|
Post by boisker on Jun 14, 2018 22:51:54 GMT
The Otter has been fishing really well recently, but very different to last season... my first full season on the Otter. Last year most fish I caught were over 11”, with lots around the 13-14” mark and a fair number above 15”... one beat in particular had a good head of 15-17” fish. This season I’ve struggled to find them over 10”, but have been catching loads around the 9” mark... I had around 35 in under 3 hrs a couple of days ago, but only one over 10”. Cormorants will have played a part, it’s tempting to lay all the blame on them, but they’d also be nailing the 9” fish hard. A large number from last years larger fish must had died over the winter, i was looking into survival rates and was surprised just how low survival rates can be for larger post spawning fish. But there is still a gap in age class/size missing that should have followed on from last year. I reckon the season or couple of seasons following the recruitment year of the 14” fish from last year must have been really poor, probably heavy floods around the time of spawning, leading to really poor recruitment in those years and hence very low numbers of larger fish this year. On the plus side there should be plenty of larger fish showing again over the next few years. At the end of the day, the size doesn’t matter, 35 fish all to dry in a session always makes me happy whatever the size... but I can’t help missing a few larger fish from last season
|
|
|
|
Post by billyfish on Dec 4, 2018 19:49:04 GMT
Went for a walk from Tipton to Ottery this afternoon. Really nice afternoon , plenty of wildlife activity . Kingfishers, egrets ,loads of mallard and a good few Moorhen as well as dippers and a couple of little grebes. On my way back down the river I noticed a cormorant pitch in a tree on the river bank. There was some squawking so I took a closer look. NINE of them perched up in the tree. This is the time of year that our fish run up to spawn. The lucky ones that get through will have to run the gauntlet on the way back down in the spring. It’s going to tough fishing next season. Colin.
|
|
|
Post by billyfish on Dec 10, 2018 21:01:58 GMT
Threat to wildlife as river pollution checks scaled back Rivers are under threat after the Environment Agency cut pollution inspections by a third in just four years. Greenpeace investigators found that the agency has shed the equivalent of more than 2,500 full-time jobs – 20 per cent of its workforce – since 2013, and hugely scaled back checks on farms, industrial sites and water courses. Last year there were nearly 5,000 fewer annual site inspections by EA officers than in 2014, the year when the agency first started recording data in its current form. Yet recent tests by Greenpeace in the River Otter and River Tale in Devon found 29 different pesticides – some of them banned – and four antibiotics. “The average farmer can expect a visit every 200 years,” said Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust. Arlin Rickard, chief executive of the Rivers Trust, which helps police waterways, said: “If you ring the hotline and report a pollution incident, the Environment Agency are unlikely to visit unless there are dead fish.” Only 14 per cent of English rivers are classed as having “good ecological status”, down from 27 per cent in 2010. The EA said that over the past year it had reduced serious pollution incidents to their lowest level since 2011.
This article was from the Telegraph recently. Our poor fish are under pressure in so many ways. Ten cormorants up the tree a couple of days ago.
|
|
|
Post by yeoman on Dec 11, 2018 22:07:45 GMT
Sounds like the Cormorants are the least of their worries...☹
|
|
|
Post by billyfish on Jan 16, 2019 17:44:41 GMT
I was showing a new member some of our beats, Ottery Fly Fishing Club ,this afternoon and was encouraged to see a fish move in the tail of a pool as we disturbed it. Colin.
|
|
|
Post by boisker on Aug 20, 2019 20:33:34 GMT
Otter is fishing well in the evening... had a few on my last couple of short sessions.... fished the deer park for 90 mins tonight... caught 5, largest 13”, missed a couple... one a decent sized fish that sort of cartwheeled on the surface and the fly pinged out at speed, I think it must have wrapped the line around itself. Most annoyingly I was broken off by something very solid trying to bury itself under a tree, I had loads of side-strain on at a very low angle, I think it must have cut against something as I’d only just changed the tippet... it broke half way up the tippet length. I don’t mind hooks pulling but I hate tippet breaking off and leaving the hook Work meeting up on Dartmoor tomorrow afternoon, so may try and squeeze a couple of hours in on the west or east Dart afterwards... lovely fishing conditions at the moment... air and water temps have dropped back and the rivers feel a bit fresher
|
|
1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
|
Post by 1stteamsunbed on Apr 5, 2021 11:02:29 GMT
Opening day had a go on the Budleigh mile, lot of big cormorants dining on silvers, I had one small trout. Good to see Mr Hadley , always put a smile on my face.
|
|
1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
|
Post by 1stteamsunbed on Jan 26, 2022 13:10:33 GMT
Anyone fish the Deerpark stretch of the Otter last year ? It's been years since I last wet a line there.
|
|
|
Post by Pete Tyjas on Jan 28, 2022 16:06:50 GMT
Anyone fish the Deerpark stretch of the Otter last year ? It's been years since I last wet a line there. I'm by no means an expert on the Otter but I think the fishing at Deer Park is now operated as a syndicate by John Aplin and Neil Keep. I think I saw somewhere recently that they had some available rods for this season but don't know anymore than that or if they do day tickets. Even the hotel is operating as a wedding venue only and not a hotel.
|
|
1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
|
Post by 1stteamsunbed on Jan 29, 2022 13:22:33 GMT
" they had some available rods" I know that's why I was asking. I just wondered if they had any problems with the treatment works upstream.
|
|