Quality Rudd into Harris lake at Marsh Farm

On Sunday 29th April 2012 about 100lb of quality Rudd were stocked into Harris Lake, weighing from 6oz up to 1lb.8oz

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Quality Fish stocked into Bramley Park Lake 

140lb of Roach and 100lb of Bream were released into Bramley Lake on Sunday 8th April 2012. The Bream being of a size that should avoid cormorant predation, see attached pictures.
My thanks to Dave Barnard and Richard McGuinn for man-handling the bins of fish ( & water ) from weighing across to the lake.
  Mike.

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Roach and Perch stocked into Richardson Lake at Marsh Farm

On Saturday 31st March 2012 approximately 300 pounds of fish were released into Richardson Lake at Marsh Farm, comprising of small Roach and Perch. This stocking amounted to well over a 1,000 fish with some Roach to 6 ounces, see the attached pics.
   Mike

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More Chub in Marsh Farm 

On a bitterly cold Monday 19th December we took delivery of some superb Chub for the Marsh Farm lakes.
Before they arrived we had the most difficult of jobs, to net and remove the small carp from Johnsons Stock-pond,with the surface totally covered by a significant layer of ice ! The carp being required as the exchange for the Chub.
Anyway, Alan and Ben determined that netting beneath this ice layer was possible, and with assistance from Ian they succeeded. I managed to stay dry on the bank ! These three guys worked in extremely cold water, and Ian even selected a pair of waders with a hole in !!
They managed a good haul of Carp and Hybrids, which were transferred to the Chub suppliers tanks for transfer to Lincolnshire. We then took possession of some prime Chub, weighing between 2lb and 3lb.8oz., which have been released into Richardson and Harris Lakes.
All credit to Alan Millington and Ben Carter for working in these conditions, and my thanks to both Ian and Gareth for their considerable help on the day.
  Mike.

Broadwater Carp Population Survey 2011
In order that we may determine the numbers, size range, and health of the carp in Broadwater Lake,we enlisted the services of Sparsholt College to net and then provide a report on the carp population.
On Wednesday 30th November, Sparsholt Tutor, Neil Crooks, and a team of 13 Students arrived at Broadwater ;
then supported by our G.A.S. support crew commenced netting. Only one sweep of their 200 metre net was necessary to catch sufficient carp for the days work.This work comprised of weighing, measuring, and pan-jetting ( small dye mark ) every carp netted.
The details of a total of 451 carp were recorded ; a total weight of over 2 tons. Hard work in cold conditions !As time ran out we released the fish that remained in the net un-checked.
The following Wednesday the netting operation was repeated, this time with two Tutors, Neil & Dan, with 25 students.
Conditions were awful, with low temperature and a very strong cold biting wind ; as such the fish were harder to find.
A total of 70 carp for nearly 800 pounds weight were netted and details recorded.
The data from both days will now be assessed by Neil, with a report issued early in the new year.
Alan Millington and I wish to thank those G.A.S. stalwarts that turned out and worked so hard, getting wet and cold.
So thanks Geoff, Bill, Ross, Kevin, Big Dave, Patrick, Lee, Derek, Gareth, and Dave. With particular thanks to our BW Bailiffs, Dave & Gary, not only for their work on these days, but also for all of their time and effort in assisting Alan in the preparation work ( in and out of the lake ).
Finally, and most importantly thanks to my wife, Lin, for all of the catering. Serving lunches of hot pasties and beans, and keeping the urn on for hot drinks throughout both days. Then to Rosie & Chloe for helping her on the first day.

Another EA Consignment of Fish for the River

Our thanks to the EA for providing us with more fish for our river, with particular thanks to Ade Bicknell for transporting them all the way from Calverton.
We received approximately 200 Barbel, 200 Chub, and 200 Dace ; as previous years, all small fish bred at EA Calverton.
They were released into the River Wey just below Eashing Bridge on Thursday 24th November 2011.

