NEWS

Oct 5th 2011 The trout fishing season ended on the Darent on Septemeber 30th. Catch returns indicate that a record number of fish have been caught with the average catch per visit exceeding 3 fish for the first time for at least 10 years..

July 28th 2011 Revised figures, following some late catch returns from the Roman Villa beat, indicate that May was not so far behind April after all. However, fishing effort was lower in June, perhaps associated with the rainfall which totalled 100 mm on the North Downs at the Western end of the catchment - that is about double the long term average for June. Continued rain into July helped to maintain the river flow and there were some good bags at the Roman Villa despite the poachers.

Jun 18th 2011 After a record number of visits to the river in April, fishing effort slowed during May - no doubt assiciated with the weather and condition of the river. Nevertheless the average catch was 3.55 fish per visit with no blanks recorded. Notably, several small wild fish were netted. alan Gaunt continues to record good catches at Furlongs Farm. Other members should really give it a try.

May 18th 2011 The season has started with unusually warm and dry weather continuing from late March. Members have already seen a few mayfly although most catches have been on nymphs, GRHE being the favourite. Several members have tried the Furlongs Farm beat already with bags of four or more brown trout being recorded. Preston Farm was slow at the beginning of the month but picked up towards the end. As usual most members favoured the Castle Farm beats and the total recored catches there reflected that. The Roman Villa beats have been plagued by poachers but we are pleased that the police hace intervened at least once and the Environment Agency are also keen to apprehend offenders.

March 7th 2011 To complete the project caried out by the NWKCP in January, Martin Sutton arranged for several tons of coarse gravel to be laid in the sidestream at Preston Farm. Andrew Alexander kindly used his JCB to move the 1 ton bags but not without getting stuck in the meadow. Fortunately club members were available to help dig out the JCB.

Andrew Alexander moves a ton of gravel	Gravel placement	The end result
Oh Dear!	What shall we do?	We're in a bit of a rut!

January 27th 2011 During January and February the North West Kent Countryside Partnership (NWKCP) are carrying out habitat improvements to the side-stream at Preston Farm. This follows the fish survey carried out by the Environment Agency in October when many brown trout fry were observed in parts of the stream. Evidently it is an ideal "nursery area" for fry. The NWCP consists of volunteers - many of whom are retired - who are co-ordinated by permanent staff based at the headquarters in Dartford. The organisation is funded by Sevenoaks District Council, Dartford Council, Kent County Council and the Environment Agency.

The work consisted mainly of clearing debris and re-structuring river banks with faggots and spiling, thus facilitating a better flow regime along the length of the stream. This should, in time, result in less silting and a better habitat for fry whilst retaining cover from predators..

Silted area cleared	View upstream of the entrance gate	View downstream of the entrance gate
Bank revetement at river junction	Bank revetement along side-stream	There is still work to be done!

October 3rd 2010 August was unusually wet with more than twice the long-term average rainfall over our catchment in West Kent. the fishing was evidently not too good either with the average bag below 2 fish per visit - quite the lowest for any month for several years. September saw a great improvement; nearly twice as many fish were caught with the average bag in excess of three fish. Rainfall for September was close to the long-term average.

August 3rd 2010 Very hot weather continued into July. Nevertheless catches were good for those who ventured to the river bank with an average of over 3 fish per visit. However, with virtually no rain for six weeks, the river level has become as low as we have seen it for some years.

July 13th 2010 Despite the hot sunny weather for the latter part of the month fishing activity for the moth was up compared with last year. Members averaged more than 2 fish per (recorded) visit. The only member venturing to Furlongs Farm, Alan Gaunt, netted 5 and 6 fish on two visits.

June 28th 2010 Colin Lambert, Mark Daley and Alan Gaunt assisted with stocking Preston Farm and Roman Villa on June 28th.

Deciding what to do!	Paul Davis - our fish supplier from Harrietsham. Paul's family have been our suppliers for two generations	Alan Gaunt stocks some brown trout at Preston Farm

June 16th 2010 The weather improved in late May and the first mayfly led to improvements in catches. Members averaged over 3 fish per visit but this was still not as good as 2009 and the number of visits (213) was substantially less than 2009 (283).

A cause for concern is that, up to the end of May, no member had recorded fishing at Furlongs Farm at all this season. Castle Farm is still firm favorite and - it has to be said - easiest!

June 6th 2010 Ten members attended the working party at Castle Farm and enjoyed dry but humid weather despite earlier forecasts of heavy rain. They were surprised to find the river level very high. Evidently the localised thunder storms during the night had impacted the catchment although only about 5mm of rain was recorded at Westerham Hill.

Herbie & Colin cutting burr reed on CF "A". The result was a very nice pool leaving enough reed downstream to accelerate the flow..	How to pose for a photo!	What shall we do next?

