Pike waters in the Fens - updated

I've just updated the Waters in the Fens page (see tabs at the top...) after a slightly poetic bit of advice occurred to me. Click here to have a gander.

Water, water, everywhere in the Fens

When I looked over the bridge by the big sluice at Denver, I'd never seen as much water flooding through.

The Relief Channel was up over the banks - that's some head of water, when you bear in mind it's 12 miles long and 80 - 100yds wide.

The Impoundment Sluice (no idea why it's called that...) was also open, meaning water was pouring in from the Cut-Off, as well as the Ouse. I'll normally have a few casts regardless, but words like hopeless don't quite sum up the magnitude of how daft you'd have to be to expect to catch anything in that.

This is why we've been digging drains, diverting rivers and building banks and sluices for hundreds of years in the Fens. It might not do the fishing any favours when the system goes into flush mode, but it prevents the incredible scenes of flooding and devastation wrought by the downpours elsewhere.

Just about the only things that flood - apart from the odd corner of a spud field - are the washes at Welney and elsewhere, which were designed to flood by Vermuyden, the architect of much of the system.

There one or two things the great drainers didn't factor into their calculations. The first was how much the peat would shrink, leaving rivers twenty feet above it and vast tracts of the Black Fen the same distance or more below sea level.

The other was siltation, how the incoming tide would bring in more than the river could scour on the ebb; meaning parts of the Ouse are now badly silted. This hampers efforts to clear water off the Welney Washes, with all the problems that brings for the wildlife.

A little further downstream, it means they can't let water out into the tidal via the "eyes" of Denver Sluice, which in turn means water has to be discharged via the Relief Channel.

I check out several miles of river, which are practically deserted. I look in on a drain that's got a lock which keeps water from the rest of the system out - it's still within the banks but frozen over.

There are footprints everywhere up and down the bank by the one clear spot near a bridge - I wonder how many people have tried there already.

The idea of today was find somewhere fishable for the next couple of days. The jury's still out on that score.

Slubbin' time in the Fens

I fancied a bash on this little drain, making a mental note to come back for another look in a few months when the reeds have died back a bit. Cor, blast, hold you on there buh - they're cutting the reeds out already.

Sightseeing in the Fens

Today turned into a sightseeing trip, with a bit of fishing thrown in. I started off on a bit of river I used to fish a lot 10 years or so ago. Clear wasn't the word for it, but a lazy swirl that scattered a roach shoal every time them dropped back close to a bridge took my fancy.

I could chuck a Shad Rap over the other side and let the current take it into the shadows before a couple of taps on the rod sent it diving into the darkness. Five or six casts later, a pike that looked like a decent double followed it right into the shallows, sending up a cloud of silt as it turned away.

I tried different lures. I tried different retrieves. But the pike didn't show again, before a huge barge came through and I cleared off to check out one or two other places I've been meaning to take a look at.

One looked the dog's bollocks, with overhanging trees and bur reed snaking in the gentle flow. I gave it an hour's worth of chucking lures tight to the branches without seeing any sign of a pike. Something's got me half-interested in this bit of river, all the same. Maybe that's where I'll head tomorrow.

Pipeline will help scientists study fish migration

A £400,000 pipeline between the Cut-Off Channel and the Wissey will help eels and sea trout move to and from their spawning grounds - and help scientists learn more about how these rare species and commoner varieties of coarse fish migrate around the Fens.

As well as connecting the two waterways, the hi-tech siphon is rigged with sensors which can tell when a fish which has been implanted with a special tag passes through it. As well as tracking devices, the pipeline also has infra-red cameras, allowing Environment Agency fishery officers to keep a watch on which species are using it.

The EA-funded project, paid for by efficiency savings within the agency, is the first of its kind in the country. Similar schemes are planned elsewhere, as the agency steps up its work to conserve rare species and monitor the health of our rivers.

"It's an all-species, all-singing and dancing fish pass," said Kye Jerrom, a fisheries technical specialist with the EA. "It's a massive project. It's such a significant site it needed something like this."

