Fish Tables, that is halved lengths of cord timber re-barred to the river bed, seem to have fallen from grace and I wonder why that is? To my knowledge they were first detailed in Hunts’ Trout Stream Therapy in 1993 and were being recommended by the GCT in 1997 but haven’t been mentioned since.

On rivers, where the banks do not under-cut, we find they create excellent holding spots when laid along steep margins and in shorter lengths, where weed is in short supply, they provide refuge for spooked fish in mid-channel.

Here is a photo of a willow trunk, sawn and hewn with wedges, with two potential tables, ready to be drilled, floated into position and propped up on full round non-treated fence post stubs before finally being re-barred to the river bed.

This sort of thing Warren?

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Yes, thank you. Your photo shows the tables with their lower face at water level. We tend to fully submerge ours because we believe the gap between the bed and the table needs to be kept to a minimum for it to be attractive to the trout. When was the book, you extracted the diagram from, published please? Do you know why they aren't recommended anymore?

We've got plans for some on the East Lancs Colne in the town (where there is a lack of overhead cover).

The book the diagram is from is from the USA and was published in 2001 (it's actually a fishing book as opposed to a river management book). I have also read references to Lunkers in at least one John Gierach book but not sure which.

Are they less popular now beacause LWD serves the same purpose of providing cover but also provides habitat for insects and produces a scouring effect where desired? I.e. you're getting more return for your efforts by putting in LWD (LWD is possibly less work as well). In fact if you had sufficient LWD would Tables/Lunkers provide any additional benefit even in a river that does not get too much under-cutting of the banks?

I can't remember what they are called but I read a reference to slabs being put into the water course to provide insect habitat but haven't heard those being mentioned for a long time either.

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I'd be overjoyed if I hooked a fish and it ran in under one of those!

There was a fad of tethering planks at one end along the margins a while back as well. This was done on the Piddle in Dorset (a fairly placid stream) and the sea trout apparently liked to lie under them. But I can't help feeling that properly managed marginal vegetation (and LWD) would work just as well and at the same time would provide habitat for inverts. It would also look a lot nicer!




Fly boards?



Andy

That subject is covered in the book, the author does a few paragraphs on how to control a fish hooked near a Lunker. I can summarise these paragraphs with "Hang on like b*ggery!"

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What is LWD?

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Large Woody Debris (fallen trees).


The point about fish running under them and breaking you....

That fish probably wouldn't be there for you to hook in the first place without the cover

This sort of thing can be placed midstream too (roughly in line or at a shallow angle to the current).



You get overhead cover as well as some undershot and overshot scouring depending on placement angle. Its best practice to drill the holes for rebar at slightly offset angles (to avoid buoyancy of logs "tapping" the rebar up out of the stream bed over time).

They look very neat but seem to be quite a bit of work to drill those anchors in!

Even though we fixed them down pretty well with steel rods we had some of our LWD move on The Hamps that we did last spring. You can never underestimate the power of even a small river when its flooded.

Maybe Warren can put a couple of photos of his Fish Tables on when they're in situ.

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