got dragged of to wales (wedding aniversary) this weeknd, put it down to a blank.

Been to the churnet today, wish i had gone to work.
Tore a hole in my waders on some submerged metal on the bit i usualy wade, then got drownded dragging it out, must have come down in the floods.
O blanked aswell, not a good day.

Kev,
The fish were too big IMO but we spread them all over the whole stretch so the top end is well stocked.Some were close to 3lb
Regards
Robh

Just been looking at the new members handbook. On page 2 of the section on the River Dove (Dove Dale to Lovers Leap) it reads "Our access to fish is strictly from the Derbyshire bank and riverbed, where a member has the ability to cast to the halfway point of the river".

Am I reading this right. Does it imply that members shouldn't cast over mid-river to the Staffordshire bank?

Where does the stocking take place, i assume you need some form of 4x4 or tractor to transport the fish, the milldale end is full of gates and stiles so how to you manage to get the fish to the water, you don't carry them do you ??

How many do you put in? and what size spread?


phil

__________________
He who dies with most toys, wins !!!!

Phil,
We attempt to spread them fairly evenly (but we know from previous tagged stockies that they have even ended up in the Trent at Derby!).
No we don't have a 4x4 (well , we have the land rover but it runs out of road well before the boardwalk) so we do carry them (and , yes, on the hottest day of the year , it was ). We work from both ends but the Milldale end is all from the village so the Dovehole weir is as far as we got this year.
We put in 2 lots of 250 (pre and post Mayfly) and , as in a previous post , they are IMO far too big , up to 3lb.
We try to get members to assist but , as usual , it is the same bunch of us (10 out of 100 members ) who do all the work parties etc.
I am agitating to get our whole fisheries non-stocked and Warren from the Lathkill is coming to the AGM to hopefully convince us that a keeper will solve the poaching plus help boost wild stocks.
Kev,
You read it correctly and even if a trout is rising 1" further than midway , I will NOT cast to it!

Regards
Robh

It must break your heart to tip fish like that in. I find when anglers understand and appreciate wild trout, they begin to despise stockies. Why 3lb fish in the head waters! The head water is for babies and yearlings. The adults should have dropped out after spawning.

I hadn't been given permission to try and convince you to get a keeper, although all these new wild trout you are going to be getting will need to be housed with extra habitat. C&R / no stocking will happen on your waters. You are all too clever to do any different. Its only a matter of time...

Hope you are well Rob.

If you did decide to stop the stocking, would you then need to stop fish being taken for the table?. For me this wouldn't be a problem at all, I struggle to knock anything on the head that looks that nice, and if you want trout for tea they are only a couple of quid in Morrison's. But looking at mine and my fishing partner Dave's catch's they have tailed of dramatically over the last few years, even with regular stocking, indicating possibly that people are taking more than the "occasional brace" or the local poachers are doing very well.

What are the reason's for wanting to stop the stocking, cost?, problems with access for the land rover? (I can't imagine carrying a load of fish up to the walkway is much fun!!!)
Would I be better to still stock but with less and much smaller fish, and stop people taking anything (would members have a problem with not being able to take fish home?), giving the wild ones a better chance but still keeping overall numbers fairly high to give the members some "good sport". Birds, poaching, mink, otters, old age, and flood water will see off quite a few each year and I don't imagine stock levels could be maintained thru natural methods???

Phil

__________________
He who dies with most toys, wins !!!!

Hang on Phil,

You are stocking rivers with pond grown trout, and putting them back? Just think that one through for a second.

Birds; Herons are natural predators. Kingfishers are surely welcome.

Poaching; We are all trying our best to keep poaching down. If you aren't doing patrols you arent protecting the fish stocks and you will be a honey pot for the likes of David Stuart Lowndes and his mates from Stoke who are either on you or on me of a sunny Sunday.


Mink; Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is running a very effective mink trapping campaign on the Dove. It worked very well on the Wye/Derwent.

Old age; provides food for the heron

Flood water....read this http://www.thepeacockatrowsley.com/i...rIssue07A4.pdf

Once the river overtops the channel in flood, channel flow velocity levels out.


Natural stock levels can be maintained, I can prove it. Shall I put the kettle on....?

I wasn't trying to be contoversial or start an argument, just "fishing" for information. I am fairly new to the club and to fly fishing in general, so i am eager to learn from those in the know.

Who is this David Stuart Lowndes chap?? should i be looking out for him??

Phil

__________________
He who dies with most toys, wins !!!!

Warren,
Ok , the hope is that your talk will convince some more members there is a different way.My hidden agenda!
Phil,
Nobody is upset, I at least welcome your thoughts on this.If you are new to the club , I can see why you might feel the river isn't always well populated but here goes.
If we employ a keeper , we will reduce the quite high poaching problem.My big gripe is these also take Grayling and their recruitment isn't as rapid as the trout, even allowing for the fact we don't stock Grayling (although the EA have put some in at Crowdecote for what seems no better reason than they had some to spare).
The keeper can also work on the redds which although pretty clean , less silt would improve % hatched.He (or a big she if some of the poachers need intimidating!) could also monitor the egg boxes and fly boards.The river is actually pretty well stocked when poaching is reduced.I remember stocking last year and the water was clear enough to spot every fish in some pools.Even before we put fish in , there were 1 fish to every foot of bank.
If we went wild fish , we would have to C&R but the vast majority of members don't take fish.This season , almost every fish I have caught has been wild ,as have Kevin's and Alex's from what I have been told .My belief is that the stockies are taken by poachers, hotel guests or drift off downstream.The good lies (shelter and food) are already occupied with the natives so I commonly see the stocked fish weeks later still roaming the deeper pools in small shoals.rarely do the natives use this water (Mayfly time only IME).
Although we are restricted by the NT what we can do, there are subtle changes like encouraging Ranunculus etc. which will seriously improve hatches and thus the fishing-or that is what I hope Warren will persuade us!
Regards
robh