The pipeline (right...) was designed and built in Holland, before being shipped across to Stoke Ferry in sections. It has a series of baffles and pools inside, to ensure the flow remains negotiable for all species. It also has a special eel lane, which helps anguilla ascend on its way inland, where it spends its life before returning to the sea for the long journey to its far-flung spawning grounds. 

It also contains sensors which can detect PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tags. Around 150 fish have been caught and tagged as part of a special research project. The EA plans to tag a further 200 each year, to build up an ongoing picture of fish movements. So far roach, rudd, chub, tench, trout and eels have been tagged at Stoke.

Scientist Karen Twine, from the International Fisheries Institute at Hull University, is known as the Barbel Lady for her work radio-tracking barbel on the Great Ouse. The study showed that barbel in the river were not being predated by otters, but were declining because their spawning grounds were silting up.

Now she's shifted the focus of her research to the Fens, where she'll be keeping an eye on Eel 2, Trout 3, Roach 19 and other tagged fish, to monitor their movements as they travel from one part of the system to the other.

As well as the PIT tags, Karen said she'll be using acoustic tracking - along similar lines to her acclaimed barbel research - to learn more about what's going on in our rivers and drains. You can just about see the tiny tag in the picture.

While there are no plans to study pike at present, the PIT tags might just do so by default. For the gizmos should keep on working if Roach 19 happens to get eaten by one.

This is exciting, cutting edge stuff. Meet Kye and Karen and you can't fail to be impressed by their passion for their subject matter and their drive to advance our knowledge of how fish in our rivers and drains are faring.

There are hopes that similar siphons will be installed elsewhere - the next location which has been pencilled in is between the Ouse and the Relief Channel, at Denver. Maybe, just maybe, the future of our fisheries isn't quite as bleak as it's sometimes painted.

One thing's certain - we're going to find out a whole lot more about our bread and butter coarse fish, as well as rarities like eels and sea trout, over the next few years. 

Tides govern drains and rivers in the Fens

I have a theory the tides are going to play more of a part in pike fishing than they have for a few seasons right from the word go this autumn. The simple reason for this is that water from brim-full main drains and rivers is currently being pumped off or discharged between low tides.

The impact that this has, even miles inland, is that it brings some flow to the water. A few days ago, the bottom end of the Middle Level Drain was covered with azolla. Seeing a picture of it on Twitter, I took a detour to get a picture of it yesterday only to find it had almost disappeared - pumped off via the new pumping station at St Germans into the tidal Ouse.

The pumping station's not the only change on the Middle Level system. The sluice under the aqueduct at Mullicourt has now been removed, meaning when the pumps are running, the whole system's going to flow as far inland as the Sixteen Foot, Forty Foot, Popham's Eau and the Old Nene.

Tides govern the pumping regime, because it's cheaper to pump water at low tide than against the tide. One of this season's projects is to make a note of what the tides are doing before I go, to see how they impact on flows.

I know there are people who swear by moon phases. One thing the moon phase determines is the size of the tides, as they cycle between springs and neaps.

All that water, from the Ouse and its feeder rivers, to the main drains and the man-made sprawl of waterways that feed them, is connected. Fascinating place the Fens.

Maps of the Old Bedford River and Delph

Here's a useful couple of schematics of the Old Bedford and the Delph, which shows how the system operates to allow excess water to collect on the Ouse Washes before it can be discharged out to sea via Welmore Sluice and the tidal Ouse.

This is one of the more vulnerable areas of the Fens, as far as the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels are concerned.

It's also likely to become one of the areas where pike fishing becomes more vulnerable in years to come, as conservation groups buy up areas of land to turn them into new wetland reserves, to replace threatened coastal habitats for wading birds.

For now, it remains one of the more challenging parts of the system, partly because of the impacts of siltation and periodic problems with brackish, turbid water being allowed into the lower reach of the Bedford to replenish levels for irrigation during dry summers, and occasional fish kills caused when the water "turns" after heavy rain, causing oxygen levels to crash.

Pike are mobile and seemingly in decline on both drains. A few big fish were caught last winter, from areas off the beaten track. But like many of the drains in this part of the Fens, those who were successful had to put a  lot of hours in and some long walks to find them.

