry between yolk-sac and being able to crunch baby snails? ..then I saw this:https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... e-prophecy

It appears the root of the problem might be man-made, and lower down the food-chain than the more visible poachers and predators.

[Cray Stalker]

Excellent work by all concerned.
I was wondering if predation could possibly be the whole picture, and thinking it couldn't, so might there be food critters that had gone missing, and would bridge the gap in the growth of roach fry between yolk-sac and being able to crunch baby snails? ..then I saw this:https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... e-prophecy

It appears the root of the problem might be man-made, and lower down the food-chain than the more visible poachers and predators.

Defiantly food for thought there Vole but to be perfectly honest I'd say that the initial idea of the project was largely down to the fact of predation on the middle reaches of the Avon, it were only a few years back where the Avon practically became devoid of roach, not all but a lot of this impact was largely down to the dreaded cormorant,

You've only got to look at Trevor Harrops continuous canpaine in Parliament about controlling the increasing stocks of this non native cormorant to realise that something needs to be done,

The Avon roach project now being into double figure years I can look back and say that all involved have done a marvellous job in all what they've done

[DaceAce]

The main change to the ecology of the Avon in the last 10 years has been the cessation of mechanical weed cutting in 2010 and this factor alone has had far more impact on roach (and other species) numbers than the effects of the ARP. The summer volume of the Avon below Salisbury has more than doubled, carriers have depth again, water temperature is higher and there is far more cover for the roach in summer, some of these factors to the detriment of salmon.

[Olly]

Something about cormorants for all to read:-http://www.intercafeproject.net/pdf/RED ... REPORT.pdf

Cormorants were a rare inland bird around London when I was a child - by the '60s it became quite common on London's Reservoirs. It has been the migration of European inland birds that has changed/increased the numbers. Possibly started by the big freeze in the 60's on the continent?