We are now approaching the end of May and at last things are warming up, and the fishing is on the up every day.

April and early May were terribly slow, cold, and not hugely rewarding for those who braved fishing in gusty, quiet often biting northerly winds.

We are suffering from a lack of in channel weed both on the Frome and the Piddle, I feel as a result of those July spates we encountered last year just as all our Ranunculus Aquatilis finished flowering!

Regarding our Frome Swan population, I have had a long chat with an aquatic biologist from the CEH (www.ceh.ac.uk), a large percentage are Frome Swans, i.e. ringed on the river, a very small number from Christchurch but no swans with swannery leg rings, more info on my next report.

The early season Grannom hatches were sparse but the medium and large Olive’s have been rather good and I am very confident that the Mayfly this year will be every bit as good as last year.

I have heard of a number of wild three pound fish already this season, and the largest wild Brown Trout reported to me last season was a few ounces the right side of seven pounds, and I saw the photographs!
Your committee have been attending endless meetings regarding the welfare of our Dorset Rivers and working hard to safeguard their futures, there is a huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes so that we can all cast a line into clean water when we get the time.

Regarding on the ground work or rather in the water work, all the in stream restoration work that has happened over the last few years, particularly on the Frome has been seen as a great success, we recently carried out a detailed electric fishing survey for clients on the Frome, one beat having had works done, the other had not, and as we hoped the fish population on the improved stretch was impressive not only for Salmonids but also for the important coarse fish population on the Frome.

A stunning salmon was reported on Dr Mike Ladles website (see last post) earlier this month, another species of fish on the Frome that deserves recognition (other than our British record Grayling) is the Roach, their numbers down slightly over the years but this strain of Frome Roach I am sure is again something special and needs looking after, huge fish to well over that magical three pound mark were caught on the lower Frome this winter.

Our rivers are very special to us all; if you would like to add a little to my next report please drop me an e mail john@riverworks.co.uk