angling column

Feb 11 2010 by Margaret Shaw, Hamilton Advertiser

IT will not come as a surprise to hear that very few anglers have been out on our rivers since the middle of December.

For much of the time, the roads were treacherous and no-one would travel unless it was absolutely necessary.

By the middle of January, the snow had been cleared from most of our roads but the fields were still white and most parts of the rivers were frozen.

I did see some hardy souls park along the Clydeside Road, downstream of Garrion Bridge, and make their way to the bank. I was not certain whether they were grayling anglers, determined to make up for lost time, or salmon anglers hoping to spot signs of fresh run fish.

The salmon season opens today (Thursday) and anglers will be keen to catch the earliest fish of the year.

If the amount of water running down the river determined whether there would be fresh fish or not, then there would have been no shortage of salmon and sea trout to chase after.

However, it’s the temperature of the water which is much more important and that has been well below the magical figure of 43 degrees Fahrenheit. Salmon will scarcely move if the water is that cold. They certainly would not attempt to get beyond the weir at Blantyre.

To the best of my knowledge, no grayling were caught in the lower reaches of the Clyde in spite of the efforts of the anglers who were on the water.

I have heard nothing from the top end of the river, which probably means that no-one was fishing there due to the conditions.

One party of anglers certainly gave the middle reaches a good try towards the end of January. The river level was practically normal and the water was clear.

One member of the group caught a 2lb grayling very early in the session, but no matter how hard they tried, none of them encountered any other fish.

They came to the conclusion that the fish had become sated by the amount of worms washed down in the spate that came with the melting snow.

It is unlikely that many anglers will be fishing for grayling during February and March. By this time, the fish will have turned soft as they prepare for their own spawning season. In this condition, grayling are not worth catching.

In previous years, those few who did fish just before the start of the trout season generally reported catching a lot of trout.

Because of the danger of injuring these fish, members of Lamington and District Angling Improvement Association decided at their recent annual general meeting, to close their section of the Clyde at the end of January next year. This is to give the trout some respite before their season starts again.

Another rule agreed upon is that the Lamington stretch will effectively become fly-only water from March this year.

The association banned spinning some time ago because of the number of fish being mutilated by the misuse of these lures.

Those anglers who felt they could only spin turned their attention to United Clyde water upstream of Roberton. This prompted that association to apply a similar rule in that part of the river due to the vulnerability of trout in shallow water.

UCAPA had not held their own annual general meeting at the time of writing but I think that it is safe to assume that this association will not follow the lead of the other on this occasion by banning spinning.

There have often been suggestions over the last 50 years that spinning reels should be banned or that the water should be made fly-only.

These have always been rejected on the grounds that to do so would make the Clyde too elitist and discourage young anglers from starting out in the sport.

The prices of permits of both associations have been held at the same as last season. This is in spite of mounting costs.

UCAPA are likely to purchase trout for stocking purposes, while Lamington have not stocked for quite a few years.

They are currently preparing to fight against a massive proposed gravel extraction right on the banks of the river. If they lose their battle, more of the river will inevitably become as degraded as the previous quarry site known as the dredgings.

This is so unlike the river that it once was that the spinning and bait bans do not apply there. The rest of the Clyde deserves to be preserved from unnecessary exploitation.