Broadwater
project completed.
The final stage of netting off the bird feeding area at Broadwater
Lake was completed on Sunday 18th May by club members under the
watchful eye of Lead bailiff Mike Holcombe.
The netting was firmly anchored to the lake bed by the qualified
divers using hessian sacks filled with a dry concrete mix by the
land based crew. Poor visibility and low water temperatures made
this a difficult and cold job but it was expertly executed by Clive,
Ade, Dave and one other (sorry not known to me but many thanks
guys.) Water safety man Derek Marshall was in the boat overseeing
the operation in the lake whilst Alan Millington was organising the
netting team on the bank.
Once the chain link was firmly sealed, the netting team went into
action removing as many of the carp as possible into the main lake.
Those of you who have been involved with nettings before will know
that it is impossible to catch them all so we will run
nets regularly through this section to keep the fish in the main
lake.
An intriguing selection of items were recovered on the first pull
and cleared away but no shopping trolleys or golf buggies this time!
A lot of tackle and the odd crab line.
In excess of 500lbs of carp were moved during this operation and are
now back in the main lake. It was estimated that there were between
300 - 400lbs of roach and rudd there too which can move freely in
and out of this area through the chain link fence. The good news is
that this means the roach population is alive and well with some
very healthy sized specimens amongst them too. Large perch (2lbs
plus) were there in good numbers and were moved to the main lake.
Many thanks to Bob Pickett for the pictures.
"Broadwater
Lake improvement."
With the kind permission of Waverly Borough Council we have closed
off the neck of the Bird Feeding area by installing a chain link
fence across the gap.
It will be held down on the bottom by hessian sacks filled with
concrete to remove any chance of it lifting. The purpose is twofold:
to keep the carp out of this area where they were too easily poached
and to keep them in the main lake available for us to catch.
Work started at 8am Friday morning and was completed by 2pm. The end
result is a neat and tidy job using good quality materials by a team
of committed club members. The second stage of the exercise will
take place Sunday 18th May when the Bird feeding area will be netted
and the hessian sacks put in place by another group of club members
who are qualified divers.
Pictures of the work as it was being carried out are below."
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PLEASE NOTE ESSENTIAL TREE WORK WILL BE CARRIED OUT ON BUSBRIDGE LAKE
FRIDAY 11TH APRIL. CONSEQUENTLY, SWIMS 13 - 35 INCLUSIVE WILL BE CLOSED
OFF FOR SAFETY REASONS BETWEEN 8AM & 4PM. THE CAR PARK END OF THE LAKE
REMAINS OPEN |
BARBEL & CRUCIAN CARP
into G.A.S. WATERS :
Christmas
came early on the River Wey this year, as the Environment
Agency delivered a stocking packed with 100 Barbel on
Wednesday 5th December.
The batch of 12-month-old fish were
released at Eashing, near Godalming, as part of an
Environment Agency project to give the barbel population a
boost. The fish have been bred at the Environment Agency
fish farm at Calverton, near Nottingham, which produced half
a million fish last year.
Environment Agency fisheries officer Adrian Bicknell said:
“The Barbel stocking went really well yesterday and the fish
seemed fine after a long day. We are working with Godalming
Angling Society to restore the Barbel population in this
historically important section of the river.”
Malcolm Richardson, secretary of Godalming Angling Society
added: “Our members are absolutely delighted with these
healthy and fast growing young Barbel. We are working with
the Agency on plans for habitat enhancements that will boost
Barbel spawning and reduce the need for stocking in the
future.”
In addition to these Barbel, the Environment Agency also
delivered 100 pure-bred Crucian Carp, that were released
into Harris Lake, Marsh Farm. These young fish were also
bred at the EA farm at Calverton, from mature brood fish
supplied last year by Godalming Angling Society from Marsh
Farm.
FMC
Match results.
The annual FMC match was
held this year on the
Stovolds stretch last
Saturday 27th October
2007.
Following a brief
respite to the frosts
seen in the previous
week the FMC boys turned
up whilst it was still
dark apart from the full
moon blazing away in the
sky. Not a good omen as
a rule and that was case
for this sociable match
where the winner takes
all but has to spend it
over the bar
afterwards!
There was a draw for the
agreed walk-off and
fishing was to be from
as soon as you could
cast a line until 1pm.
It was very hard going
even for the experts who
struggled to get close
to one pound in weight.
Alan Millington was
landing fish
consistently at the
start but in the event
they were very small and
dried up all too soon.