They're still fascinating waters to fish, partly because both the Bedford and Delph were dug when the drainers first began to shape the Fens into the landscape we know 300 years later.

The map below gives a view of the Middle and South levels, bordered by Well Creek, the Ely Ouse and the Old West. It's perhaps no wonder where to start is the dilemma many pike anglers face as autumn nears.

REVEALED: WWII drama that led to deep hole in drain

 
Why's there a deep hole in the drain. Now there's a story, yew got me going now. My ole Dad told me all about that years ago see, cuz he was one of the old boys what dug that bit of the channel. There was this Lancaster bomber in the war there was what caused it. Now that got all hushed up at the time, that did, so best you don't you go round tellin' everyone mind.

I promise I'll keep mum. It started out, innocently enough, when I wondered why there was a deep hole in a drain, together with semi-circular bulges in the floodbanks on either side. 

I'll let my source resume the story:

"Anyways they bin' off to Germany, these ole chaps on their Lancaster like, bombing Fritz somewhere or other back in 1944 or thereabouts they wuz like they did in them days.

"But when they wuz comin' back in to land at Downham Market they found they still had one bomb left on board, they did. Five-hunnerd pounder. Big ole bomb what h'ent dropped right, or summat.

"Now they wuz runnin' out of fuel, they wuz. So they wuz circlin' round an' round, with this 500lbs bomb still on board, they must'a bin goin' cor blast that's a rum ole dew, what we gunna dew now, that'll go off if we try an' land.

"So one of them ole boys on the plane, he say to the all other fellas on the h'innercom or whatever they had like, cor blast gimme that axe an' I'll sort this out. He say bomb doors open skipper, or summat like that, over the h'innercom thing, like what they had.

"An then, an then he gew back in the bomb bay an' he give it a right ole ding with this axe like what they used ter 'ave on planes in them days and that ole bomb dropped just as they was on their final approach ter what use ter be the runway.

"Ph'wee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ker-frickin' boom, that went. They musta' heard it in King's Lynn. Nearly blew Denver Mill up, that did. Anyways, that's why there's a deep hole in that bit of drain see. Cuz when they come along after the war they just dug an' took the ole channel right through it, they did.

"My Ole Man tole me that. But that's still classified. So don' go puttin' that on the h'innernet..."

Of course not, I say. Your secret's safe with me.

Best river for pike fishing in the Fens

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how different cliques of pike anglers view different waters in the Fens. Their experiences sometimes lead them to draw conclusions which are completely at odds with each other's - how one man's meat is another man's poison, if you like.

Take the Ouse, a river which has been good to me on a handful of occasions over the 15 seasons I've fished it, dealing me a bum hand far more frequently than a decent fish or two.

I've never caught a twenty downstream of Queen Adelaide. What few I've ever caught from the river have come from one or two areas with little in common, other than they were throwing up a few good fish at a time when I was fascinated by the Ouse and spent a lot of time trying to get to to grips with it.

Just as I started thinking I'd got my head round the river, it went off the boil for me. Some big fish came off another stretch I was targeting a few seasons back. I knew I was fishing bang on the money, right swims, right method. But could I catch it - the fish nudging 30lbs that was knocking about the same area..? Sadly not.

We wrote it off in the end, my mates and I. One big fish in one big, daunting river, we seemed fated not to catch. To add insult to injury, I lost a big fish off one of the few runs I ever managed on that part of the Ouse one freezing February afternoon, as ice formed across the river.

Yet others were quietly catching with a different approach, completely at odds to ours. It seemed so obvious I kicked myself, when one of them candidly explained it to me after I quizzed him about pictures I'd seen that looked like the area we'd been fishing.

The first time I tried their method, I had seven or eight fish to mid doubles from a stretch I'd given up on in a single morning. No monsters, but I thought I'd cracked it all the same.

I told a mate, we went back the weekend after and blanked. I tried the same swims several times as the season wore on without success. At the start of last season, I had a lanky double on the bank first chuck doing it their way. That turned out to be the only run I managed in half a dozen trips up and down that part of the river.

By then, another water was screaming fish me, fish me. That turned into another long haul, but at least we finished the season with a couple of twenties each.