Futher stocking takes place at Johnsons.
This years selected introduction of another new strain of Mirror Carp for Johnsons went in the lake on 23rd October 2011.
They are 4 year year old VS ( Viv Shear & Simon Scott ) specially bred fish for both scale-patterns and growth rates, with expected top weights in excess of 30lbs in a few years time.
The fish were hand picked by us, as were the previous two years introductions, and this consignment weighed between 7lb. and 12lb.8oz. ( see sample pics below )
 

Little Enton Challenge Match

Following the recent netting of Mr.Grant's Little Enton Lake to remove carp, the GAS Netting Crew received a challenge to fish a Friendly Match against a team selected by Mr.Grant.
In addition to the match challenge, we would as requested further reduce the carp stock by take away those caught.
On a sunny, but cold breezy day two teams of seven gathered for the match draw around this very pretty lake.
Despite the forecast of the "home team" the carp were not feeding ravenously all around the lake, and as a result the catch weights were low.
Congratulations to "Mr.Grant's Seven" who took the first three places, with our Roger Miles providing the only real challenge, missing out on third place by a few ounces.

A total of 22 Carp were caught and removed to our Johnson's Stock-pond, after a most enjoyable event.

	Alan Collecting the Carp		GAS star Roger
Mr Grant and Alan checking the catch		Rogers 4th place catch
	Ross with his silvers		Winner recording catch

TROUT INTO JOHNSONS LAKE ON APRIL 22nd 2011

In an attempt to reduce the vast numbers of fry produced by the ever successful spawning in this lake every spring and summer,
we have introduced a number of 'predators'.
As other species would create their own problems ; such as pike eating our larger specimen fish, and perch
multiplying to generate even more fry, we have selected Trout as a safe and inexpensive option. 

290 Brown Trout weighing between 1lb.4oz. and 2lb.4oz were released into the lake today ( see pics below ). 
Important : In the event that you hook and land any of these trout, please release immediately, preferably unhooking
the trout in the water avoiding undue contact in a landing-net. On no account must these fish be retained in nets.

Nettings on 12th March 2011
Three netting operations were carried out on Saturday morning, thanks to our usual volunteers turning out,
plus Ben Carter's crew of two down from Lincolnshire. The operations were organised primarily to remove the carp
from Hill Pond at Marsh Farm and from the Stockpond at Johnsons.
In addition we were asked by our neighbour, Mr.Grant, if we could remove some carp from his water, Little Enton.
For this work Mr.Grant allowed us to remove Roach to stock into Busbridge. 

Hill Pond
We removed a total of 107 Carp from this pond, plus 6 Bream that were returned to Richardsons Lake. 

Johnsons Stockpond
A total of 202 Carp were netted from the stockpond, together with 38 small Tench weighing less than a pound apiece. 

Little Enton ( Mr. Grant's Lake )
22 Carp were removed together with approximately 2,000 small Roach. 

Busbridge Lake
Approximately 2,000 small Roach were released into this lake, courtesy of Mr.Grant. 
The carp have been taken by Ben Carter's crew, with the agreed value to be 'paid' by the supply of selected stock fish.
My thanks to all those guys for turning up to help on yet another Saturday, the third in the last four !
Alan Millington and I much appreciate your support, as without you this work could not be done.

Mike Holcombe

Netting of Barnett Pond, Shamley Green. 

On Saturday 19th February a G.A.S. netting party went to Barnett Pond at the request of Shamley Green Angling Society
to remove the small fish from their 'over-stocked' water. We suffered a cold wet morning for this exercise, but managed to
remove over 250 small Roach and Perch.

Alan Millington and I thank those hardy anglers who turned up, assisting with the preparation ( cleaning boat and inflating tyres ),
loading up the gear, then hauling the nets in horrible conditions, and finally hanging the wet 80 and 100 metre nets in the Barn.
Thank you to Ade O., Clive L., Dave M., Dave P., Derek M., John D., Lee D., Mark, and Ross.

