Had a quick look this morning and there are now two pairs cutting redds with several other males trying to get in there. Great viewing, Dennis should get some good stuff. Hopefully he will be able to post on the forum. Colin
Got to the road bridge and watched upstream from 9.05 to 9.45 this morning but only saw 1 fish about 14 -16''max and 2 smaller ones 10/12' max They were literally a rod's length away from the bridge in perhaps 5 - 6" water.......the dorsal fin of the larger fish was regularly breaking surface. For first 15 mins they were just chasing each other around so I walked up to the main weir and then down to the footbridge at Ford looking in vain for any other signs of activity. Was surprised at the barrier posed by the smaller 5 - 6 ft weir just below footbridge. Considering the water immediately below this is only inches deep I wondered how much of an obstacle even this might pose to many fish. As I'm scanning the lifeless water my phones pings as Colin's Forum post arrives telling me of his good fortune to find 2 pairs and several other males in activity earlier on this morning.............Me now thinking bad timing seems to be the story of my fishing life :-) So, I walk back to the road bridge and Voila, some action at last. The 12' fish had disappeared but the 10" and 16" were very busy indeed. I watched for another 10 mins but no other fish appeared, then I noticed the other smaller one just holding station some 25ft away at top of the spawning shallows. I returned 4 hours later at 1.50 on my way home but now there was only one small fish to be seen although he (?) was active by himself on the redd. All in all a delightful experience enjoyed at very short range, maybe the next time I'll get there when there's a few more around.............perhaps early morning is best before the vehicle and pedestrian traffic builds up, as Colin said it's a bit narrow for comfort on the bridge. Took several videos but the best one was 4.5 mins long which at 896MB was too large for Photobucket so I selected the final shorter one of 100MB. This looked really clear when I played it on my PC, but just as I feared it took me ages to work out how to post it here and I was very disappointed with the quality after uploading to Photobucket. I then tried uploading the original to Vimeo in case that was a better experience but it was no different, so if anyone has any suggestions about tweaking settings etc then please advise. Do I feel sad about missing the 'Strictly' final because I was trying to get my head around all this technology instead ?.......answers on a postcard please. Here is the video for what its worth .
Well done Dennis . You can get a good idea from the video of what it's about when they are spawning. There's nothing like being there and watching the whole event. This morning at 8-00 there was only one pair but there were more attendant cock fish , probably about 8 to 10. The weir below the Ford does not provide an obstacle that can't be managed easily. I have seen fish swimming across the Ford in the past. If you walk down past the footbridge ,left side, down the private road you can sometimes see fish spawning in the tail of the long run. In fact some years ago I saw two really big fish there. Keep dancing, Colin.
Well done Dennis . You can get a good idea from the video of what it's about when they are spawning. There's nothing like being there and watching the whole event. This morning at 8-00 there was only one pair but there were more attendant cock fish , probably about 8 to 10. The weir below the Ford does not provide an obstacle that can't be managed easily. I have seen fish swimming across the Ford in the past. If you walk down past the footbridge ,left side, down the private road you can sometimes see fish spawning in the tail of the long run. In fact some years ago I saw two really big fish there. Keep dancing, Colin.
I was tempted to continue looking further on down that road marked Private "No path to the Sea" but was not sure of my rights and was persuaded against by the sound of conversation coming from the first driveway. Was curious to see what there is between the Footbridge and river mouth, whether its just a big concrete gutter, or accessible for fishing anywhere ? Is it still tidal up to the weir Colin ?......I assumed not as High tide at Exmouth was only about an hour before my visit yesterday morning. Was also curious about the assumed certainty that I was looking at 2 Seatrout on the redd. The larger (hen?) fish definitely had black spots but I would say the body colour was a dark brown like a typical brownie. The smaller attendant (cock?) fish showed a lot of buttery yellow belly as it flipped from side to side so it made me wonder whether this was actually a brownie.............presumably this does not matter as they are basically the same species, and in practice where the number of egg bound female Seatrout are low it would at least ensure there was a suitable alternative brown male if for some reason no male Seatrout were around at the critical moment ? I've just never considered that possibility.