Towards the end of it, I bumped into one of the guys who'd done well on the Ouse. He hadn't had a run on the water we were fishing. But he'd had a couple of twenties on the river - from the bit we'd long since given up on.

You should try down there, he said. People say it's hard, but it's loads easier than here.

Click here for a 20lbs pike from the Ouse caught on film.

The best club for pike fishing in the Fens

"I reckon Chris spent so much on day tickets last year he could have bought the river," says the Chipper Bailiff to my mate, in a  frisson of bailiff humour. I bite my lip, as I put my brand new shiny King's Lynn ticket back in my rucker. The man had a point.

When I rejoined Lynn AA last season, I re-discovered a few old haunts I hadn't fished for years. I also re-discovered what great value for money the Lynn Book, as locals call it, is.

There are various membership options - you can fish all the rivers and drains for £38 a season, add Tottenhill Pit for another £2 a year, or include the Shepherd's Port complex for £56 a season. If you go once a week between October and March, that's less than £2 a throw. Go twice a week or more and it's peanuts to fish over the course of a season.

At least three of the waters on the ticket did fish over 25lbs last season. The Fens might not be what it was a few seasons back, but there were numbers of 20lbs fish from two of the drains on the ticket. Back up fish were a different story. But the jury's still, out on why. And while the people I regularly see out and about enjoyed their share of blank days, most ended the season with a few more twenties to add to their tally.

Hence the title of this post, because if you weigh up what came from neighbouring clubs' waters last season, the Lynn club was streets ahead of most of them. It's also a friendly club, which welcomes predator anglers as warmly as it welcomes matchmen and maggot drowners. No silly rules in other words. And no bait bans.

This probably explains why the club continues to thrive despite the recession. That and the fact you get a lot of water to go at for your money, including 85kms of the Great Ouse, Little Ouse, Middle Level Drain, Cut-Off Channel, Relief Channel and Old Bedford River.

Click here for links to Google maps and info on club waters.

It's the wrong kind of rain for pike fishing

After five days of solid rain, the rivers are on the move. Out in the black Fen, it's filling the dykes and drains, swirling around the staunches as the lodes and leams rise to the brim. 

It's now officially the wettest drought on record, but it's the wrong kind of rain. After a prolonged dry spell, it runs straight off the dry soil into the rivers, prompting flood warnings as it runs out to sea.

It'll take weeks and weeks of it to restore the soil moisture deficit and replenish springs deep underground. So when the weather breaks and things warm up again, we're hardly going to notice much difference, once the drains and rivers return to their normal levels.

Where the Middle Level meets the tidal Ouse, the new pumping station stood idle for much of last winter. We know the consequences of prolonged heavy run-offs, when fish get flushed through sluices, decimating stocks in the lower reaches of drains.

The system needs a certain amount of rain for fish to flourish. But it needs it spread through the seasons, so there's enough water to go around once the crops begin to grow in the great peat prairies, sapping water from the land.

Changing weather patterns are skewing the equation, upsetting the apple cart beneath the surface. When the EA carried out research into declining barbel populations in the upper Ouse, the anglers blamed otters for falling catches.

But while there was ample evidence of Tarka, every fish tagged electronically at the start of the study was still alive a year later. What the scientists found was that low flows had allowed silt to choke the gravel on the barbel's spawning sites. That decimated fry recruitment, meaning there were no younger fish coming through

Pike are just as vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather, in a slightly different way. Fluctuating levels can see their spawning sites and the areas which harbour fry shrink or dry up altogether, while sudden downpours can simply wash them away.

Declining numbers of jacks points to a bigger problem than people who go fishing with lure rods from Lidl and carrier bags to carry their catch home for Svetlana to cook.

Maybe it's a problem nature can't solve on her own. Maybe it's time pike anglers lobbied for the the EA to conduct similar research into what's going on in one of our rivers or drains, to look at whether pike need a helping hand, like they gave the Ouse barbel when they restored their spawning sites, to ensure populations flourish.

Is this the way forward for pike fishing in the Fens..? Answers on a postcard.

+++It's not just pike which suffer, according to John Bailey - click here to read what he's got to say about how fluctuating levels affect roach spawning in the River Wensum.