A Red Admiral woke me last Sunday. It was a sign. Today I had to go to Loe Bar and follow up on the news that fish were swimming up river, seemingly trying to get away from the pool. And no, they were not reported as Salmon. We don’t get Salmon there.

I went with Nikki. She had reported the news to me. Her mother, whilst walking the dogs had seen the fish and the Environment Agency at the riverbank. She spoke to the EA and they explained they were testing the water to see if they could ascertain what was happening.

It was within minutes that Nikki and I were confronted with the same sight, w -5.28373 n 50.09340. The water was boiling water, just how I imagine Piranha to kick up. Nik’s dog Troy jumped in and played madly with the shoal.

I can’t report on what’s going on yet, but I’ve found these bits and so I know things haven’t got so warm that we’ve got Piranha!

“Global warming may be one of the reasons there are shoals of fish in the River Cober at Helston. The fish - identified as roach by angling expert Roger Baker - have been in the river for what has been reported as more than a week. Roger said: “It’s a bit unusual for them to shoal up like this, especially at this time of year, they normally go like that when they are spawning in the spring.”
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk 08 November 2007

“I was recently down the Cober and discovered this 150 yards stretch of river teaming with fish such as roach and perch. As someone who fly fishes down the Cober and catches brown trout in the moor area, I’ve fished there for a while - I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Chris Hodgkins, Helston
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk Comment section

(We also saw more roach at w -5.28371 n 50.09286, and they seemed smaller)