On a dark November night, on the Mołstowa River near Żukowo, a footbridge was built with a carefully constructed double gate-trap. Carved from thick alder logs (with handrail, that the poacher should have something to lean on, when tired from the all-night sting of sea trout and warmed up by a stronger choke, he will feel tired), she was a piece of diligent poaching work.
Sea trout, pulling up the rivers for spawning, hit an obstacle on their way. For sea trout, such a valve is nothing… Takes a little momentum, jump and splash in the pool - separated from the river by another barrier. But before he has time to gather his strength for the next jump, it is already flapping, pierced by a prick of a poacher lurking on the footbridge…
Luckily the rangers stumbled upon this poaching work. They dug piles deeply stuck in the bottom of the stream, destroying the trap. Only that remained… a footbridge for the comfort of fishermen rarely visiting Mołstowa.
I am writing about this clever trap construction for a reason. Everything points to it, that this year more than usual will flow to Molstowa sea trout. The reason is the renovation of hydrotechnical devices in the Trzebiatów power plant. Sea trout coming out of the sea, not hitting this obstacle, they will continue up Rega and certainly part of the herd will choose the beautiful one for their amorous games (especially in wooded clippings) and a fairly pure Molstowa. Encouraged by the unpredictable abundance of precious fish this year, poachers will surely "go crazy", specializing in the construction of subsequent valves-traps, placing nets, be in "sporty" pricking of fish during night wading with a hook in one hand and a waterproof flashlight in the other.
Specialists in stuffing sea trout on a hook will certainly also go for poaching hunting (apparently the "best" with closed eyes can spot a fish hidden somewhere under the roots in a deep ditch), pyromaniacs who like "shot" stunning of fish and "electric cable makers", pulling the cable from the nearest power line and "electricians" coming with their own current to the water, that is, with portable Russian generators in a bag or backpack. The presented dark scenario may turn out to be a reality that I miss this year.
I am aware of the extremely difficult (and expensive) to keep an eye on all the tributaries of Rega, which will be joined by the sea trout going to spawn this year, and therefore I hope, that this year's catch of spawners (they will probably be carried out despite the difficulties related to the renovation of the dam in Trzebiatów), to incubate the collected roe - compensate for the losses incurred as a result of the inevitably increased poaching.
I will return to Rega. Poaching this thing is, perhaps, smaller than on other Pomeranian rivers. Probably for this reason, that from the mouth to the
The Nowielice river flows in an open area. Any more organized and larger-scale poaching activity would be clearly visible. And the poacher is known – He does not like onlookers at his work. Though…
The insolence of amateurs of illegal fishing has no limits. Last year, local anglers covered the drainage groove with soil and debris and blocked the grate with a concrete grid. (the so-called. drain), which avoided the damming up of the power plant in Trzebiatów. The groove was obviously attractive to poachers, which were difficult to keep track of twenty-four hours a day. It didn't happen for a long time: one night the grating was pulled out of the concrete fuselage.
To do this, the trot must have used a tractor!?
Finally, I will come back to the pollution of the river in July, as reported in the press. I learn from anglers in Trzebiatów, that oil, which leaked to Rega near Łobez was happily caught in 90 percentages.
In Trzebiatów and Nowielice, anglers did not even notice any traces of this leakage. It is not only their local pollutants that do not decrease – there is no diminishing wastewater from fish processing plants and municipal waste. All this is especially visible when the water level in the river is low. Despite this, sea trout in Reda (and they are thick) there really is a lot.