All of these small fish were safely released into our Bramley Park Lake. 
Mike.

Bream for Busbridge and Bramley Park Lakes - February 2011 

Quality Bream were released into both Busbridge Lake and Bramley Park Lake on Monday evening ( Feb 7th ).
They had a high average weight of 2.5lb., in an attempt to minimise predation from pike and cormorant.
With approx 80 going into Busbridge, and about 70 into Bramley.

Our supplier delivered the fish in the evening following a days netting, and our thanks to Alan Millington who had

More Barbel into Eashing : 

The EA supplied us with a further consignment of small Barbel today ; these having been bred at their Calverton facility.
Fisheries Officer, Ade Bicknell, was once again the man who delivered them, having driven down from Calverton this morning.
We released the eighty Barbel into the main river at Eashing, all of which swam away strongly into their new home.

Mike  --  26th January 2011

16-11-2010
Barbel and Chub into River Wey 

More Fish for Godalming's Waters :

We received a consignment of fish today from the Environment Agency ; our thanks go to John Sutton and Adrian Bicknall for organising and delivering the valuable new stock. 

All of these young fish were bred at the EA Calverton Fish Farm and arrived in superb condition. Derek Marshall and I were on-hand to assist with the release into their new homes, as follows :-
 

200 Chub into the R.Wey at Eashing.

250 Chub into Winkworth.

100 Crucian Carp and 100 Tench into Bramley Park Lake.

 

Mike  -  17th November 2009.
 

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Introduction of a new strain of carp to Johnson’s click here

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New sluice constructed on Marsh Farm.
 
Construction of a new sluice to enable us to control the water coming from the borehole has been undertaken over the last couple of weeks. It involved digging out the base and the bank sides, installing shuttering, tying it in, internal metal reinforcing rods and a scaffolding platform to allow tipping the concrete from. 
On Tuesday morning the Mix a Mate lorry weighing in at a mere 44 tons turned up and kept off the grass! The 2.5 cm of concrete was moved little by little by power barrow to the site and then tipped into a wheelbarrow taken across the scaffold platform and tipped carefully into the shuttering below. Weighing in at 1 ton when loaded the power barrow was too heavy to run across the platform and too long to be able to turn and tip. Fortunately we had a fit young man to do the heavy work - thanks Alex. 
Down in the ditch was a concrete splattered Barrie happily tamping it all down and finally some two hours later trowelling it off to a smooth finish. Each wing of the sluice now holds something like 3.5 tons of concrete encased around the reinforcing rods installed a few days earlier.  Later that afternoon, the scaffold planks were removed, pressure washer cleaned courtesy of Kevins machine, then returned to Gary who very kindly provided all the scaffolding free of charge.  
By Wednesday morning the concrete was solid, helped no doubt by a very mild night. Next week we will removed all the shuttering and be able to view the new sluice in all its glory! My thanks go to Barrie, Peter, Bob & Alex for helping achieve this new sluice.
 
Andrew Mackenzie.
Still Water Fishery Maintenance Manager.
 

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New sluice for borehole.
 
We are well under way with the shuttering construction for the new sluice at the end of The Wildlife Pond. Final support work prior to filling with concrete will take place over the next few days. My thanks go to Barrie Stephens, Andy Alderton and Bob Pickett for all their hard work. Gary is about to run some scaffold across the ditch for us to make pouring the concrete into the shuttering that much easier.
 
All being well the new sluice will be ready to be tested at the same time as the borehole test pumping takes place.

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Netting of Johnsons Lake on September 19th 2009 

Alan and I wish to thank every one of the thirty volunteers that turned out on Saturday for the netting of Johnsons Lake. It was a long day with five hauls of that 200 metre long net, and every one went home exhausted. It was a superb team effort, although the actual catch was a little disappointing. 

