Dave

id love to have my own fishery id love to break into fishery management

Clive

Thats the sort of constructive info any new venue builder would kill for Dave

woodhouse

Fill it with as many carp as you can, most anglers dont want to catch anything else.

Dont put any other types of fish in there to pester anglers.

markco

Hi Simon,
we have just finished our club pond its an oval shape with 23 pegs all well spaced out and plenty of room to ship poles back etc. It was started in Sept 04 and we modelled the place on Meadow pool at Heronbrook its widest part is only about 11mts so its comfortable fishing for all the lads (we have some oaps ) and they can fish the far side no problem.
The main track is within a 6 inches all the way round and there doesn't seem to be any flyer pegs as yet.
We have taken advice from the EA and have made it into a mixed coarse fishery and even though we still have to add more fish we are really glad that we didn't turn it into a carp puddle.We were advised to plant the water heavily with Sedges,Bulrush and iris etc and we have planted over 500 and this has made the water look at lot more mature even in 12 months. We even had the Roach and Rudd spawn twice this year
The matches have been fair all winter with between 4-6 lbs winning and the back up weights all close and only 2 carp have been caught in about 3 months although we dont have hundreds in the place they have switched off the funny thing is we have still been catching tench quite regularly all winter .
I would say that we have had to put in an awful lot of work to get it to its current state and it is a credit to the lads in the club for this, but what a feeling it is to sit there looking at what you have created it really does make you proud.

Oneabung

Thanks Markco - sounds brilliant .. thats exactly what I am looking to achieve and know its going to be alot of hard work and yes cant wait for that feeling to say "we built this"

How much land did you use and what did it cost you to get it dug out?

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Brian G

As a guide Birmingham Civil Services dug out a pool around around six years back, size is around 3/4 of an acre and accomodates 21 pegs, cost for excavation was around £1800, maybe Kingfisher/Polemaster can confirm, depths are around 5 foot, the pool was stocked with skimmers, tench, rudd, roach, crucians, a few chub and golden orfe, perch are also present but not stocked, maybe they got in from our main pool. As a pleasure pool it fishes superb but does tend to be a bit harder with a 20 pegger on it, having said that 10lb is not impossible during the winter and the record is around 27lb.
Heres a few pictures taken early May 2006 on our annual childerns match which was won with 8lb in 3 hours to give you some idea how it has developed.

SkUnKhEaD

if i were to construct a lake in my area.
1st i would cater for rod anglers only no poles,-reason poles can be underequiped for large Carp etc...i know many of you out there can play fish really well on a pole but theys them that cant!! i would target speciman anglers,ie:Carp,Cats,Bream,Grass Carp,Tench and maybe a few odd bods like pond Sterlets or Channel Cats etc...the Wels would be the biggest fish in my Lake (snake pond) Perch, Roach and Rudd would also be in the water and even a few silver Bream a rareity here in the north east,what i would do is offer something very different from the norm,i would have the pegs well spaced out accordingly,to suit the shape and depth of the water/pond,the last thing yer want is anglers all casting to the same spot as they know this to be a patrtol route for the biggies,depth would vary from 3ft to about 6-10ft depending,i would try to go "au natural" but would probly end up with aireators,loads of features is the way forward no islands,but would try to have the odd sunken tree (or stump) plenty of over hanging bushes etc....and fauna in the lake,i would make my lake more of a challenge than a easy touch,they nothing worse than a overcrowded fish pond,to many fish in yer pond causes problems,disease and crossbreeding etc...for the customer facilities is a good thing, toilets even if portacabins to start with,wash basins for after yer days fishing! bait,hooks,tackle and food for hungry fishermen etc...then try to venture out in guideing to put the less experenced angler right and not wrong,i would keep the price at a respectable rate,then if anglers werent satisfied with the sizes of the fish i may alter the day ticket price by a £1 or so and buy in some bigger fish or something unusual-their yer have it

cornerstone

Look at the prices of fish before stocking.You will find mature breeding roach will cost a lot per LB.Skimmers tend to die a bit too easily[if left in nets a long time]A lot of pole anglers dont want carp too big due to possible pole breakages.Perch are a no go[they spawn first ready to eat the spawn of other fish].Rudd can be a magnet for cormorants,they are also expensive.That leaves F1's.Most successful fisheries have stocked these.They are a tough fish,dont grow big,and importantly will feed through the winter.Cheaper than roach,and still a challenge to catch as they can be notoriously finnicky biters,due to the crucian in them.I love true crucian carp,but cost and availability puts them out of the equation.Also dont dig the lake too shallow[minimum 6 foot].A lot of fisheries have put in platforms unerestimating how the water levels can drop.They must be thankful for this wet winter else they would have been in trouble if we had another hot summer.I spoke to a fishery owner recently and asked how much their stock of small 2oz carp had cost.There was thousands of them.She said they were this years fry,and said there was only carp in the lake,because all other species of fish eat the carps spawn.[i thought it would be the other way around].The lake then was self stocking,which cuts out potential stocking of infected fish.Something to mull over.
Good luck[im green with envy]
cornerstone.

markco

Hi Simon,
The pool cost £2500 to dig out and took just over 2 weeks to complete the clearing and digging. Our pool is pretty much the same size as Brian's except that we have an island in the middle which is over 10 mtrs wide and is full of trees and bushes, you cannot see the guys on the other side of the water so makes the weigh in more interesting.
The site is probably well over an acre but we have loads of room all round for shipping poles back,casting with no obstructions. We have planted trees round the pool to fill in the gaps that were made during construction.We have made a dvd from the start to the first match and you cannot believe the changes in such a short time.
We have not bought any fish as we have had great help from the EA, it currently has pretty much the same species as Brian's and seams to fish the same as well.
I must say that we haven't anywhere near the number of fish required for the water but that is going to change shortly with the addition of approx 200lbs of Tench,Chub,Gudgeon,Roach etc all free .
I know after reading this that it sounds really easy but without a lot of hard work and a lot of freebies we could never have achieved what we have.
The club has paid approx £ 500 for everything that we have on the site and the whole thing would not have possible without the guy who owns the land as he has been brilliant in everything.
He paid for the digging and associated costs and we are paying him back in our yearly rent, we have transplanted loads of saplings from his land and also loads of sedge,bulrush etc. He has also helped giving his own time and effort and he doesn't fish .
We have a Club House and private and secure parking if I knew how to post a picture I would but to us it looks fantastic and we just go and sit there and admire what we have achieved.
If I can be of any help let me know.
Mark

Stu

Simon,
I would also recommend you contact Sparsholt college for any assistance, advice or literature they can provide. They may well charge for their services but it will be worth it. Incidentally their book "The Sparsholt Guide to the Management of Carp Fisheries" is well worth a read; ISBN 0-9540054-0-6. My copy was published in 2001 so there may be a newer version. You may be able to order it via Waterstones or other good bookstore, if not contact the college direct on 01962 776441 Sparsholt College Home Page

Good luck!
Stu

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