Lake turnover a few questions

[John Weddup]

Heard a rumour? No surprise, the best one is a certain fish supplier telling a certain tackleshop that the club with the problem stocked fish from the other well known suffolk fish supplier.

For eight years they have only dealt with the supplier spreading gossip.

Who funnily enough had just stocked the tackleshops own lake.

Covering his arse no doubt!

 

 

No mate I posted a reply last night that was in answer to latimeria suggesting your water was an overstocked carp puddle. I might have misread his post and he has since posted again with more helpfull comments so I withdrew my post.

 

The certain fish farmer did not mention to me about another fish farmer although he mentioned your water and it had recently had fish but they were nothing to do with the problem you were having. My enquiry was for another club who were nervous of the problem being transferred. He assured me there was nothing the other club could sensibly do and that there was no obvious risk.

 

john

[chesters1]

You just have to use your eyes and look at the stuff as it rises. It is scum/detritus/dead weed and algae whtch has accumulated on the bottom over the winter. Gas builds up under it and as the water warms up the gas pressure rises and lifts the stuff off the bottom.

 

Been happening on every still water (and a lot of rivers) all my life, and it sometimes forms great rafts and they drift into a bay.........carp will investigate it

 

Trout will follow it up and grab mouthfulls of it to sift out any insects or whatever..pal of mine tied a fly he called "Green gilbert" and we fished it by allowing it to sink to the bottom and then a continuous lift up to the boat................deadly on Grafham

 

Den

Seen the stuff myself rise and leave sparkling clean bottom showing ,its also when you get a sudden rise in fish bodies turning up ,not from eating the stuff just from rising to the surface after dying at some earlier time in the winter and lying in cold water on the bottom until the temperature rises enough to start gasses forming.

The fish dont rot but usually have tell tell signs like a patch of brown slime on them which had dropped onto them as they lay there so its possible to tell its not a new casualty.

If your into looking into corners or bays ,spotted any long streaks of grey scum ,there could be a hand full sitting side by side ,it builds up on quiet days any real breezes break it up ,what is it you muse ,well your resident heron has mastered landing on the water to catch fish the grey scum is the wax he leaves behind when he takes off again.

 

About the fungus ,it can serious and kill fish especially if combined with a flesh eating disease ,we had a problem several years ago and i killed a few shockingly marked fish with lumps eaten away and disposed of many bodies everyday ,nothing wrong with the water and after a month or so all was normal except for a few fish being caught with the fungus ,now theres none.

Its definatelya water getting warm quicker than usual scenario i noticed the water temp at the time wasnt the hand numbing coldness as usual for the time of year.the bodies became so numerous even a flock of crows mastered landing on the weeds to snatch small dead fish

The worst was having to kill a ten pound carp found in the shallows with half its face eaten away it was a pitiful sight indeed

Edited April 22, 2013 by chesters1

[RUDD]

No mate I posted a reply last night that was in answer to latimeria suggesting your water was an overstocked carp puddle. I might have misread his post and he has since posted again with more helpfull comments so I withdrew my post.

 

The certain fish farmer did not mention to me about another fish farmer although he mentioned your water and it had recently had fish but they were nothing to do with the problem you were having. My enquiry was for another club who were nervous of the problem being transferred. He assured me there was nothing the other club could sensibly do and that there was no obvious risk.

 

john

The problem cant be tranferred as the manager closed the lakes and when I say closed only a few people are allowed anywhere near them as a precautionary measure.

Barham looked busy Saturday morning - where you there?

[RUDD]

Seen the stuff myself rise and leave sparkling clean bottom showing ,its also when you get a sudden rise in fish bodies turning up ,not from eating the stuff just from rising to the surface after dying at some earlier time in the winter and lying in cold water on the bottom until the temperature rises enough to start gasses forming.

The fish dont rot but usually have tell tell signs like a patch of brown slime on them which had dropped onto them as they lay there so its possible to tell its not a new casualty.

If your into looking into corners or bays ,spotted any long streaks of grey scum ,there could be a hand full sitting side by side ,it builds up on quiet days any real breezes break it up ,what is it you muse ,well your resident heron has mastered landing on the water to catch fish the grey scum is the wax he leaves behind when he takes off again.

 

About the fungus ,it can serious and kill fish especially if combined with a flesh eating disease ,we had a problem several years ago and i killed a few shockingly marked fish with lumps eaten away and disposed of many bodies everyday ,nothing wrong with the water and after a month or so all was normal except for a few fish being caught with the fungus ,now theres none.

Its definatelya water getting warm quicker than usual scenario i noticed the water temp at the time wasnt the hand numbing coldness as usual for the time of year.the bodies became so numerous even a flock of crows mastered landing on the weeds to snatch small dead fish

The worst was having to kill a ten pound carp found in the shallows with half its face eaten away it was a pitiful sight indeed

 

The Heron was there this morning picking off easy prey as were seagulls.

I agree its a horrible sight to see the state some of the fish are in.

[John Weddup]

.

Barham looked busy Saturday morning - where you there?

No went to CAPs prestons lake friday/saturday and caught loads of bream skimmers and roach. It was very busy there.

 

Switched to Sudburys rushbrook lake at kettlebaston sunday and had quality roach and a couple of bream.

 

Strange I decided on a change but really missed barham. Will be back there next weekend but am also getting the feeling I must get to Alton very soon. Just sent off for my season ticket.

 

John

[RUDD]

No went to CAPs prestons lake friday/saturday and caught loads of bream skimmers and roach. It was very busy there.

 

Switched to Sudburys rushbrook lake at kettlebaston sunday and had quality roach and a couple of bream.