However, we are still achieving our objective, that is to reduce the numbers of small fish in the lake in order that our specimen's growth rates will improve. Additionally, Busbridge Lake will benefit from the introduction of the 'unwanted' small Tench, fish up to two pounds in weight. 

We transferred 146 Tench to Busbridge, and removed 58 Carp of less than ten pounds in weight to the Stock-pond. We also transferred a small number of Perch to Richardsons Lake on Marsh Farm, this to replace those lost in last summers de-oxygenation crisis. 

Disappointingly, we find that mindless persons continue to move fish between our waters. Eleven Bream were netted and returned to Richardsons, some of these fish having spawned in Johnsons from the original illegal transfers. We also netted one of our pristine Chub from the Harris Lake stocking, this was also returned to its rightful home. 

All other fish were slipped back into Johnsons and these included some beautiful specimens ; with 20lb+ Carp, 3lb+ Perch, 3lb+ Crucians, plus super Rudd and Roach. 

Our thanks also to Roo Newby of CEMEX, for joining us for the day. His involvement and expertise were much appreciated, and after all those hours in the water he must have driven home extremely weary.  

Thanks also to my wife, Lin, for collecting and delivering the much needed grub for lunch.

Mike.
 

Yet More Fish into Bramley Park Lake

Alan Millington and Mike Holcombe travelled down to Sussex on 6th April to assist with the netting at Mill Farm Fishery. Together with Martin and Phil of Moore & Moore, they carried out five successful netting sweeps with a 50 metre net to secure over 4,000 fish for the Society. The catch, comprising of prime Roach and Silver Bream, were all released into Bramley Lake on the same day.
 

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Fish into Bramley Park Lake

 

With some of the fish refuges now in place, we have introduced two consignments of fish into the lake. The first consignment was provided courtesy of the Environment Agency, for which we thank Adrian Bicknell for his valued assistance in organising the provision of these fish. We received a delivery on Friday of over 5,000 fish, comprising of Roach, Bream, Perch and a few Gudgeon. See pics attached. 

The second consignment was approximately 5,000 fish, with these being a mix of Roach and Perch. ( some pics attached ) 

So in two days over 10,000 fish have been stocked into Bramley Park Lake, but the work is not complete as we now plan to install a further twenty 'refuges', effectively forming an artificial reef down the centre of the lake. For this work we will again require a large work party, any volunteers please contact Alan Millington or me ( 01483 417417 )

Mike Holcombe
 

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Bramley Lake Fish Protection

Mike Holcombe.
 

Disappointing netting results at Bramley prompt immediate restocking!
 
An excellent team carried a smooth netting operation a couple of weeks ago at Bramley Park Lake but the netting showed just how bad cormorant predation had been over this very cold and wet winter. The pictures show the damage they caused to our fish that have managed to survive their onslaught.  
The good news is that we have obtained access to some 6000 silver fish which will go in the next couple of weeks from both the EA and from Forked Pond for which we are very grateful. 
To protect these new stocks there will be a series of gabions (metal cages of 1cubic metre) filled with lengths of pipe run down through the middle of the lake. They will have a series of buoys marking their position so please do not fish too close or you will lose tackle! These gabions will be put into the lake in the next week by your FMC team.

More fish go in at Eashing.
 
This Wednesday (25th February 2009) saw the introduction of 2,500 quality roach to Eashing under the watchful eyes of Alan Millington, Mike Holcombe & Andrew & Sandra Mackenzie. The fish were immaculate looking and had a perfectly clean bill of health too. Thanks again to our supplier Ben Carter who is proving to be a great contact for the club. 
There was a moments worry about some pollution in the river at the time of stocking but it was only one of Alan's socks that come off when he briefly lost a Willie in the margins. The sock (clean on that morning of course) was quickly recovered and the fish showed no ill effects!  
Pictures courtesy of Mike Holcombe & Sandra Mackenzie
 

Johnsons netting Saturday 29th November 2008.
 
