A seeking we shall go.

Received word from one of my regular anglers that I see on the bank frequently that the last few days he has seen a couple of dodgy looking guys fishing on one of the club stretches which I bailiff up to no good, he believed they had been taking out of season trout and possible salmon.
So this afternoon I decided to break with tradition and have a walk out along the bank, just camera in hand & walking stick and see if I would meet anyone on my travels, It was actually nice to be out for a walk with no rod along the river for a change, so walked right to the top limit across the fields.

Looks so bare in the winter and not a fish showing all along the full top stretch, so different from the summer evenings.









Never seen a single sole till I had walked almost halfway back down the stretch when I came across a couple out walking their dog and we started talking and they confirmed that they had seen them also in the last day or so, so that was reports from two sources now which dont look favourable if they continue to do it, I just hope I could catch a glimpse of them in the act.

I was almost at the bottom of what I call the fly fishing stretch when I came across some evidence of what they had been up to, a salmon carcass just thrown up the bank.

Yes you guessed it the 2 dodgy guys are infact a pair of otters, which have been seen fishing & patrolling on the club stretch, This salmon was the only evidence I found of them together with plenty of otter prints in the mud surrounding the area, I was actually astonished to find the skin of the salmon close by, where they had peeled it off the fish to get to the flesh. This stretch is not often fished during the closed season as there isn't a great many grayling in this area so they wont be disturbed as much as more frequented places.

Although Lovely to see I hope they dont hang around too long and take up residence as the fishing on this stretch is hard enough without a pair of otters being on the stretch too. I bumbed into on of the land owners as I was leaving and he confirmed that when out walking the his dogs at dusk he often stopped to sit on the bridge and have a smoke and saw them playing around and in one instant chase what he said to be a large salmon all around the pool a few night back. Not good news for the recently returning salmon to the river. Fingers crossed they will move on soon.