Allow me to elaborate if you will. I had finished my business for the day and was contemplating my evening victuals, whilst driving at the required 40mph across Dartmoor - this was yesterday - and happened per chance upon a happy looking band of gentlefolk wearing green and studying the river. "Ah ha" thinks I aloud "I bet they are counting redds".
Redds, for those whose brains are full of much more useful information, are the grooves cut into the gravel by female salmon into which they lay their eggs. They are usually in the upper reaches of rivers. We who have time on our hands occasionally like to trot up and down a river bank taking note of them, usually looking in awe of the fish going about their business, so as to gauge the sort of spawning season it is likely to be. We do this generally for our own peace of mind as there is very little practical use to which we can apply the gathered information. Weird? Quite possibly.
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Anyway, so I saw these green folk that looked like they might fish and, being excited by such things, slammed on the anchors to have a butcher's. I always carry my Polaroids with me, just in case I need to gaze into some water somewhere (not you'll notice in case the sun shines!!) and these, I surmised, would allow me to watch the fish that these chaps were obviously ogling unimpeded by glare on the water.
Needless to say, me being me, I couldn't see a single fish!
But still never mind, for here is the nub of the matter. The time it took me to see no fish was time enough for the aforementioned green clad folk to finish their contemplating and engage your correspondent in conversation and as it transpired, I am glad it was and that they did.
They were indeed redd counting. The party had been organised by the West Country Rivers Trust and consisted of several movers and shakers from the Dart Angling Association. I knew their names of course, having no doubt heard them mentioned at dinners and in angling pubs around the area, but didn't know them. They had never heard of me.
I told them of my interest in the fishing of the South West and of my little project which I call a website (http://www.fishingthewest.co.uk - it's not much, but it's mine and I like it) and they listened politely. They then told me of the Dart Angling Association and I listened intently.................well ok - excitedly then. They spoke of Totnes Weir and the lower Dart, of salmon and monster sea-trout and of fly water so inviting that to pass it by would be a crime against God and man. I decided then and there. I have to join.
It's funny how things happen.
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| Lovely spawning water on the Upper Dart |
So there you. Being organised does not come naturally to me, but I do know a good thing when I hear it; and I do like green.
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