wading in the spring

[redadmiral]

I don't wade in a river until May so as not to tread on salmon redds or newly hatched fry, but I see lots of anglers wading up to their armpits down a pool from opening day!
Am I just being overcautious or should these guys think a bit more about what could be underfoot?
What do you guys think?

[heron]

I'm surprised no one took this up. Is it a contentious issue in the UK?
In the States we wade year round, but if you find yourself in a spawning area you go lightly and avoid the redds. some places, if the place is full of them, are better left untrodden.

[underghillie]

Jan 12, 2010 10:57:35 GMT redadmiral said:

I don't wade in a river until May so as not to tread on salmon redds or newly hatched fry, but I see lots of anglers wading up to their armpits down a pool from opening day!
Am I just being overcautious or should these guys think a bit more about what could be underfoot?
What do you guys think?

Hi redadmiral i agree totally with you about treading carefully in the early months of the season so as not to disturb the redds and new fry, we have 1 or 2 bits on our beats wading is a no no until mid april. When i think back to when i started ghillying every one was spinning in the early part of the season and had no real need to wade but now a days more and more people want to start the season with the fly and some of them dont feel they are fishing unless they are up to their armpits, i am sure wading in certain areas of the river in the early months of the year causes a fair bit of damage to the eggs.

[heron]

Do fisheries managers there survey and mark the redds for study?
I was at a river here in WA yesterday where the redds were marked with bits of plastic surveyor's tape, tied to overhanging branches, and signs were posted warning wading anglers to stay away from them.
I was wondering if there are similar practices in the UK.

[EV4]

It must do some damage it is inevitable.... but I wonder though if we are perhaps being a bit precious and looking for something to worry about when none exists . Should we start worrying about the wading anglers impact on the river when one considers the havoc (to our eyes) nature has on a river - and just how much that must/does effect redds?

The rivers survives and nature eventually restores the balance. All anglers should of course be aware of the ecology of the river enviroment and the interaction between all the creatures that depend on the river bed for life and take care of the river.

Why though, should Salmon redds be singled out for our concern? We must destroy a lot of the food source of the young Salmon and all the other fish as well as the other creatures that depends on the river bed for life when wade fishing for other species such as Trout or Grayling throughout the season.

I doubt compared to natures effect on the river - and the pressure elswhere on our Salmon... that the effect of wading on the future health of the species has any measurable impact.

As an example of the effect of nature on redds. The Gala Water a spawning tributary of the Tweed is only a short walk from my workshop. It has many areas where the Salmon can be seen every December building redds.

The river due to the recent heavy snow and subsequent rapid snow melt has flooded. The flooding and scouring due to the grue has caused ares of gravel to be stripped and parts of the water are now devoid of the gravel where Salmon spawned only a few weeks ago. The river course has even moved in some areas over the flood plain exposing fresh gravel. I doubt in the scheme of things this natural phenoneman will make any difference to the long term health of the Salmon. I have seen the same thing happen year on year in the last 25 years I have lived here... the Salmon still come back every December.

My thinking may be wrong, but I suspect you could tramp the Gala Water river bed with a stream of anglers daily and never do the "damage" that nature does to the Gala.

David.

[redadmiral]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.
I see the excellent Inverness Angling Club website news page is advising members to wade carefully!

[redadmiral]

www.invernessanglingclub.co.uk/index.htm