There are fish all the way down to the sea. It is fishable all the way from the sea to the Ford ,but it's not easy. If the mouth is open a spring tide will push over and above Ham weir, the lowest of the weirs on the Sid. If there is a strong onshore wind the waves can show all the way up to the Ford. You can climb down the wall and fish from Ham weir up but it's fairly precarious as in places you have to fish from a narrow walkway with deep water in places. From Ham weir to the sea is easy fishing ,you have to cast over the railings along the walkway. The fish spawning are sea trout and the larger fish are males that have been in a while. The smaller females you can see going on their side to use their tail to "cut the redd". If you look at the tail of the bigger fish you will notice that it's straight and not forked. Colin.
The larger (hen?) fish definitely had black spots but I would say the body colour was a dark brown like a typical brownie. The smaller attendant (cock?) fish showed a lot of buttery yellow belly as it flipped from side to side so it made me wonder whether this was actually a brownie.............
Colin is correct that the smaller fish is the hen in the video. This is fairly unusual in East Devon as usually on the redds you see big hens with smaller cocks, usually one good sized one and several smaller ones along with as many as 6 or 8 small cock browns. I guess the limited stock and some of the early fish having been lifted over the weir have disrupted the usual balance of things. The dominate cock fish (along with most of the other cocks) always lies downstream of the hen on the redd, in pole postition!
The larger (hen?) fish definitely had black spots but I would say the body colour was a dark brown like a typical brownie. The smaller attendant (cock?) fish showed a lot of buttery yellow belly as it flipped from side to side so it made me wonder whether this was actually a brownie.............
Colin is correct that the smaller fish is the hen in the video. This is fairly unusual in East Devon as usually on the redds you see big hens with smaller cocks, usually one good sized one and several smaller ones along with as many as 6 or 8 small cock browns. I guess the limited stock and some of the early fish having been lifted over the weir have disrupted the usual balance of things. The dominate cock fish (along with most of the other cocks) always lies downstream of the hen on the redd, in pole postition!
Andy
Thanks for that explanation Andy. Must admit though I'm still surprised at how much yellow/gold was visible on the smaller fish when it gyrated. This much is reasonably clear on the video just before the end. I am simply not used to seeing any buttery yellow on the few Seatrout I managed to catch.........should get out more I know :-)
Must admit though I'm still surprised at how much yellow/gold was visible on the smaller fish when it gyrated. This much is reasonably clear on the video just before the end. I am simply not used to seeing any buttery yellow on the few Seatrout I managed to catch.........should get out more I know :-)
To be honest looking at the video I would say the hen is a brown trout.
Nothing on the redds this morning. I did see a crow under the bridge last weekend. It was pecking away at something ,maybe a fish carcass. I spotted it while driving by and couldn't stop to get a closer look. I watched a kingfisher this morning ,making a good start to the day. Colin.
There are some fish looking very active above the bridge but a little further up. The light isn't good enough to see any detail but they are moving around quite a bit. Colin.
Happy new year. Great start to the year when I saw a kingfisher perched on a branch about 20 feet away. This was just above the road bridge. The feeling of joy diminished when I looked over the wall into the weir below the Ford. There was a cormorant in there fishing away. Any fish below School weir can't get up and can't go back to sea because the mouth is blocked by a shingle bank making easy fishing for cormorants. Colin.
Happy new year. Great start to the year when I saw a kingfisher perched on a branch about 20 feet away. This was just above the road bridge. The feeling of joy diminished when I looked over the wall into the weir below the Ford. There was a cormorant in there fishing away. Any fish below School weir can't get up and can't go back to sea because the mouth is blocked by a shingle bank making easy fishing for cormorants. Colin.
Saw a couple rise at the bottom of " horses belly" today, Driving across the Ford looking upstream. Very encouraging considering the poor weather. Colin.
There are a few sea trout spawning on the Sid at the moment. They are above the bridge this year. We plan to net the weir as soon as the conditions are good.
After the recent rise in water there is a new redd being cut near the tail of the pool below the road bridge. It’s difficult to creep up on the fish as they are easily spooked. Looks like a couple of sea trout between one and two pounds. Colin.
The fish below the bridge are no longer there ,their work being cut short by the latest flood. However there is now a new group of fish working just upstream of the bridge. Some very nice sea trout up to 3 lb . It’s difficult to get a good picture but it’s easy to see the movement of the cock fish chasing each other off the redds. The hens look very fresh . Colin.
I went to the Sid on Saturday, the rugby club to Sidford bridge. A lot of tree fall below the Rugby club , some so bad that I think it will affect the transit of fish up and downstream. I should have taken a photo. The level seems low for this time of year. Abstraction was my first thought...hmmm. Had just the one.