The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Hi all. Now the river levels are returning to normal low levels i can start river fly kick sampling and send off the results to the Trout Preservation Group who can tell what shape the river water quality is. Someone pulled up we suspect ii a flat bed truck on shonks mill bridge and dumped a engine into the river a few years ago and now a full size aroundabout has been dumped in the river about 50 mtrs from the bridge. I will have to speak to the farm manager to get it out .

Four of us had a good session at Norton Fishery on Saturday, resulting in the below haul of trout for the dinner table. The owner, Bert, was telling me about the run-ins he's been having with mink over the past year but he thinks he's finally killed all the ones that patrol his lake and the nearby stretch of the Roding. He mentioned that otters have recently been sighted in the areas upstream of Abridge, so perhaps that's something to look out for.

Good catch Bigoll. I have not seen otters however if they are present the farmers will have to remove their mink traps. The penalty is tough if you kill one with 6 months prison and/or £5000 fine. On the roding if we find any that have starved to death perhaps those that put them there suffer the same fate. Otters were not found on the roding for years for the same reason grayling and brown trout are not present. Brown trout have been caught in the bdac stretch but none since the pollution in 2003. Last one i knew about was 1995 and at 3lb 9ozs from mitchells farm.

Looks like a otter however my buddy John has pictues of a puma type of cat he saw at stanford rivers with two other bdac members. Being nocturnal i will have to do a night at stanford rivers when the season opens to see if i spot them. Trouble is stanford rivers crays can drive you mad, one time i had eight and they attacked the under side of my boot and ended up back in the river in the edge in pieces 5ft deep. I brought both rods in at about 2am. Since then i have noticed they are not too keen on stilton cheese pastes. There is nothing anyone can do about otters legally however if they are present i would like to see them more than Johns puma.

Anyone have more news of the pollution incident which Tench Dreamer notified us about on the other discussion thread? Apparently warning signs all along the Debden stretch indicating a spill further upstream. Sounds like bad news to me but any info welcome.

Is there anymore facts about the pollution? I can contact the EA.

I have contacted the EA and will post there response.

Andrew Banham wrote:I have contacted the EA and will post there response.

I did that, they asked for a post code . Ill try to do that later

I asked about a mini pollution in the roding at althorpe and got all the infomation. I got a e-mail several years ago about slurry that the EA intercepted before it enteedr the roding. I think goverment cuts may have something to do with this. Nice to know our licence money is being pumped back into angling i dont think. I have done 2 surveys on the thames at thurrock and habitat on the hogsmill in surrey with the EA and dont blame them. This sunday after i have seen my mum i will be riverfly sampling at 2 sites on the bdac roding shame i would not have time to check debden as the flys die first then everything else.

I got the same e-mail TD ,before I call my contacts in the EA were the signs from the EA? The EA usually post on their website any pollution however minor that's how I found out about althorpe which is grade A ranking which is brown trout and grayling conditions. Stanford rivers is grade B which does not explain barbel going in at 2-3ozs and growing to 5lb+ before being wiped out from the fly tipped septic tank why the owners were on holiday, OF course nothing suspicious here. In my opinion your tank your responsibility. Please drop off 500 fingering barbel between Stanford rivers and passingford bridge. Thanks