Fishing on the Faughan has been extremely hard work since last week. I haven't seen a single fish since Friday. I was fishing on Monday, after another good rise on Sunday and couldn't help but feel that it all felt a bit like 2009 all over again. That was the poorest year I ever remember on the river when there was no fish being seen and I only hooked one fish all year, which I lost. 2009 is the only year since 1994 that I didn't land a salmon. I blanked.
I then started thinking, or overthinking as I usually do. This is the second year since the major fish kill in Claudy. Could we be beginning to see the effects of the loss of all that spawning stock we lost in the summer of 2016? The 'One Sea-winter' fish, grilse, should have been returning this year so perhaps many of those were lost in the polution incident? How bad is it going to be in future years then after the losses we suffered in the massive floods in the summer of 2017?
This will be my 32nd year fishing the Faughan. I am lucky in that I grew up with knowlegable anglers who had fished the river for many more years than I have now. I grew up taking onboard what they were saying and storing and processing it over the years.
From all the things I've learned and listened too over the years, I wasn't expecting anything major to happen on the first water we got after 12-14 weeks of dry, warm and even exceptionally warm weather. Firstly, "...when them auld fish lie in the dam for any length of time at all, a bomb wouldn't shift them out of it...". I've heard that time and time again over the years. I have heard it said that some of those fish in the dam will lie there till November before making their way to spawn. I don't know how true this is but it certainly does seem to be true that there are fish in the dam very late in the year.
We had some water in the first week of the season, around 25th or 26th of May and then nothing worth talking about until 19th August. Around 14 weeks altogether. The Faughan is a unique river too in that is has a very short tidal stretch. With the dam at the Pumping Station keeping the tide out, once the fish pass into the dam from the tidal stretch, they lose the help of the tide to refresh the water twice a day.
In those 14 weeks, the river got to the lowest I ever remember it, running at almost 5 inches below 'normal' level and with temperatures not unlike a bath. It must have been a tough existence for those fish laid up in the dam in, basically, stagnant water.
Those fish lying in the dam got battered almost night and day too with flies, spinners and worms. How often have you heard the phrase, "...the dam's full of fish but they're looking at nothing..."? They get fed up looking at the same things day in and day out that when water does come, they still will not take in the same way that fresh fish will.
The fish really haven't had a chance to settle yet either. Our first water came on Sunday 19th August and the entire week after seen showers and heavier rain and river has been up and down every day. If we got a few dry days and the fish got a chance to rest up in the pools, on the next water, a lot more fish would be moving at the same time. As it is, one fish might decide to push on while others will rest up. The river going up and down day after day makes for poor fishing. Especially when the good water coincides with bright sunny days. I don't ever remember seeing a good run of fish in clean water on a bright sunny day. Again, one or two might move but probably not as many.
"That's not a fishing day...". Another of those phrases I've heard over the years. A cold wind and squally showers usually mean that the water will most likely rise again and the fish seem to switch off.
I remember years ago talking to a very old man at the river who swore blind that fishing was a lot harder work when low pressure systems were moving in. He spoke at length about the fish being very sensitive to barometric pressure and he had come to the belief that it was a waste of time fishing when a low pressure system was approaching from the Atlantic. He believed it so much that he didn't even bother fishing when the pressure began to drop significantly on his barometer at home. He always seemed to hook fish when he did fish so perhaps he was on to something. He didn't say it was impossible to catch fish in these conditions, just that it would be much harder work.
Those fish that did leave the dam seem to have shot straight through to Claudy and beyond. The ones still in the dam that didn't move at all means that there are fish at the top and bottom of the river and not so many in between.
I started off this blog by mentioning 2009. That year, I truely feared for the river. I honestly thought the river should be closed to give any fish in the river the best chance possible to spawn. Since then though, we haven't had too many bad seasons and we had the bumper season of 2012. I don't feel as alarmed or fearful for the river this season though. Yes, fishing is a struggle but fish have already ran the river and those fish in the dam will run when they get the urge to. You would hope also that a few fresh fish will still enter the river before the end of the season and indeed after it.
This is a season I will not remember fondly. I feel very fortunate to have got one fish but I didn't get the chance to fish for grilse the way I like most. Low water and small flies and fish up breaking the surface after them. There was plenty of low water but no fish in the pools until very recently and they are very hard to tempt. I will fish for a few weeks more but I just don't enjoy dangling a fly and waiting for the line to tighten in the same way that I love to see the flash of silver and the boiling of the surface as a fresh grilse heads back to the depths having been tempted by a tiny fly. There is just no comparison between the two types of fishing in my own opinion.
Simply put, it is just a bad year for fishing the Faughan. For whatever reason, the fish seem to have switched off and are not as keen to take. However, I still feel that the river is healthy, will have a decent run of fish and will be fishing well enough again in the coming seasons. We can't have weather like this year, every year? Surely not!
No comments:
Post a Comment