Fisheries Management News (Click on all images to enlarge)
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.
 

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.