Last Saturday, after the coldest night of this Winter, an intrepid bunch of members braved the icy roads, and even icier water, to clear up some very big ash trees that had fallen into the river just above the footbridge. They were seriously big and could have been swept away in the next flood, so we were tasked with making them safe.
Using ropes and a battery polesaw, we carefully dislodged and lowered the 4 trees into the river and steered them down to the old berm just below the bridge where they were lashed into place. You can see the remains of two of the biggest ones still on the bank where they shouldn't do any harm.
Both Nigel and Mathew decided to test the water temperature more throughly than strictly necessary, but they survived, despite the really strong current. Keith declined to take that challenge, and got on with the job instead. Meanwhile Peter and Paul were busy redesigning the increasingly dangerous steps down to the small beach opposite where the trees had been. The difficult design challenge was to make it safer for determined members to get down to the river to fish, while not making it look tempting enough to encourage dog walkers to negotiate it. I think the guys did a pretty good job of meeting that brief, but only time will tell.
Andy and I managed the cutting and dislodging from the safety of the bank, and altogether, the team did some more good work improving the river.
Judging from the catch returns, not many members have ventured out this month, despite the low river levels now. If you are a registered Winter Fisher, I can report that the grayling catches are improving, with pink shrimps and silver quills catching some very respectable fish, and there have also been some good catches on very small dries such as the famous Double Badger. Well worth trying the reservoir too, while the wind is low (it gets very cold there when it's windy), but do please send in a catch return if you do go there (whether you catch or not), or if you catch any Grayling on the river (using flies).
Tight Lines
PeterB
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