We’ve now come to the end of another season and while the fishing during the spring months was excellent, that during high summer and at the end of the year has been somewhat disappointing to say the least. In this we were not alone, as even Duncton Mill had reported that it was all rather slow, despite the unseasonal mild weather. Also we didn’t seem to get any daddy long leg hatch this year as these insects can usually be relied upon to encourage the fish to feed during the autumn. Although mild, the autumn weather has been very changeable, with strong winds and rain much of the time and as a result, members appear to have been reluctant to go fishing, with those who did decide to brave the conditions, only staying for a couple of hours or so, many less, understandable really, as fishing’s supposed to be a pleasant pastime and there’s no point in persisting if you’re not enjoying it.

Fresh stock were introduced into the lakes during September and October, but unfortunately we were unable to obtain the full quantity of fish that we would have liked, although all the new fish were of a decent size and of excellent quality. As a result, almost all of the fish that have been caught have been of a good size, with several exceeding 3 pounds in weight, including quite a few nice browns.

The biggest fish of the year was caught by John Barker in September, a rainbow of 6lb, from Grubbero Pool at Piplye, while the best bag of four fish, weighing in at 10³/₄ lb went to the late Peter Neave during May, again at Piplye. Cinder Hill’s best was a fish of 4¹/₄ lb caught by Rod Allen in McArthurs at the beginning of October and the best four fish bag of 7³/₄ lb at this venue, was taken by Ian Chandler, in mid July would you believe.

 

Syndicate Independence

As you will all know by now, at the meeting on the 28th of October, the 28 or so members present voted in favour of separating the management of the Syndicate from the S&TC UK Branch and accordingly an interim Committee of some 4 Officers and 8 Committee members was agreed until the first Annual General Meeting of the Syndicate, which is due to take place sometime in February, although at the time of writing, the date and venue has still to be confirmed.

This Committee is probably larger than strictly necessary and at the moment mainly consists of the “Old Guard” plus a few others. However, it is to be hoped that in the future new names will come forward to take active roles in Syndicate management and the “old boys” will finally be able to sink quietly into the background and enjoy a peaceful retirement. No one would be expected to jump straight in to any post and there will obviously need to be some “on the job training” for the new incumbents.

The results from our recent questionnaire were quite encouraging as almost 50% of the responders indicated that they would be prepared to take an active role in Syndicate management, so come on guys and girls, don’t be shy, let’s see you at the AGM and volunteering your services.

 

Questionnaire and Next Year

Thank you to all members who replied to the questionnaire sent out in November. So far we have had 24 respondents and the results have been most useful in formulating the way forward. If you haven’t yet replied, it’s not too late and we would still love to hear from you with your thoughts and aspirations for the future of the Syndicate. In case you can’t find it now, the questionnaire is attached again, please complete and return, either by reply to this email, or by post, to me, at 64 Grange Close, Horam, Heathfield, East Sussex, TN21 0EF, whichever suits you best.

The interim Committee met on the 18th November to formulate the details of Syndicate membership for 2016. The questionnaire response suggested that almost without exception, members were willing to pay £250 to £300 for their years fishing and would expect to be allowed between 15 to 25 visits during the season, although it has to be said, very few actually achieve that number. Accordingly, the 2016 subscription has therefore been set at £280 for 25 visits, the same as this year.

On the matter of the bag limit, the replies were split fairly equally between 2 and 3 fish per visit, with very few in favour of this year’s 4, so for next year a 3 fish limit will apply. With regard to the size of fish stocked, the questionnaire results were again fairly equally split, some wanting plenty of smaller fish, while others were happy with fewer but larger specimens. Orders for next year’s fish have been placed with our supplier and as we are largely in their hands, the fish size will probably follow this year’s pattern, with plenty of smaller fish in the spring and fewer but larger ones in the autumn.

Around two thirds of the replies were in favour of some form of limited catch and release being available. This is always a contentious issue, but as an initial experiment, in addition to the 3 fish catch and kill, the catch and release of 2 fish will now be allowed on the top pool at Cinder Hill only, at certain times during the season, subject to special rules which will be incorporated into the Syndicate Rules and Conditions. We realise that not all members, particularly the less mobile, will be able to unhook and return fish successfully, but catch and release is becoming more popular in trout fishing and not everyone wants to have to kill everything they hook, many will be content to enjoy the catching and successful release of a couple of fish without taking anything home for the pot.

