Below is the report from the fishery consultant about the water survey
With reference my recent visit to the reservoir, i believe we caught approximately 60-70% of the larger fish. There is a great number of carp over ten pounds, and this is having a detrimental affect on the other species. Whilst there is little marginal cover for the juvenile fish to hide from predators and the elements, this is something that i would make a priority. 2 days hard work, waders on and getting wet, distributing the existing iris beds into small clusters around the margins of the reservoir would be a great start. Done properly this would create a much better habitat for all the fish. Apply well rotted manure around the margins, 2 tonne would be ok.
You could also apply 1 tonne of calcium carbonate all over the surface each year. These tasks will make the water more nutrient rich and further improve the water quality to encourage fry survival of other species.
The amount of other species caught was minimal. I believe the best course of action, given the that the club wishes to manage the water as a pleasure fishery, would be to remove a good percentage of the existing carp, and replace them with smaller fish. This process could then be done whenever the average size gets to big. Also, if you undertake the other tasks properly, the fish will have a much greater chance of producing fry that may survive, giving you more fish to utilise.
Once you start to take an active approach to the basic fishery management of the reservoir, you will be rewarded and see your hard work pay off year after year.
Remove a good percentage of the carp!!!.....and thats supposed to be a good thing?
Not being funny but it isnt as if the decent carp are banked regularly as it is.Surely removing a "good percentage" isnt going to help this improve! By all means throw as much horse crap in as you like but taking fish out from the place when its fished so badly.....daft!!!
Just my thoughts.
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hi mate ,thanks for your input. you have read the report ,and like we said to andrew the consultant at first we thought it was a bit drastic but he has worked with a lot big and better fishieries than the res.( no desrespect to the res).
the way he has told us as a committee to help get better results for the members of the res and the res its self . he is the expert in the managment of fishereirs so we can only go on the advice of some one like himself.
when the reservoir was started back in the early fiftys ,it was a pleasure water for people to go down and relax catch some fish and chill out.now it seams all that people want is to go down and catch carp ( it is still a mixed pleasure water not just a carp water) we have to try and get it right for everybody not just for one section of the members ,i hope you can see what i am on about.
I have known Andrew the Fishery consultant for a while and have seen him at work and he is very good at what he does. I have also been to his fishery he manages and seen the results. I have also spoken to some of the people who fish at his fishery and from them they can not fault what he has done there. Over the years he has removed fish from his fishery( and given advice to other fisherys around the country to do this). Doing this has given the other fish left in the water to grow and produce more. Everyone who has fished at his fishery especially match men thought he had put bigger fish in, but all he had done was remove fish. Yes like you said sounds drastic, but the results in time will prove he was right, and in the coming years we should hopefully have a decent fishery for everyone. ( that is if we do take his advice).
Fair do,s.He is the expert after all.I understand your reasons but if it is to please anglers of all types then surely removing some of the carp is going to result in less being caught by the carpers.Just seems logical to me.But I trust you guys on what you are saying even if i do fail to understand how that is going to work.Thanks for the reply fellas
Hi dubz,thanks again for your comments,as i have said before we are here trying to make the reservoir a better place to fish and not the other way around.
We believe that the way to improve the quality and the percentage of fish on the res, we reduce the number of carp over the ten pound mark and replace them with one pound size and upwards (depending on fish that is avalable and affordable at the time)this doesnt mean we are just going to take any fish out just yet we are still looking into other ways to help are club.
We are all fishermen when it comes down to it and we all like to catch fish . The club has a good committee working for it ,and we talk long and hard how to improve the res the best way we can ( fair does we get it wrong sometimes but come one were only human).
Hi guys, cant find your phone number so trying to get hold of you on here, its Andrew Ellis.
Dont know your plans but if you wish to purchase any fish this winter, you can download my price list from
http://www.aefisheries.co.uk
I have Bream 1-4" available, which will be too big for predation and big enough to compete with the carp for food,
i also have everything else available form my fish farm (CEFAS registered, all have relevant health documents)
Any of you guys are welcome to come and check out Lemington Lakes, so i can show you my methods work, Improve your coarse fishing had a two page article on what i do there, and Kev Green quoted "its a blueprint for the perfect coarse fishery" so i must be doing something right.