Andrew had a chublet
first cast that was
barely bigger than the
lobworm and an hour
later hooked a
reasonable chub of about
2lbs.
Mike Holcombe spent the
first 45 minutes walking
up and down, claiming he
was looking for deep
water. Dave Woolgar
reckoned he was just out
to spook everyone else's
swims as he finally
settled on the furthest
upstream peg that no one
else had visited.
Whatever the reason, he
sneaked out two small
chub plus a few bits to
record top weight of
3lbs 8oz, to take the
trophy for the first
time. Twice winner
Andrew came in second
with 2lbs 4oz. Dave
Woolgar's 4 medium sized
chub turned out to be a
figment of his
imagination. Mike
Holcombe was surprised
he had that much.
Everyone caught on the
day but with low levels
& very clear water it
was always going to be
hard. However, it was
fished with the usual
good spirits in evidence
until we all remembered
just how steep the slope
back to the car park
was.
Only two made it to the
top without stopping and
they probably regretted
it!
Mike dutifully purchased
the beers post match but
sadly not everyone could
attend and they are
hoping he'll still be in
the chair next time we
meet up.
Congratulations Mike on
a good win.
With so
many trees surrounding
our waters there are
always some in need of
urgent work in spite of
my best efforts to get
on top of it.
Fortunately we have
access to a number
excellent tree surgeons
who can do what I always
call the "Clever bits" -
that is the climbing
jobs and felling the
awkward ones. In the
last couple of weeks Ian
& Michael have
volunteered their
services for a day and
managed to do some
sterling work for us.
I was rather busy doing
the clearing up so there
are not too many pics
available this time. The
main work carried out by
Ian was at Johnsons
taking down the
increasingly dodgy
silver birch backing on
to Harris lake, the very
large willow branch that
had broken off and was
hanging above the Double
swim & several other
large and precarious
branches along the road
bank. We then sorted out
the dead silver birches
around the stock pond, a
dangerous willow in the
car park and worked
along the railway bank
to tidy up a number of
overhanging branches
too. A fair sized Lime
turned out on inspection
to have rotten joints in
its crown which were
only visible when
climbed, although Ian's
experienced eye
suggested to him that
this would prove to be
the case. An exceptional
amount of work achieved
in just one (long) day.
A particularly useful
bit of his kit being the
chainsaw on an
extendable pole giving
reach of close to 20ft
which saves a tremendous
amount of climbing and
therefore dramatically
increases the amount of
work that can be done in
day. Thanks Ian for a
brilliant days work and
all the new information
I gleaned.
Michael did his day at
Busbridge for us last
Friday and again we
shifted a lot of
dangerous timber which
took a time to move and
burn or stack,
especially as it decided
to rain heavily for most
of the morning making
fire lighting difficult
and muddy paths hard to
walk.
I am hoping to get over
to Bramley shortly to
clear a couple of
reported fallen trees
before returning to
continue monitoring and
working at Busbridge in
accordance with the
professional tree survey
that we had carried out
in April 2003.
We are very reliant upon
members reporting trees
thought to be in
dangerous condition so
we can inspect them and
deal with as appropriate
so do please let us know
of any problems.
An
additional 300 Bream all
of almost 8oz each were
introduced to Richardson
lake yesterday afternoon
and 100 were stocked
into Busbridge to help
freshen up the stock
there which is felt to
be getting a bit on old
side. With luck this new
strain will revitalise
the bream in general at
Busbridge. Photographs
courtesy of Mike
Holcombe show the bream
being released.
Busbridge Lake
Friday
15th December saw the
tri annual dosing of
Busbridge Lake with
powdered chalk - 4 tons
to be exact. The impact
is on the Ph level as
the water gets out of
balance over time. The
good news is that it
cannot be over-dosed as
the water will only
absorb as much as it
needs to get back in
balance. Any surplus
sits dormant on the
bottom until it is
required then gets
absorbed.
Its not the best of jobs
as the 25K bags have to
be off loaded by hand
and of course the lorry
could not get up the
track so it was carried
from the entrance to the
dam wall before loading
onto the boat. The lake
was gin clear before
work commenced and by
the finish it was an
emerald green. By
Saturday morning all was
back to normal - the
only sign that we'd been
there were the traces of
chalk powder and one bag
that fell in the lake.
The work party all
looked as though they'd
changed into Homepride
flour graders long
before the task was
finished as can be seen
from the following
photographs. The
afternoon was spent
cutting & dragging out a
large multi stemmed
willow near the boat
house which was doing
its best to re root
itself from every
submerged limb.
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