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New fish pass helps transform the Upper Derwent

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

A new fish pass built by the Environment Agency at historic Calver Weir on the River Derwent has been completed at a cost of £165,000.

On Friday 5 March 2010 it carried water for the first time offering fish a route up the river beyond the weir. The fish pass is part of a wider project to restore the weir.

Calver Weir Restoration Project (CWRP), a local charitable trust, has been raising money for a number of years to restore the 18thcentury weir to its former glory and to prevent its collapse.

The total restoration project cost is £1.841 million and it is expected to be completed by August 2010. Defra contributed £165,000 to fund the construction of the fish pass. Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded £1,279,400 towards the project to restore and interpret the weir and its surrounding wetland. English Heritage awarded the project a further £100,000.

These sources of funding largely underpinned the major works, augmented by other donations from Peak District National Park Authority, local businesses and the community in general.

Calver Weir is a large unique S-shaped Grade II listed structure some 106 metres long situated on theUpper Derwent. It originally provided water to power the cotton mill at Calver which was part of the new industry pioneered by Richard Arkwright. However it also formed a barrier to natural fish migration and has prevented the river achieving a ‘good ecological status’ under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Brown trout, a UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species, grayling and brook lamprey (also a BAP species) are the main species present in these reaches. Without a fish pass these fish could not move upstream of the weir to complete their natural lifecycles.

As well as being necessary to help the river reach ‘good ecological status’ under WFD, the new fish pass helps us meet our objectives to improve the fishery and angling experience on the River Derwent.

Together with other work we are doing to improve habitat it is a move towards sustainable fish populations and may reduce the need for re-stocking in the future.

Environment Agency Fisheries Officer Bryony Devoy says “The new fish pass opened on 5 March and we are hoping that we will soon see the first fish in hundreds of years move up past the weir and colonise new stretches of the River Derwent.

“This is really good news for the river and for the restoration of this historic weir. We now aim to target more of these man-made obstacles on the Derwent, opening up larger stretches of river for more natural colonisation.

“We also hope this first project will set the standard for the fish passes that will be required for future hydropower applications within the Derwent catchment.”

Shrewsbury Open Result

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

There looks to be serious problems with the Quarry and County Ground sections of the River Severn in Shrewsbury.

This was the thought of the 19 matchmen who turned up for the latest open and their concerns were justified if the result of the match is anything to go by as hardly any silver fish were caught and large perch made up most of the frame weights, despite the river being in perfect trim.

Telford matchman Phil Williams led the way with a chopped worm attack at Toll Bridge Peg 75. Working at eight metres he had eight samples for 11-0-0. Above the winner on Peg 74 was Fosters rod Joe Brennan who also fished the same method as Phil to put 6-4-0 on the scales for second. Third on the day went to Graham Palmer who had some roach on the bread feeder for 4-0-0 at Peg 61.

RESULT

1st Phil Williams, Fosters (peg 75) 11-0-0
2nd Joe Brennan, Fosters (peg 74) 6-4-0
3rd Graham Palmer, Walsall (peg 61) 4-0-0

RAF Team Mosella East Anglian League

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

3 Mar 10. March, Wigston Bridge. 23 Pegs

With all the flood water around, it was reassuring to see March at normal level, albeit carrying some colour and pushing through at a fair pace. Pete Lambdin drawn below the Narrows on peg 11, fished punch at 6 metres and caught Roach steadily throughout, a late bonus skimmer helped push him to double figures weighing 10-12-0. That was enough to push RAF Team Mosella rod Craig Shaw into the runners-up slot. Pegged on the grass above Wigston Bridge, he also fished punch to finish with a similar catch but fell a couple of fish short, returning 9-15-0.

