River Evenlode fish survey

Mon 13 May, 20:45

Indeed well said Andrew. Are you an angler? The more facts people come up with and can be publicised the better. 

As a committed environmentalist since - 15? -  angling totally bemuses me as a sport, now find myself cheering on the fraternity (sic - most of them seem to be!) who probably know the waters and denizens more intimately than pretty well anybody. Natural allies in the fight to restore reason to our water policies. It's not as if we lack the science and technological ability to turn black water waste into a sparkling potable glass of l'eau at the tail end for discharge!

Mon 13 May, 08:33

Very well said Andrew.  Thank you.

Mon 13 May, 07:26

Is there a fishing club in Charlbury? My husband hoping to join but can't find any details.

Sun 12 May, 20:27

I think there are many people reading this website and some might get the idea to go fishing because of that posting by Gary. I think it would be unwise to eat that fish. Maybe he should update his posting?

Sun 12 May, 15:22

As usual you are quite right Rod. The site chosen by the EA for electrofishing between the Mill Field and the Forest Road bridge, certainly if one wanted to apply a better than deserved veneer on the current state of the river, was well chosen. The site is as far…

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Wed 8 May, 22:09

Certainly better than expected - though think I'd reserve judgment until full results available for the river as a whole (I believe they have done other stretches) and even more interesting if possible, a comparison with previous surveys.  The numbers look small compared to those visible even 10 years ago (when I first arrived here) - any comment from the Angling Club??  But good to know some are there even if now all but invisible!

There's a description of the fishing (meaning the fish) in Godfrey Hodgson's 'Sweet Evenlode' (2008).  He said then that trout were 'dominant as far down as Shipton' and that 'even more rich' in them were the tributaries, inc the Coldron brook. The single one shown in the photos looks like a wild (as opposed to stocked) fish to me but when did anyone last see a trout around there??

The river's not 'full of sewage' all the time but it suffers greatly from overflows in heavy rain as well as run off, both agricultural and surface.  Check out the Evenlode Catchment Partnership if you want to know more.  But no. I wouldn't eat anything from it, not even the trout!

Wed 8 May, 18:55

I did. I thought the river was full of sewage making eating the fish unwise. 

Wed 8 May, 12:39

If you've spotted the results under News, just how surprising was that?!