While i was on here, i read a few of the threads, and understand that some people might think its odd to remove fish, but its all about relative biomass and common sense fishery management. Remove a weight of the fish you may have loads of, then stock suitable weight of fish you dont. Do this sensitively once then you wont have to keep doing it.
I am working for english heritage, wynstay estate, daylesford estate, carnie estate etc as well as nearly 200 private and commercial fisheries, my job is to educate and show people whats going on in their waters and give advice to better the sport and environment.
If you need any help with anything let me know.
I just hope you havent been daft enough to believe all the marketing talk and stock F1s, or any other short term gimmick!
First of all, before you do anything with the fish you need to sort out a few things round the fishery first!
1. Everbody im sure would love a bit of level earth near the pegs to put bank sticks in etc.
2. Get rid of some of the horrible snags which feel HUGE and your line grates against them horribly in the corner between pegs 9 and 10 and the corner where the disabled peg is also on the very far margins.
3. Make the security much better i.e new lock!, and secure some of the fences near the fishermans friend side and the halsall side, ive seen 10 year olds get over in no more than 2 minutes!
Also if your thinking of taking out carp over 10lb why dont you keep say the five biggest fish in there (who knows how big these fish are theres all sorts of stories going round!) and keep all the ones that are in good condition and look good, and get rid of the carp that are in bad condition (there are quite a few) and to be honest i would still say it is a mixed coarse fishery as i fish mainly for the carp but usually there is an appearance from a slab or a slimy tench, and on a recent session my mate got a nice bream of 7lb. With these small fish you are planning to put in you could also pt a few specimens in aswell if you want
oh and there is some wierd green stuff in the water under the tree next to the disabled peg in the corner which to me looks like algae but not sure if it is and if it is bad.
Out of all the members there is only a handful that goes on the res and does any work that is needed to be done,and these people also have full time jobs, so are limited to when we can get up on the res. We try our best at doing as much work as we can in a season from picking up litter that has been left behind by members to fixing the fences, myself and the chairman were up on the res repairing some fencing on saturday, we dont have the money to completely replace the fence so we do what we can, but if people are determind to get on the res they will just keep on destroying the fence. Have you reported to anyone that you have seen 10yr olds climbing over the fence, if not, why not, we can do nothing if these incidents happen and not reported to any committee straight away, its no good days later. We want to make the res as secure as we can for the members so the will enjoy their days fishing. As for the snags in the corners these are probably tree roots or from the reeds, if we take these out there will be nowhere for the fish to spawn. As for the putting a new lock on the gate it is too late in the season for us to that, but if you read my previous thread it has been suggested that we change the lock every season, and change it with a lock that only keys can only be cut from one master key,( this will stop people getting a key cut to give their friends who are not members), this will be discuss by the committee, but unfortunately if we get one of those locks it will cost, to the member about £6.50 per key, every year. I have put a poll on my previous thread ref the lock changing. About putting soil by the pegs to put bank sticks in is something we have not thought of, as most people have either pods or attachments to put on their box, i will mention it at the next meeting but i think it might take alot of soil to do this to make it thick enough to place a bankstick in and keep it secure, i will keep you informed on what the outcome is. as for us taking out carp over ten pounds, it has been a suggestion and is still in the thinking process, it is something the committee will not rush into doing we will think long and hard before any discision will be made.
with reference my last post, i meant 1-4lb fish, not 1-4" (stocking tiny bream is a waste of time on a reservoir such as fleetwood)
I realise funds are tight and club politics make the decision making process difficult, as i said i would welcome a visit to show you what i do, the onsite accomodation is top class, and a visit would be worth your while.
There are many ways to improve the res, not just the fish stocks, but your position is difficult as it all relies on the club actually working to get results.