Frank Sawyer (writer) - Career As River Keeper

Career As River Keeper

Sawyer’s first job as a river keeper was in 1925 on the River Avon at Lake in Wiltshire, just north of Salisbury. He was employed by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailley as assistant keeper to Fred Martin and managed the six miles of river around Lake House, now owned by the musician Sting.

In 1928 he moved as head keeper to the waters of the Officers’ Fishing Association, which later became the Services Dry Fly Fishing Association (SDFFA). Sawyer served as head keeper with the SDFFA until his death in 1980. The SDFFA waters included some six miles of prime chalk stream fishing on Salisbury Plain and a number of small lakes that were constructed by Frank Sawyer in the 1960s.

By the time Sawyer took over as head keeper on the SDFFA waters, natural regeneration of wild trout had dropped markedly due to the decline of the water meadows, increased pollution and large amounts of silt running into the river from surrounding farm land and the Army’s tank manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. By the early 1930s the fishery could no longer sustain a wild trout population large enough to meet the demands of fishermen. Frank Sawyer determined through detailed observation of the river that the mortality of eggs in the redds was virtually 100%. However, those few fry that did hatch had a reasonable chance of survival. Frank Sawyer introduced a large scale programme to stock the river with trout fry. Mature wild trout were caught from the Nine Mile River and other tributaries, stripped of their eggs and milt, and then returned to the river. The fertilised eggs were then reared in a purpose built hatchery designed by Sawyer before being released back into the river. Some 100,000 fry were stocked in the river each year from 1930–1953 and resulted in around 2000 large fish being caught each year and a great many more that eluded the fishermen.

Despite the success of the trout fry stocking programme, the health of the River Avon continued to decline. The river bed became compacted and many parts of the river turned into muddy, stagnant bogs from all the silt and mud running off the surrounding land and the untreated sewage and farm waste that ended up in the river. The river was rapidly becoming unsuitable for trout. Frank Sawyer undertook a major project in the early 1950s known as ‘the great clean up.’ This involved dredging the worst hit areas of the river to remove mud and silt and return the bed to chalk and gravel. Old sluices and hatch gates that impounded or reduced flow were removed in order to speed up the flow and scour the beds clear of filth. Old water meadow carrier streams were restored to provide a natural filter and a nursery for small fish and insects. Finally silt catchment pits were dug in the worst hit areas to prevent the silt and run off from reaching the main river. The great clean up had a huge and profound effect on the River Avon. The river returned to its former glory as one of the world’s premier chalk streams. There was no longer a requirement to stock trout as the natural regeneration was sufficient. There was an explosion in fly and other river life and the fishing was described by all SDFFA members as the best in the history of the river.

Unfortunately the effects of the great clean up did not last more than a few years. By the late 1950s the river’s health started to decline again. Organic mud from rotting leaves built up in a few areas but the main problem was the lack of growth in the fish despite an apparent abundance of fly. It once again became necessary to conduct large scale stocking of trout to met fishing demands. The remedy this time was the addition of fine chalk powder in large quantities throughout the fishery. Sawyer’s discovery on the importance of chalk was made partly by accident and remained controversial long after his death. Sawyer noticed that when one of the lakes in the fishery was dredged, a large amount of chalk was washed into suspension. A few months later the trout in the lake had grown much fatter and were markedly bigger than the fish in the main river. Sawyer identified that the chalk cleared the water, broke down organic matter and caused an explosion in insect, snail and crustacean numbers – all important food sources for trout. Sawyer set about adding chalk to the entire fishery. The results were astounding and similar chalking carried out in France achieved equally marked results. Unfortunately, the use of chalk failed to gain much traction in fishery management as the practice of stocking large, easy to catch farm reared trout was becoming more widespread. The health of the water and food supply was much less relevant as the farm reared fish were often caught within days of being stocked and had enough fat to last a season. The natural regeneration of trout ceased to be a factor in fishery management and the water only had to be healthy enough to keep the trout alive long enough to be caught. The SDFFA and other more traditional fisheries continued to work on natural regeneration and healthy waters but the demands of chalking 6 miles of river were too much for a fishery working on a tight budget and the SDFFA adopted a stocking policy using trout reared in its own stock ponds.