May 11th 2010. April fishing was disappointing with hardly any rising fish and catches similar to 2008 following a bumper April last year. From the same number of visits, members recorded catching only 153 fish compared with over 231 last April. The return of the northerly wind in early May has again kept members away from the river. Beat Manager Peter Farina had not fished at all until May 10th although one newly retired beat manager has been seen on the river bank most days! The catch return for April will be an under-estimate, however, because the clipboard from the Roman Villa beat, along with some catch return sheets, has been stolen.

Apr 19th 2010.

The club received a further Advisory Visit from a Wild Trout Trust consultant sponsored by the E.A. Previous Visits have been by Vaughan Lewis. This time the consultant was Andy Thomas (right) who moved to WTT from our local E.A. office about 18 months ago. Here Martin Sutton listems to Andy Thomas while Colin Lambert takes notes. On the far left is E.A. fisheries scientist, Peri Karageorgeopoulos who, despite hailing from Greece, fishes in the England fly-fishing team. Next to Andy in E.A. Fisheries Specialist, Ben Lord. The visit was one result from our recent briefing meeting with the E.A. at their Allington Lock office.

Apr 3rd 2010. The new season is just into its thrid day over the Easter holiday and conditions have not been ideal for fly fishing. Earlier in the week the river was a veritable torrent, almost topping the bank in several places and the water was coloured as a result. Although the gale-force wind has subsided there is still a cold breeze to make casting tricky.

Keith Wallington has taken on the difficult task of dealing with poaching. There were signs of an increase last season fueled, perhaps, by the higher level of unemployment compared with previous years. In the next week or two Keith will be contacting members asking them to complete an on-line survey about their experiences with poachers on our fishery. He is also re-establishing our contacts with the local police and will work closely with our landowners.

Nov 1st 2009. Torrential rain evidently deterred the DVTF wimps from attending the last working party of the year at Preston Farm. But Martin Sutton and Tony Kallend arrived in good time to brave the elements and to put some finishing touches to the incubator system. The overnight rain had raised the river level from its previous very low level. Nevertheless, there is some doubt about whether there will be enough water by the end of the year to make the incubator operation viable.

For those who have not visited Preston Farm for some time, it is worth looking at the remarkable revêtement work carried out by Martin alone on the bank of the main river just downstream of the incubator site. He used the remainder of the hazel faggots we bought over a year ago held in place by stakes purchased for les than £10. The Preston Farm beats are looking the best they have been since we took over the fishing rights there.

Oct 26th 2009. Hadlow College students of fisheries management electrofished the Roman Villa beats on October 26th to remove pike. there were many fewer pike than two years ago and none over 10lb. Those removed were released live in Sundridge Lake with the appropriate authroisation from the E.A. The lower biomass of pike compared with two years ago means that fewer trout will have been consumed by these predators. Studies by the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratories indicate that pike removal from a chalkstream trout fishery does lead to reductions in the need for stocking and to significant financial savings. (Reference: R.H.K. Mann, 2006, J. Fish Biology, Vol.27 pp 227 - 234).

An unexpected hazard turned out to be a team of a dozen Husky dogs which now appear to be regularly exercised with a wheeled "sledge" along the river bank.

Nick Pierpoint of Hadlow College returns a large eel	Huskies by the Darent!	Electrofishing at Roman Villa

Oct 7th 2009. Nine of us turned up at the October working party at Preston Farm. The main task was to prepare the site and assemble the incubator and filters ready for the trout eggs which we expect to collect in late December or early January. With little or no rain for a month, the river level was low exposing the great deal of silt and mud that had collected upstream of the weir over previous months. Some of this was cleared and the tanks were finally installed at the right levels and the whole system tested satisfactorily.

A reminder of the flooded incubator; winter 2008	Kevin Barry, Ian Douglas and Mark Ross
	install the incubator; October 2009

The superb maintenance work carried out througout the saeson by beat manager, Martin Sutton, was evident; especially his careful cutting of the in-river weed to channel the water flow. After completeing the incubator installation, members spent further time clearing bankside weeds.

Aug 25th 2009. There were disappointingly few visits to the river by members in June and July. No doubt the higher than average rainfall affected enthusiasm in June while July gave us quite a few hot days. The average catch per visit fell below 2 fish in July. However things picked up in August; there were more visits and the average catch improved.

There has been a marked increase in poaching this year fuelled, perhaps, by the recession and higher unemployment. The Club has membership of the Angling Trust and one of our new members, Keith Wallington, has contacts in their legal department. Keith is keen to seek their advice on behalf of the club. The ultimate aim will be to gain greater involvment of the police in deterring poachers.

Jul 21st 2009.