 

Strange I decided on a change but really missed barham. Will be back there next weekend but am also getting the feeling I must get to Alton very soon. Just sent off for my season ticket.

 

John

 

Van den eye Expo and red maggot fished at the bricks end used to be the going method when I fished it - loads of Tench and skimmers.

I spoke to a former (until last week) Gaps committee member at the weekend. Think he was after a few details on the lakes problems. He told me all about the Gaps AGM - it sounds as if it was a right old shambles with various parties not showing any respect what so ever to the chairman, people shouting, cheering when motions pasted/failed and a few unsavoury comments.

I do hope all the new names voted in dont mess the club up. There is talk of a mass exodus of the matchmen come fees time!

Memership reported to be 50 down on last year and not so much money in the coffers as some thought!

I was thinking of joining next year.

Hadleigh also reported to be opening their doors to associate members in a bid to bost club numbers.

[John Weddup]

Van den eye Expo and red maggot fished at the bricks end used to be the going method when I fished it - loads of Tench and skimmers.

I spoke to a former (until last week) Gaps committee member at the weekend. Think he was after a few details on the lakes problems. He told me all about the Gaps AGM - it sounds as if it was a right old shambles with various parties not showing any respect what so ever to the chairman, people shouting, cheering when motions pasted/failed and a few unsavoury comments.

I do hope all the new names voted in dont mess the club up. There is talk of a mass exodus of the matchmen come fees time!

Memership reported to be 50 down on last year and not so much money in the coffers as some thought!

I was thinking of joining next year.

Hadleigh also reported to be opening their doors to associate members in a bid to bost club numbers.

The water is still a bit plain but its in a lovely setting and A mate and myself were the ony 2 there. The roach are really good at present average size 10ozs with plenty bigger. The bream and tench are there in numbers also.

 

I think with any club that has a change the agm will always be that sort of affair. Unless of course existing members wish to retire. I hope it will be for the good as some serious changes were about to happen to the club if the change had not taken place.

 

Hadleigh have never done that before must be struggling.

 

At sudbury our numbers were a little down but we have close grip on finances so we are ok. I don't think gaps are that bad either from what I see.

 

John

[RUDD]

The water is still a bit plain but its in a lovely setting and A mate and myself were the ony 2 there. The roach are really good at present average size 10ozs with plenty bigger. The bream and tench are there in numbers also.

 

I think with any club that has a change the agm will always be that sort of affair. Unless of course existing members wish to retire. I hope it will be for the good as some serious changes were about to happen to the club if the change had not taken place.

 

Hadleigh have never done that before must be struggling.

 

At sudbury our numbers were a little down but we have close grip on finances so we are ok. I don't think gaps are that bad either from what I see.

 

John

 

Club members maths always make me chuckle.

They can soon work out Z amount of members pay Y per year. They then think Z x Y is the amount in the bank.

Dont think any of them know how much rent is payable, or insurance, or maintainance costs or that you need to keep cash back just in case.

I dont know the full in's and out's of the Gaps goings on and have only heard one side of it (the match side) and without knowing the other side of the arguments can only draw my own conclusions.

I would suspect owning one water and leasing the others may have caused bias towards the owned water receiving more attention.

[Latimeria]

There was a problem years ago with pig slurry.

The lakes are surronded bywoodland which is surrounded by farmland.

The bottom pool does not get much sunlight in the winter due to being low in valley, surronded by trees and a low winter sun.

It is this pool where the problem started the first time a few years ago.

 

I suppose it's not possible to open up wind lanes to the West? How about trimming back any bankside Willows or Alders to get more light and movement to the water? (it'd have to wait now anyway)

Difficult to say anything other than generic suggestions, all of which will have probably already been looked at. Does it get any decent aquatic macrophyte growth? When it was chalked, were any additional bacterial cultures added? Might just be that existing pockets of organic material in the sediment, coupled with leaf-fall happening each year and insufficient circulation are leading to localised anaerobic conditions which are just too much for any fish with suppressed immune systems during tough years (something I guess you've already worked out).

[RUDD]

 

I suppose it's not possible to open up wind lanes to the West? How about trimming back any bankside Willows or Alders to get more light and movement to the water? (it'd have to wait now anyway)

Difficult to say anything other than generic suggestions, all of which will have probably already been looked at. Does it get any decent aquatic macrophyte growth? When it was chalked, were any additional bacterial cultures added? Might just be that existing pockets of organic material in the sediment, coupled with leaf-fall happening each year and insufficient circulation are leading to localised anaerobic conditions which are just too much for any fish with suppressed immune systems during tough years (something I guess you've already worked out).

It was chalked two years ago.

The valley runs NW.

Gets plenty of wind as wind channels down the valley or bounces off the sides.

To many leaves fall into the lakes but the club does use a ride on mower with a leave collector in the autumn.

I have spoken to the manager and we are thinking the roach population may be out of control as they spawn like mad every year without fail.

For several years very few Chub or big perch have been caught.

I have had big perch on big soft plastic lures.

Several years ago you would catch chub using a maggot feeder but then they just vanished with only the occasional capture.

Over the weekend the manager took out a boat and saw two big shouls of Chub in the main lake. There are also some big eels present, a 6 and a 7 pounder both witnessed and weighed the only two caught in four years.

These fish are surviving on something - not anglers baits.

Most likely on Roach, last year a good number of Roach/bream hybrids also made an appearance so they are also interbreeding!

The Ea are taking live samples tomorrow as they are in the area taking live fish samples from a very well known Colchester water I am told is also having problems - again.