Although Cinder Hill opened for fishing at the beginning of February and Piplye at the end of March, the weather conditions to date have done little to encourage members on to the bank or for the fish to co-operate. All the rain we experienced early in the year led to high flows in the feeder streams and coloured water, to be followed by the prolonged cold spell, neither providing very good fishing conditions.  

Unfortunately the ground is still so saturated that as soon as we get any rain, everything becomes waterlogged and the lakes colour up again. The good side of this is that even given a dry spell, feeder stream flows should stay reasonable and hence water conditions will remain good for a fair while, hopefully giving us reasonable fishing through the summer, much as last year. Some of the few fish that have been caught have had small leaches attached to them, indicating that due to the very cold water, they have been lying doggo near the bottom and are not very inclined to feed. These parasites are quite common on fish that have been lying dormant for a time and are nothing to worry too much about, they drop off when they have fed and would not be able to attach themselves to active trout.

All the lakes are now well stocked and with the slightly warmer conditions, although hardly spring like yet, the fishing should start to improve, but it will take a while for the water to warm up enough to encourage the fish to attack our flies in earnest. However, the two I caught from McArthurs on Thursday 11th April, both had plenty of buzzers in their gut, showing that the fish are feeding and there seems to be plenty of food available to them.

We held three work parties earlier in the year, but the poor weather has meant that we have done little since, as I’m afraid that I, like many of you I suspect, have not felt like venturing out in the cold and wet. There is work to be done and the vegetation is now starting to grow, so I will be arranging a session or two in the near future, usually on a Wednesday or Saturday morning. If you are able to help and are not my list of volunteers, i.e. you haven’t been contacted via e-mail earlier in the year, please get in touch and I’ll make sure you are added for the future. Remember, members gain one extra visit for every work party attended. 

Along with many other fisheries throughout the country, one of our biggest problems is with the dreaded cormorants taking our fish. Stocking rates are generally at about 30 fish a month, so if one bird takes just one fish a day, that leaves precious few fish for our anglers to catch. Even if they can’t manage to swallow our trout, they can still attack them and quite a few fish have been caught with obvious cormorant damage, which detracts from their condition and appearance and also makes them less attractive or even useless for the table. Cormorant activity can also unsettle the fish, putting them off feeding and making them more difficult to catch. While our landlords do what they can to try and reduce the numbers of these pests, current legislation restricts what actions can be taken. There is much activity being taken by the Angling Trust and the S&TA to get the rules changed and allow more effective culling to safeguard our fishing and we are hopeful of a successful outcome, but as seems to be the norm with government bodies, it is taking an awfully long time to come to fruition and in the meantime we are all suffering. 

Until such time, the only deterrent available to us is scarecrows and to be effective these need to be regularly repositioned so as not to appear to be part of the landscape. In the past these have been cobbled up on site and hence were not very durable or that effective. Two per water would be ideal, i.e. twelve in total, we already have three, so we need nine more. Scarecrows made at home should be of much better quality, longer lasting and more portable and the thought occurred that perhaps members who were unable to help out at work parties for whatever reason, might be happy to make us a scarecrow or two at home and bring them along to the fisheries. We have a quantity of surplus scaffold poles available and the intention is to install these at strategic positions around the lakes. The scarecrows will need to have a central upright support which will slide into these 1.5 inch inside diameter tubes and in this way we will easily be able to move them around as required. I have found that surplus bubble wrap packaging material is ideal for stuffing your scarecrow and some bright or reflective patches can make them more effective.

Please let me know if you are able to help, or take your completed scarecrow and put it in the hut at Cinder Hill or Piplye, marked with your name, as all members contributing this way will receive an additional visit for each scarecrow produced. Alternatively, if anyone knows of a source of cheap, preferably free, old shop dummies, please also let me know.

 

Best Regards and Tight Lines, I look forward to hearing from you,

 

Mike Richardson, Syndicate Organiser.