Anglers fear effects of storm

10 November 2006

Broads angling bosses and fishing tackle shops that cater for local rodmen and the summer tourist industry are attempting to calculate the immense cost of last week's North Sea storm.

It drove salt water miles inland to poison shoals of prime coarse fish, with some estimating the mortality as high as half a million roach, bream, pike and perch, writes Roy Webster.

The day after Force 11 gales drove the Atlantic Ocean into the North Sea funnel, spilling millions of gallons of toxic saline through the Yarmouth Haven into vulnerable reaches of the Rivers Bure, Thurne, Yare, Chet and Waveney - many thousands of roach were found either dead or in distress in dykes and inlets off the River Thurne. Most notably in the moorings by the Thurne Lion, in Womack Water at Ludham and in the River at Potter Heigham.

The Acle Boat Dyke and the Upton Dyke leading off the River Bure were littered with dead fish as were some of the lagoons in the lower reaches of the River Ant.

On the River Chet which runs into the River Yare at Reedham, thousands of fish were wiped out and floodwater also penetrated into South Walsham Broad through the Fleet Dyke.

The River Bure at St Benets Abbey and the River Thurne at Cold Harbour are important venues for main freshwater tournaments such as the Broads Championship, the Bure Summer League and various other individual and team championships.

Just what effect the salt water surge had on the fish populations that produced massive catches of fish this season is at present unknown.

But because salt water is more dense than freshwater, some anglers believe that substantial numbers of bream were left dead on the bottom mud, for this is what happened to thousands of skimmers during the serious floods in the 1950s.

Then the water went crystal clear soon after the catastrophe and anglers saw with their own eyes the scale of the slaughter with the river bed reflecting a mass of silver scales.

Tony Gibbons, who organises all the main events on the River Bure at St Benets, said local anglers were most concerned about the magnitude of the fish mortality.

“We have just enjoyed three of the best seasons on the Broads rivers in living memory, and now this disaster may well have wrecked our prospects of having another bumper summer next season.

“It is probable we shall not know the full extent of this natural catastrophe until we start fishing again next June. We have to hope that substantial numbers of fish managed to flee upstream to safety ahead of the trouble.”

Early information suggests that this in fact did occur.

This week vast numbers of fish have been caught from the River Bure at Horning, some two miles up from St Benets, and on the River Yare the Trowse to Postwick stretch - which is just above the river managed by the Yarmouth and District Association - was also producing pike into double figures as well as roach and bream for anglers trying their luck.

In the River Thurne thousands of fish are believed to have escaped through the Potter Heigham road bridge, and in the past few days anglers report catching numbers of roach upstream of the new bridge as far up as Somerton Staithe.

Gary Maddison of the Martham Angling Club said his members were most concerned about the scale of fish losses in the River Thurne but now they believed many fish had managed to keep ahead of the tidal wave that swept death and destruction into the river.

“I believe the old road bridge acted as a barrier so I am optimistic about the survival rates of the bream and roach further upstream,” he stated.

Also on the plus side is the fact that legions of small roach, bream and perch are swarming on Hickling Broad and in the adjoining dykes and those fish will almost certainly spread into and fill the void left by this latest salt water incursion that was the worst since 1988 when 100,000 fish were wiped out in the Potter Heigham Boatyards alone.

However, salt water incursions in recent years have not been responsible for as many slaughtered fish as the fish killer algae prymnesium during the 1960s and early 1970s.

This deadly alga has remained benign and fairly dormant in recent years and it is now the ferocity of more frequent salt water floods into the Norfolk Broads that are the main worry as global warming heightens sea levels and energises more Atlantic depressions and associated gales.

It has been said a dozen times but it is worth repeating again - enjoy the Broads fishing while you can. For as sure as night follows day our proud fisheries will become increasingly subject to sea water pollution with the probability now one year in three, where it used to be one in 30 some 50 years ago.

Of course there are the commercial lakes to fall back on, but tourist anglers flock into the Yarmouth area to enjoy the Broads top-quality natural fishing for species which are not readily available in other parts of the country.

That is why the Broads tackle shops such as Lathams of Potter Heigham, Floaters and Pownalls of Yarmouth and the Gorleston Tackle Centre are mightily anxious about next summer's angling prospects on the popular rivers and broads.

For the present sport is likely to fall away on the lakes due to the sudden plunge in temperatures, and this was apparent at the weekend when match catches were well down on previous levels.

By contrast sea fish catches along the beaches have picked up with whiting and small codling making up the weights on the South Beach and at Hopton and as far down as Orford where Tony Thomas won the Sam Hook League match with a superb bag of 24lb 11oz.

CLUB MATCH RESULTS

Stalham, Metton: D Gipson 78lb 2oz, R Turton 66lb 8oz, R Kent 48lb.

Prior Engineering, Oulton Dyke: P Newman 24lb 8oz, A Hebditch 18lb, N Jarmey 12lb 12oz.

Potter Heigham Sea Anglers, South Beach: T Watson 3lb 14oz, J Hearle 3lb 9oz, K Bell 1lb 13oz.

Sam Hook League, Orford: T Thomas 24lb 11oz, G Medler 15lb 11oz, W Perring 15lb 6oz.

Hemsby Lifeboat, South Beach: J Symonds 5lb 10oz, J Andres 3llb 8oz, C Martin 3lb 7oz.

DIARY DATE

Barford Teams-of-Four, December 16, entry 01603 759624.

Last week's Mercury angling round up wrongly reported the winner of the Floaters Tackle Centre junior prize as Jack Stevenson. The paper has been asked to point out that the correct name was Josh Stephenson, apologies for the error.