1st Pete Lambdin, Headfen, 10-12-0
2nd Craig Shaw, RAF Team Mosella, 9-15-0
3rd Graham Welton, RAF Team Mosella, 8-15-0
4th Ian Hoddy, Marham A, 6-13-8
5th Ben Jackson, RAF Team Mosella, 6-1-0

Cider Farm Lakes - Open Match Result

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Yarlington Mill Match Lake. Number Fishing:20 www.ciderfarmlakes.co.uk

With a hard overnight frost and a keen, persistent, easterly breeze the first Open Match of the Cider Farm Lakes match season saw a closely fought contest. Weston’s John Page just clinched victory by 2lbs. Fishing at 14 metres off of the island ledge on peg 46 he tempted 66-13 lbs of carp averaging two pounds to the net using pellet. Mike Smith used similar tactics on peg 4 just missing out on the top spot weighing in 64-06 lbs of carp. Ian Walvin choose corn for his method of attack on peg 54, again only one fish behind, taking third with 62-01 lbs. So a tightly fought opening match with 513 lbs being weighed in, giving a respectable winter match average of just over 34lbs. Open Matches continue every Sunday from now on.

1st John Page, Weston Angling, 66-13, Peg 46, Pellet
2nd Mike Smith, Bristol PSV, 64-06, Peg 4, Pellet
3rd Ian Walvin, Drake Floats, 62-01, Peg 54, Corn
4th Andy Bull, CFL, 37-00, Peg 37, Pellet
5th Mike Owens, Sensas Thyers, 36-08, Peg 14, Pellet
6th Rich Heatley, Clevedon, 33-00, Peg 17, Pellet

Angling Times Winter League Semi Final

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Kennet and Avon canal from Darlington to Diggers (120 pegs)

Having been warmer all week, once again two hard frosts and bright sun hit the fishing on the Kennet and Avon canal. The canal was much more coloured than in the practice matches but most sections still fished hard. The last section at Dundas an exception as most anglers there weighed in over 5lbs.

The top four teams in this match progress to the final on the river Nene at Peterborough and it was very tight at the top. Winning the match having put in a lot of practice were Daiwa Gordon League on 51 points. There was a three way tie for second on 53 points which meant a countback on sections was required. This put Drennan Got Baits in second place, Kamasan Starlets in third and Garbolino Blackmore Vale in forth. Milo Borden missed out by only two points in fifth place.

Local angler Dave Mickelwright of Sensas Bathampton won the match with a catch of 9lbs 7ozs from peg K3 half way between the Diggers and Dundas bridges. He started the match by feeding 7 chopped lobworms 1 metre off the far bank then caught a few small skimmers and roach on bread and bloodworm and joker. During the match he tried the lobworm line and kept topping it up with a couple more chopped lobworms. With just over an hour to go he managed to catch on a chunk of lobworm which was a stunning hybrid of 4lbs. Half an hour later he caught a small skimmer and a 3lbs hybrid on the same method.

2nd was Martin Howard of Daiwa Gordon League. The Van Den Eynde sponsored angler drew between the wooden footbridge and the wires at Darlington and caught around 3lbs of ruffe and gudgeon on bloodworm after having no bites on bread punch initially. During the match he had been loosefeeding castors tight over and this produced late. He caught over 6lbs of roach upto 6ozs in this last hour for a total of 9 lbs 6 ozs to miss out by only 1 oz on the win.

1st Dave Mickelwright (Sensas Bathampton Avon Aquatics), 9lbs 7oz
2nd Martin Howard (Daiwa Gordon League), 9lbs 6oz
3rd Andy Curless (Browning Crowsports), 7lbs 14oz
4th Steve Johnson (Drennan Got Baits), 7lbs 12oz
5th Ben Dukes (Garbolino Blackmore Vale Match Group), 7lbs 9oz
6th Dan Ashington (Kamasan Starlets), 7lbs 8oz

1st Daiwa Gordon League, 51
2nd Drennan Got Baits, 53
3rd Kamasan Starlets, 53
4th Garbolino Blackmore Vale Match Group, 53
5th Milo Borden, 55
6th Fox Match Black Horse, 59
7th Maver Image, 61
8th Sensas Bathampton, 63
9th Passies White, 66
10th Fox Match Arun, 74
11th Browning Crowsports, 75