Dr Paul Garner
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. Starting at the tender age of three under the guidance of his father, also a life long angler, Paul was fortunate to escape the urban sprawl of London to fish such exotic venues as the River Colnebrook and Grand Union Canal as a child. 
From these early beginnings, it was a natural progression for him to move into club level match fishing at which he was quite accomplished, winning his clubs senior championship at the age of 15!
Just as the open match scene beckoned, Paul discovered specialist angling, and spent the next five years fishing predominantly for tench, carp and barbel. At the age of 21 Paul left London and moved to Cambridgeshire to undertake a PhD in fisheries ecology and then spent three happy years fishing all over the middle counties of England, catching specimen barbel, carp and zander in the process. It was during this period that Paul first became known nationally for his catches of specimen barbel from the then relatively unknown River 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. In this species-poor area, Paul concentrated on carp in the summer months and pike in the winter. During his last year in the area he also spent a considerable amount of time on Lancashire’s River Ribble. This was with some considerable success with numerous specimen chub and barbel. During this time he also travelled far and wide, tracking down specimen grayling, rudd and bream, from counties as far apart as Dorset, Cambridgeshire and Worcestershire and also travelled around the world in search of other species.
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.
A Fishery of Your Own – Part One
I know I am not alone in having a lingering desire to control my own fishery. I suppose it comes down to conceit really. The feeling that you could do better than others have in the past. This is part of the reason I have decided to become involved, but it is also because I can see a lot of potential fisheries going to waste.
In my local area there are a large number of small lakes and ponds which are either being used for other recreational activities, or are simply being left dormant. Now, with the exception of Conservationists, most user groups couldn’t give a fig about the water they use. How many water skiers do you see planting trees, or dog walkers de-silting small ponds? Yet, without some management most small lakes and rivers will slowly become silted until they cease to exist.
The speed with which waters can be lost is frightening. Small shallow ponds may disappear in a decade or two without some management. For many waters the cost of regeneration may become uneconomical, and unless it is carried out as a labour of love, the water will be lost forever. I like to think that I am doing my little bit to manage the countryside in a responsible manner. Obviously, I am most interested in the fish, but this is only part of the reason I go fishing. Fishing is about being out in a beautiful environment, being part of the environment, and sharing that feeling with like-minded people. This is why I decided it was time to obtain my own fisheries. 
In this series I will describe the development of some of my fisheries as it happens. As luck would have it, a friend and I have just acquired an idyllic three acre lake. The lake requires a lot of the work which many of you embarking on similar projects will face, so I hope you will find it interesting.
The story so far is pretty typical. I had been looking for a lake for a few months without much success when all of a sudden three came along at once! Owl lake, as we have christened it, had the most going for it. Not only was it set in a beautiful location, but we were able to negotiate a long lease, allowing the fishery time to develop. The lake is also situated close to several quite large towns, so we are fairly certain of finding enough anglers to fish it. All in all, the lake represented a realistic project based upon the amount of effort the two of us could put in, available funds and the likely revenue generated over the next few years. Being realistic is really the key to developing your own fishery. There is no point in taking on too large a project, and believe me, costs can very quickly escalate on even a small fishery.
So we had found our fishery mainly through word of mouth. This is often the most reliable way, especially as it gives an introduction to the owners which can be worth it’s weight in gold. Prior to this, I had found other waters by looking at the Ordnance Survey maps, but this can be quite a laborious process, particularly as the owner is often not obvious.
Occasionally, lakes do come up for sale, but in my experience, they are often highly over-priced. Water can be anything from £ 1000 to £ 10,000 per acre depending upon the state of repair, size and location. Add planning permission on the site and you are looking at mega-bucks. Unless you are particularly loaded it is, I feel, generally better to look for a long lease rather than to buy. It is also better for both the tenant and the owner to try to negotiate as much as possible on their own. Most land agents are pretty inexperienced when it comes to water, which is a very different proposition to land. Very often their estimated values are way over the top, which pushes the water out of your price bracket and leads to unrealistic expectations of revenue.
Talking of revenue, it is also worth bearing in mind that unless you are talking about a very special water, or a very large site you will struggle to make a living out of your fishery. You may earn a small profit, but that little patch of blue ain’t going to turn into a gold mine. Generally, a match fishery might be in use for thirty weeks of the year, a carp fishery perhaps five more. The rest of the time you might as well forget it. Weekends will see too many anglers and mid-week will see too few. No, there are lots of ways to spend money on your fishery and far fewer to recoup the expense.
Still keen? Next month I will look more deeply at some of the amenities other than water that can make or break a fishery and update you on our progress so far.
If you are looking for specific advice on any aspect of Fisheries Management Paul can be contacted on 01394 610 399, or e-mail Paul Garner