Firstly, a big thank you goes to the 28 members who turned out on a very cold and miserable day. Not only did they work hard throughout the 4 pulls of the EA's 200 metre net but waited patiently whilst net snagging problems (encountered from the very start of course!) were resolved by the brave souls in the dry (dryish) suits. 

Secondly, big thank you goes to Apollo 2 and Mick (soon to celebrate his 65th birthday) Pankhurst for organising the urn of hot water, teas, coffees and kit kats etc on the bankside and later in the day burgers & bacon butties in the shop. 

The four pulls were made from in front of the island towards the Marsh Farm Bank working across to the NW corner. Interestingly each pull, even though they were side by side with the previous ones brought in a different predominant species. The first was mainly carp, the second mainly stunning roach, the third mainly tench & crucian and the final pull mainly massive perch in excess of 3lbs.
 
As always seems to happen, the size of tench we were seeking (1lbs - 3lbs for stocking into Busbridge) were conspicuous by their absence although they are caught in abundance during the summer. The number of small carp hoped for also proved elusive but the following fish were moved:
 
36 small carp & hybrids moved to the Johnsons Stock Pond.
7 pretty mirror carp moved to Busbridge ranging from 5lbs to 15lbs. (See pictures below)
32 Tench moved to Busbridge ranging from 2lbs 4oz - 3lbs 8oz.
 
The net was back in the FMC Barn and hung up to dry by 3pm and the rest of the equipment stored too. It was then back to the shop for hot drinks and burgers.
 
Just to round off the day we discovered that the toilets were blocked and despite running 20ft of drain rods down through the manholes Graham & I were unable to clear them. Fortunately Graham got hold of our drain man who was out by 6pm and did the necessary for us.
 
Thanks again to all involved.

EA work at Eashing straight was carried out a few weeks ago now and the new groins are already working to scour out/deepen some stretches and provide slacks in others. Pictures of the work are below and our thanks go to not only the EA but the small team who installed them under the EA's watchful eye!

JOHNSONS LAKE CLOSED ON SATURDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2008

All members please note that we will be netting Johnsons Lake on Saturday 29th November.
The lake will therefore be closed between the hours of 7am and 4pm inclusive. 
(Notices have been on the 3 entrances to Johnsons Lake and by the gate at Busbridge for the last 3 weeks giving notice to all members too.) 
We would greatly appreciate help with the 200m net on the day BUT ONLY members who have booked in to help with the netting will be allowed on to the lake. 
This is to ensure that we can comply with Health & Safety requirements and also to stop non-helpers interferring & getting in the way on the day! 
ANYONE failing to observe this requirement will face disciplinary action.

PLEASE DO BOOK IN TO HELP BY RINGING EITHER:

ALAN on 01483 415365 or Mobile 07905 856077
or
MIKE on 01483 417417 or Mobile 07743 307650

They will let you know what is required and where we will meet on the day. If you have your own dry suit or chest waders please let them know and bring them on the day. 
The fish to removed and transferred on the day have already been discussed at FMC meetings and approved by the General Committee, consequently there will be no further debate on the day as to what stays or goes.

FMC Annual River Match Saturday 11th October 2008. 

 
The match was originally set for the previous Saturday on Stovolds section but due to various issues we moved it forward by one week & on to Easing - nearer the pub and on level ground! The move was good from the point of view that as almost always the Friday before the original date saw the first proper frost of the autumn! The week leading up to the revised date had warm days and generally mild nights with the river thinning down after a lot of rain. Saturday morning was cool at 6.30am when I walked the river at Eashing to check the swims were still there.
 
Ten had booked in to fish but unfortunately our defending champion (Mike Holcombe) was down with a bug and unable to join us. The draw for pegs 1 - 9 was held at 7.30am and the hot peg (5) drawn by Head Bailiff David Wood. The whistle blew for the start at 8am and we fished thru til 1pm. It was a glorious day but the fishing was hard and certainly not helped by 3 illegal canoeists thrashing their way downstream claiming the British Canoe Union had given them permission to use it!
We all gave them the appropriate vocal encouragement to assist them on their way downstream plus a few maggots in case they chose to stop off and fish at any stage.
 
