Dr Paul Garner is widely known for his weekly column in Angler’s Mail. He has fished for almost all of his 29 years but still considers himself a beginner in the world of angling. He escaped the urban sprawl of London to fish such exotic venues as the River Colnebrook and Grand Union Canal as a child. Later, he took up match fishing, at which he was quite accomplished and won his club’s senior championships at the age of 15. A shift to specialist angling followed and at age 21 he left London and moved to Cambridge to undertake a PhD in fisheries ecology. He soon made a name for himself with big barbel from the then little known Great Ouse. A post doctoral post studying the populations dynamics of coarse fish meant a move to the frozen wastes of Cumbria in the far north of England where the fishing for many coarse species is relatively poor. But he still managed to make a name for himself with some excellent catches of specimen chub and barbel from the Lancashire Ribble. Late in 1998, Paul moved to Suffolk in the South East of England. Here he took up the post of Product Manager for Relum Ltd. One of the reasons for taking the job was to get back to a rich area for specimen fishing! Paul now writes a weekly column for Angling Times
WELL it has certainly been a very tense month for fishery owners up and down the country. The country has really taken a battering from the floods and I know of many fisheries that have suffered terribly as the water levels have risen. In the short term the floods have meant almost zero anglers on the bank (and so no money coming in), but also many fisheries must be hoping that their expensive fish have not decided to head off downstream.
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On one of my lakes we have had to rescue fish on a couple of occasions, although fortunately, only in small numbers. The problem with this lake is that the overflow sluice is not large enough to deal with the high flows we have had down the valley these last few weeks and so we must resort to using a large pipe which draws water from the deepest spot in the lake. With the pipe fully open any fish in the vicinity are sucked into the ditch below. Fortunately, most of the fish are clever enough to keep out of the way, but several decent trout and a few small carp have needed to be rescued from the lake.
Still, the rescue operations have given me the first glimpse of what this lake may contain. Imagine finding a lake which was stocked with carp several years ago, contains virtually no other fish, and which has remained unfished for all those years, sound tempting? In the next few days we will be draining this lake to repair the dam wall, so next month I’ll hopefully be able to show you a few of it’s secrets!
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While the water level is down it will be the ideal opportunity to build a cage around the pipe stop fish from being washed out in the future. Heaven only knows how many fish have gone this way in the past, but hopefully it won’t happen again. Eventually this lake will be used as our main rearing on facility. The combination of a very rich shallow lake and the ability to drain the water makes it ideal for this purpose. Eventually, I intend to allow the lake bed to dry out for several months each year. This will allow oxygen into the silt, which is now quite deep in places, oxygenating it and allowing it to break down. This will produce the ideal environment for our little home-grown carp.
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| removal and silt aeration |
A more pressing reason for limiting the use of the above lake is that access is very limited. Now of all the factors that can affect the viability of a potential fishery access has to come top of the list. The ability to get people to use your fishery is obviously key to making a financial success. Obviously, less people will visit if you have to climb over a couple of fences and tramp miles across a field than if you can park behind each swim. To my mind, a happy medium is desirable in all but match fisheries. Having cars too close to the bank certainly destroys some of the atmosphere.
Getting access which doesn’t already exist can be very difficult. Often rights of way will only be allowed across neighbouring land for work purposes and not for recreation. Always check the deeds before handing over any cash, it could save you a very expensive mistake!
Also allied to this is car parking. Car parks need planning permission from the local council. Once again, do not believe that you can happily accommodate thirty cars (most anglers travel on their own incidentally) just by laying down some hard core.
Access can also be thought of in the grander scale. How close is the nearest decent sized town? Although most people now have access to a car, the escalating cost of petrol certainly means that anglers are travelling shorter distances. As a rule of thumb, lakes within thirty minutes of a large town are desirable, and much beyond this angler numbers will very quickly tail off.
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On the new main lake work is continuing apace. Most of the perimeter has now been tided up and we have mapped out the location of the swims. The next task is to drop the water level as far as possible. Lowering the water will allow the syndicate to build sturdy swims, make removal of some of the snags much easier, and once again allow the accumulated silt to begin to break down. Once again, we will be netting this lake to see exactly what fish stocks we have. With only a scanty history of the lakes previous use (and so far we have resisted the temptation to fish it!), there is no telling what the lake might contain. Still, we have seen several large swirls while working down there, large trout perhaps, or carp, who knows?
If you like the sound of fishing for virgin fish in unspoilt surroundings there are still a few places left on the Owl lake carp syndicate beginning in March 2001. I doubt that there will be any really huge fish, but there will certainly be lots of easy doubles to be caught and more will be stocked this winter from my other fisheries.
Cost for the first year is only £ 100, which considering the location in North Essex, is astounding value. Viewing (strictly be appointment) can be arranged for most weekends.
If you are looking for specific advice on any aspect of Fisheries Management Paul can be contacted on 01394 610 399, or at paulandkirsty@garner66.Freeserve.co.uk
