Levels at Caaf reservoir are dropping now and we will soon be hauling the nets.
Finally water levels are approaching the required depth to allow us to effectively net the reservoir before it is full drained down. Levels are dropping by 700mm per day and our target level could be reached next week if there’s no more rainfall.
Hauling nets from steep banks and silty margins such as these will be a challenge but I’m looking forwards to it. I think everyone assisting will need to bring a change of clothes just in case.
While we are almost ready to start netting, the licences and a transport tank have yet to arrive and with staff holidays etc, the date for the operation to commence will be the 9th April barring high winds and torrential rain.
We were there again today to sample more fish to ensure that there are no health issues that we need to be concerned about. In total almost 20 trout have now been examined and none showed any sign of parasites or clinical signs of disease. We will inform the fish health inspector and Marine Science Scotland of our latest findings but can now expect that the relocation can go ahead. Three sites have been earmarked for the fish and I’m looking forwards to getting on with the job as soon as I get back from a few days annual leave.
Rita our animal behaviourist accompanied me today to collect sales. With the weather improving we went armed with rod and line rather than the gill nets and managed to catch typical wee trout.
Two peas in a pod. The size of the trout from the reservoir is fairly consistent, small but perfectly formed and they are lovely wee brownies.
Rita reeling in her first ever trout. I think she enjoyed the afternoon and may well be hooked on fishing now! We even managed to catch a trout for her tea.
Hi, just wondering how you got on with emptying the Caaf. As a local angler and follower of A.R.T. I am interested in what you found at the end of the day.How many fish did you get?, what species?, what sort of sizes?, where did they get displaced to?. Thanks, Allan.
Allan, thanks for your comments. We have still a bit of work to do here before we call it a day. We won’t get all the fish, probably nothing like them all but we will persevere as long as we feel the effort is worthwhile. So far we must have saved between 1200 & 1500 wild brownies from the reservoir, mostly between 7 – 9″ in length. As we moved into the shallower water this afternoon, we started catching more small parr around 3 -4″. The largest fish we have caught so far would be around 11″ and to be honest, I don’t expect to find anything much bigger than this but you never know. We have tried to capture eels in fyke nets and bait but so far we haven’t caught any. If they were there in good numbers, I’m certain they would have featured in the net hauls as we are netting from surface to the bottom which consists of silt and nothing else.Every net we haul is full of silt yet not a single eel has appeared.
Largs AC took some of the fish at Muirhead Reservoir as did Glenburn at Fairlie. Two other locations have also been stocked but we won’t reveal their locations at the moment as there’s no angling on either at present. I’ll keep posting updates as we have them.