The weigh in was started on Peg 9 drawn by FMC Match first timer Keith Baxter who weighed in with 1lbs 11oz of Dace, peg 8 was Alan who decided not to bother the scalesman having lost a good chub earlier in the morning. Due to some typically eccentric FMC side wagers Pete Dawson on peg 7 needed to weigh in his two fish, two species (minnow & Dace) for 1 oz as well as having them identified by independent adjudicator David Wood. Next was Nick Rhodes on peg 6 with 5 oz and two species (Minnow - bigger than Peters & Gudgeon - bigger than Andrews).
 
Hot favourite on peg 5 was David who also lost a good fish late on but still managed a whole 9 oz! Peg 4 was Andrew with 8oz and four species - a Dace bigger than Peters, 2 roach, a chublet and several Gudgeon all smaller than Nicks clonker!)
 
Keith was still in the lead but we knew Roger Miles had been plucking a number of Dace out and was estimated at being close to 2lbs in weight. The tension mounted! On Peg 3 Colin declined to trouble the scales man but was staying on to fish the cattle drink. Rogers moment of truth came about as the scales man arrived on Peg 2 ........... the net appeared from the river, there were silver fish in abundance...... and the scales settled finally at 1lb 10 oz just an ounce short of the top weight.
 
Keith was looking good for the win as Ade on peg 1 hadn't claimed much at all by this stage, then out came the net with what looked like a possible winning weight which included a beautiful Grayling. Then the digital scales packed up and would not work despite valiant attempts by us all! Fortunately Ade had an expensive set which we zero'd and they settled at 3lbs 7 oz. However, once we deducted the weight of the weigh sling he was down to 1lb 7oz for 3rd place. Keith had triumphed on his first attempt and collected not only the trophy (TBA) but the £45 entry money. In accordance with FMC Match tradition this was duly placed behind the bar at The Stag on the River pub and we sat out in the pub garden until almost 4pm sipping a glass or two & dining on crisps before heading home.
 
On the Nick, Peter & Andrew side wagers, Pete was down £5 with just two species both beaten in size. Nick up overall by £1, with the biggest minnow & biggest gudgeon whilst Andrew with the biggest dace, the only chublet and only roach scooped a grand total of £4 plus an additional £5 by weighing more than Nick!
You don't need to be daft to join FMC but it helps you fit in!
 
Again a great little match fished in the right spirit, in wonderful conditions, on a beautiful stretch of our river, no one blanked, less than 2lbs separated first and last and finishing in the pub for a thoroughly enjoyable social chat in warm October sunshine.
 
Congratulations to Keith and my thanks to everyone for turning out.

Swim repairs at Marsh Farm. 
The wobbly swims around Richardson and Harris Lakes (all apart from Peg 3 on Richardson as someone was fishing it all day) were repaired on Friday 10th October 2008. Some needed digging out and pulling back into position whilst others "just" needed new posts knocking in to stiffen them up again. There remains one swim on Harris (peg 20) that needs a bit of back filling which we will do next week & all being well we will get onto peg 3 at some point too.
  
EA commence installation of new trial groins at Eashing. 
Last week (October 7th 2008) the EA put in new trial groins at the start of the Eashing straight and further groins will be put in next week by club members.
The aim is to deflect the flow which will provide a mix of conditions - slacks and fast runs - that should encourage fish to remain and hopefully provide spawning areas in future. There is bargate stone just below the sandy river bottom which makes the task of putting in the posts extremely difficult and you will see that we have been unable to get them all to go in vertically! If you would like to help out next Friday 17th October please contact either Alan or Mike Tel. 415365 or 417417.

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."
 

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.
 

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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.
 

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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.

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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.

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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.