CROSSLEY Quarry is the sole fishery within the Stoney Club's super portfolio which remains open during the winter, as the SDAA allows all-year fishing there for rainbow trout.
But only the hardiest of our anglers would venture there just now, when 90 per cent of its surface is frozen over and the air temperature is hovering below zero. Yet Convener Hugh Mitchell tells me that a section of open water does remain between t
he platform and the concrete hopper, where a trout could still be picked up. The resident fish will naturally seek out such an unfrozen area, as this is where important air-to-water oxygen transfer can still take place, and where terrestrial insects may still make splashdown to provide a bonus meal. Yet - like the goldfish in my garden pond - trout don't really require much sustenance at this time of year, as the cold water conditions lower their metabolism and the fish can happily survive in a form of limbo.
Warm-blooded predators such as the (much-loved) otter or the (much-reviled) Cormorant can do considerable damage just now as they are able to swim underwater at greater speeds in ice-cold water (at least in short bursts) than the cold-blooded and thus more lethargic fish. But the sole predator which Hugh has noticed (or should I say smelled) up there is a fox, probably hunting the grassy margins for an unsuspecting rabbit or vole. And a diminutive Wren is using the nest inside the black hut as a winter roost yet seems quite happy to share that same hut with visiting fishers, clearly grateful to the anglers for protecting this cosy domed nest from hoodie crows in 2009 by boxing it in with square wire mesh.
***
OVER at the River Cowie, seatrout spawning will have finished a full month ago, while salmon will be heading towards the end of theirs, although an element of spawning activity will continue through December and even into January. The consensus of local angling opinion is that the gross flood of Sunday November 1 came just too early to have caused serious damage to fish redds, and so long as major winter spates are avoided, Autumn 2009 could have proven a sound season as far as the future of our salmonids is concerned.
Since the bulk of the juveniles in the Cowie and Carron "smolt" and go to sea after two-plus years in freshwater then spend up to two years in the salt before returning as mature fish, the outcome of a disastrous (or good!) spawning season may not manifest itself in terms of angling sport until around four years hence.......although our triennial electrofishing surveys may give an earlier indication of the survival rate of young "fingerling" (first year) and "parr" (second or third-year) populations.
***
ON the mighty Dee, all sorts of fresh information is coming to light in the wake of the Autumn 2009 radio-tagging survey, when 60 rod-caught fish from the lower/middle beats were sedated, fitted with a yellow tag at their dorsal fin, had a radio transmitter slipped into their stomachs and were then released to get on with their in-river business (anti-angling woollies who complain of fish deaths resulting from angling, may like to note that of the 60 salmon tagged and manhandled in this manner, no fewer than three score survived perfectly well).
These 60 salmon showed varying levels of behaviour! Around a quarter (predominantly females) hardly budged at all and ultimately spawned where they were caught, suggesting that they had never intended to move further upstream than that. Two went back to sea at quite an early stage (hopefully Cowie salmon which had entered the wrong river!), three died over the succeeding months from otter or mink predation, and the rest either mated in the main stem river or ascended some of the tributaries (Dinnet, Tanar, etc) to do so. The fact that all have been - and are being - monitored closely throughout the autumn and winter, is adding remarkable flesh to the bones of what the fishing and scientific community knows about this astonishing fish.
***
FINALLY, may I offer my very warmest Christmas wishes to all, wherever you are individually spending this very special time of year. May Santa bring my angling pals something useful for the approaching new season......even Auntie Betty's home knitted socks have their uses.
"Tight Lines"