About thirty five of us braved the late July evening weather to enjoy the barbecue at Castle Farm. The forecast for Tuesday evening had been varying almost hourly during the week. In the event there was a little rainfall in the late afternoon but the evening was dry and warm although overcast. However, we decided to use the flower barn whilst Alan Gaunt cooked for all of us on a single gas barbecue. We enjoyed steaks, tuna steaks and a variety of salads follwed by delicious fresh strawberries and cream. Herbie again provided the wines. I particularly enjoyed Alan's wild rocket salad garnished with grated cheese. The flowers in the barn took their toll, however. The pollen triggered my wife's allergy and we departed earlier than planned although some thought it was to avoid helping to clear up! Thanks to Alan and Herbie, not forgetting the organiser our treasurer Colin Lambert.
Chef de Cuisine Alan Gaunt	Steve Brooks and Colin Lambert chat to Keith Wallington & family

Jul 5th 2009. Ten members supported beat manager, Martin Sutton, and spent the morning cutting in-river weed and trimming the bankside vegetation on PFA and PFB. A start was also made in clearing debris and silt from the sidestream and weir on PFB ready for the possible installation of the egg incubator next winter. Further work is required to remove the accumulation of silt upstream of the weir and various rocks downstream.

June catch returns indicated fewer visits to our beats than the record earlier months. Members were, no doubt, put off by the hot sultry weather towards the end of the month. The fish did not agree, however, and the average catch per visit was just short of 3.0. Over the season so far the average per visit still exceeds 3 fish.

Jun 7th 2009. Eight members turned up for the June working party led by Steve Brooks and Colin Lambert. The main task was to remove a large alder tree which had fallen across the river near the fish barrier on Castle Farm "A". George Blewden, a friend of Ian Douglas and now an applicant for membership, brought along a hefty pickup truck with a winch and after Ian had cut the tree trunk we were able to winch the pieces onto the bank. If that sounds easy then it was not.

Guess who (1)	Ian Douglas with Herbie & Peter Pape	Guess who (2)

The whole job took about 3 hours and, despite all our attempts, we were unable to remove the root section because of an under-water tap root. This remains in the river forming a natural deflector. However, we shall need to watch its effect to ensure that the altered flow does not cause bank erosion. Meanwhile, other members repaired fencing at the bottom of CF "A" and others cleared debris and overhanging branches further upstream.

Jun 3rd 2009. Catch returns for May are now posted and April catch returns have been up-dated to include Roman Villa beat and some other late returns. May returns indicate that several club records have been broken. A monthly record 288 fish were recorded caught in May and that excludes several rainbows caught at Preston Farm where we have not stocked rainbows in recent years. One member reports catching some small rainbows from the Hopgarden beat - yet another indication that rainbows do sometimes spawn on the Darent and that not all rainbows are triploids. The combined April/May average catch was over 3 fish per visit.

May 4th 2009. Catch returns for April are now posted. Despite an increase in membership, there were fewer visits than in the previous year although more fish were caught. and that is without all the Roman Villa data. Notably, one rainbow was caught at the Roman Villa and two from Preston Farm "B" although rainbows have not been stocked on these beats for more than two years.

Apr 13th 2009. DVTF President, Frank Cobbett, has died. An obituary by John Rees may be seen here.

Apr 11th 2009. The season has got off to a good start on all beats although I have already received two reports of poachers. The first planned working party was cancelled because of bad weather but attendance at the March and April sessions were among the highest turnouts ever.

Sadly, two of our members died over the close season. Two members resigned and two others failed to renew membership without contacting us. With the small increase in membership agreed at the AGM we thus welcome nine new members plus one re-joining member in the person of journalist Henry Nicholls.

We have continued our policy of stocking brown trout only on all beats except the Castle Farm beats where we plan to stock equal numbers of browns and rainbows. Colin Lambert is in overall charge of stocking and asks members to note, particularly, on the catch returns any small brown trout of 6" - 8". In any event it is helpful to note sizes of all fish caught as it aids subsequent stocking.

Martin Sutton has again been busy at Preston Farm and used hazel faggots for some excellent revetement work on the bank near the car park. New seats provide respite for those of us who are less fit than we were.

Bank Repair at Preston Farm	New Seat at Preston Farm

Feb 11th 2009. Martin Sutton is planning the 2009 River Fly Identification day this year for a Saturday in June. Given good weather, this is an event not to be missed. Martin brings a couple of expert friends and they demonstrate sampling techniques as well as the identification of the myriads of small creatures that inhabit our fishery. Expect to see and learn about everything from bizarre cased caddis, blue winged olive nymphs, mayfly nymphs and a host of others. Martin usually provides tea and cake. The precise date and venue is yet to be fixed but it is likely to be at Preston Farm where Martin has taken over as Beat Manager this year.

Incidentally, Martin has been working hard on his own over the winter clearing fallen branches and generally tidying up the Preston Farm beats.