The declining Teme and a Linear blank

So another break from work comes to an end. I finished off the week with a walk along a BAA stretch of the Teme and a trip to Linear Fisheries for tench.

The Teme is a majestic river that ebbs and flows from Wales, through Worcestershire to the meet the mighty Severn. It WAS once renowned for its hard fighting barbel dubbed the 'Teme Tigers'. Sadly

If only it contained barbel

however, the last few years has seen a sharp decline in barbel catches. The banks are deserted and those that still persevere only have hard luck stories to tell. My last Teme barbel came during the summer of the 2011/12 season. During the following season, I didn't even see a barbel let alone catch one and my walk was my first visit since then. It was a bright day ideal for fish spotting and I hoped to see signs of a recovering river. First stop was to visit a downstream swim that used to be home to a shoal of resident barbel. When the river was clear, it was a super spot to observe the fish and the overhanging trees on the near bank provided a safe haven for both barbel and chub. You can imagine my surprise and disappointment that those very trees had been hacked down so that only a few branches remained. Of course, there were no longer any signs of fish. It was pretty devastating really. Why did these trees need cutting away? The river is not navigable, not that they would have interfered anyway. On a river that has suffered from water abstraction and otters, taking away the security of these trees only compounds matters. On a brighter note, the Teme still looked its