03/09/2012 - North Esk

From 29th August, a week ago

Time - 1615-1645 & 1935 - 2020
Water - Up a bit, lovely peaty tinge
Weather - Nice in session 1 with a bit of wind, duller later with some unforecast drizzle
Method - Size 2 silver Mepp red spots
Total - 0

After the summer we've had (2nd wettest on record) and the amount of high water levels (and the nature of those levels - see graph), the river hasn't survived unscathed. Quite a few of the pools and runs have altered quite substantially. The Corner Pool for instance has really silted up on the far bank where the wee burn comes in. Whereas before there was a bit of a curl in the flow of the water as the current on the inside of the bend went back 'upstream', now its pretty much all a straight downstream flow and you can see the bottom in more places.  Just downstream the flow in the pool above the old waterworks has switched banks. Meanwhile upstream at the footbridge to the ponds the left bank has increased in size, squeezing the river and making it a lot less fishable. I've not explored too much further, but where I have, the story is similar, more of that in a minute.

I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a gent a couple of years or so ago when I had my permit for the Tweed. I'd spent a fair while exploring the upper stretches and hadn't found many worthwhile spots to wet the fly. On return to the car there was a guy who lived in a nearby house standing on the bridge watching the water. He fished this stretch often and had done for years. He told me that some of the spate/floods they'd had in the last year or two were of a much different character than in the past. They were bigger, more sudden and a lot more powerful. A bit more like the graph above rather than a steady increase. The upshot was that a lot of the old pools had been filled in by rocks/silt etc being flushed downstream. Not only was this a negative for us fisherfolk, but it meant running fish had less places to rest and also badly affected redds.

In my anecdotal experience on my local river, the North Esk, the river I'm in a good position to monitor, this is what is increasingly happening. That these rivers once had deeper pools which are being filled in by modern flooding shows that there must be a certain type of flooding/spate conditions that can hollow out rivers making them 'how they were'. But it definitely seems that the weather patterns, more specifically the rain/flooding/spate patterns we seem to be experiencing now - more localised and extreme weather events - are silting up and filling in some rivers.

And so to the actual fishing. Perusers of my Forth & Clyde Canal report will be up to speed with my new lure of choice (Live Baby Shad Golden Shiner). Having since had some success with it taking a 10 & a 12 incher since my canal visit, I was keen to give it a soaking in the Esk. The first session utilised it to no effect, not even a bite or a flash in what I'd usually describe as excellent conditions. Time of day wasn't ideal, and a black Lab dumping itself into the Corner Pool when I arrived didn't help, but still. The Corner Pool and the next pool down from it produced diddly squat.

In the evening I was keen to get down to the Auchendinny stretch where I'd had some success at the back end of last season. Arriving at the tunnel bridge, it was obvious that the waterscape had altered a bit down here too. Usually I can wade under the bridge and cross at the foot of the pool to the left bank, fish under the road bridge, then cross again and fish on downstream to the weir. However there basically isn't a tail to the first pool now with the two pools that were under each bridge now being imperceptibly joined. It also looked like wading under the Old Railway Bridge might be off the cards, so I headed through the tunnel and gained access around the building site that used to be Dalmore Mill.

Tree stump funghi with slug

While I'm here I'll mention I've started, and will continue to take photos of the old mill site as they build on it. It's going to massively alter the area as the flats and houses are completed and folk move in, so best to enjoy it as much as possible while its like it is. I'll prob post the photos in a future blog showing before and after photos alongside each other. While I was traipsing across the building site, a tree stump with some really vivid orange funghi caught my eye. This photo (with the slug for scale) shows it off reasonably well.

I'd swapped the jelly minnow for a trusty mepp. Once again though, the weir pool has been altered a little after recent spates. The left bank sandbar where I normally fish from was smaller and further out making the tail of the pool a bit thinner. There has also been some damage to the lip of the weir on the right bank, meaning a healthier flow down that side. I covered the whole pool in expectation but all I got for my efforts was a hefty thump by something of indeterminate size. Then the unforecast drizzle began to speed up the gloomy sunset and I beat a retreat back to civilisation.