The final section of the questionnaire asked if members were in favour of all the year round fishing as practiced by most commercial fisheries. Opinion was divided, with a slight majority in favour of a closure as at present. Although it would be most unlikely that members would flock to the fishery in the depths of winter, invariably each year at the end of the season there are quite a few fish left in the lakes which just go to waste as we don’t think they overwinter very well and winter fishing might just winkle out a few more. Rainbow trout are a cold water fish and anyone who has caught them in the winter, even when there’s ice on the water, will know that they are at their fighting best at this time of the year. Of course, any extension of the current arrangements would be something we would need to negotiate with our landlords and will be looked into for the future.

There were quite a few useful comments in the changes, improvements, comments, gripes or moans section, all have been noted for the future, one common theme being the need to remove the carp from Grubbero & Roundwood Pools at Piplye. This is not as easy as it sounds as anyone who has tried to catch them on rod and line will testify, they just don’t want to know. Both lakes are probably too deep in parts to electro fish or net successfully, we would have to pay a specialist to carry out the work as the Environment Agency no longer provide this service and we would require EA approval, which would involve killing some of the fish to ascertain that they were free from disease, parasites, etc, all costing money. We could probably find a coarse fishing club who would be more than happy to have the fish and who may also contribute to the cost. The best answer would probably be to drain the waters to remove the carp, but this would need to be done in the summer months when water flow in the feeder streams is at its lowest and as a consequence, we would lose several months fishing as the lakes would probably not fully refill until the autumn at best. However we are afraid that removal of the fish would just be temporary, as unfortunately, there is a pond further upstream from Grubbero, which we presume contains carp, as back in 2011, Grubbero was drained completely to remove the silt that had built up over the years and was high and dry for several months with no fish life whatsoever, but a couple of years later the carp returned, just small fish back then, washed in by the winter rains and resulting high flow in the feeder stream. Never the less, it is something the new management will be looking into.

 

Work Parties

Thank you to all who helped on the work parties through the year, we held nine sessions in total. Attendances varied, with as many as 13 volunteers turning out on one occasion, with just 4 on another and we were well rewarded for our efforts, with some magnificent home cooked cakes to enjoy during the mid morning tea break, kindly provided by Brenda Newington. Thank you Brenda, it really is appreciated, keep up the good work.

Clive Newington is taking over the role of organizing the fishery maintenance work parties in the coming year (that should ensure a continuing supply of cake !). Please support Clive in his endeavors by volunteering your services, we’re sure he will do a great job, the more members helping out, the more can be achieved.

 

Finally, we hope you will renew your membership of the Syndicate next year, best wishes to you and your family for Christmas and the New Year, tight lines in 2016 and we hope to see you at the AGM.

 

Mike Richardson,  Ex Syndicate Organiser.

 

Carp on the Fly

All Syndicate members will have seen the large carp which cruise around Roundwood Pool at Piplye and no doubt have thrown them the odd piece of bread from their sandwiches which the fish steadfastly ignore. Fish have occasionally been hooked, either by desire or accident, but have always escaped.

Now Syndicate Organiser Mike Richardson, fishing on Thursday 13th November, adjacent to the outflow monk on Roundwood, has captured what is possibly the largest fish of any species ever caught from our waters, by landing one of these beauties. The fish, a fully scaled common carp, took a small damsel nymph, fished very close to the bottom, using a six weight intermediate line with a six pound tippet.

For a while after first being hooked, the fish was in charge, virtually swimming where it wanted to, but luckily did not decide to head for the other end of the lake, otherwise there would be little chance of stopping it on the relatively light tackle. After what seemed an eternity, but was probably around 15 minutes, the carp was within netting range and fortunately Syndicate member Clive Newington was on hand to do the honours as the landing net was rather small for such a large specimen, although it had a deep mesh, sufficient to safely contain the fish.

 

                       

 

In superb condition, fat as butter and scale perfect, it took Clive’s scales down to their 12lb limit with a bang and at approximately 27 inches long from mouth to tail, it’s weight was estimated to be around 15lb. After giving so much pleasure to the lucky angler, it was safely returned to the water.

The carp was the only take experienced on the day, the trout being conspicuous by their absence on all three lakes, the coloured water due to all the recent rain no doubt not helping the situation.