As if our rivers didn't get enough of a pounding last year, they are getting hit again with the latest round of winter storms. Down in the south where I am I ventured out just yesterday to find my local coarse stream was still running high and coloured even though the last rain was a while ago now and we had nowhere near the levels of higher up in the country. So what are the prospects for this years trout season on the rivers? Too early to tell perhaps as even though there were obvious new banks of displaced silt in my stream I expect they will be sprouting green by the time spring comes around as nature tries to redress the balance as usual. New habitat will have been created just as surely as old habitat has been washed away so do the fish and insects lost out overall? There must be some collateral damage to populations overall but it is also amazing how the smallest of fish and insects can still manage to find sanctuary in such conditions so will any damage be really noticeable in the end? I'd like to think not as the natural cycle goes on as it has for generations. It would be great if we were not messing with flood plains of course but that's a fact we just have to live with largely now.
I still look eagerly forward to the start of a new season and exploring changes in waters I know and exploring new ones. I fully expect to find fish waiting there for me!
Tight lines
Paul
