Major Disapointment
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:08 am
On Monday, I was invited by a great friend to a day on a Sussex syndicate lake of which he is a member. On the strength of his report of his last visit there, which essentially said that I would only need one rod as I would be too busy landing Carp, I accepted his kind invitation, not expecting too much of myself, being a non-carp angler.
A gentlemanly 0730 arrival, a look around to select swims, tackled-up and baits in the water by 0800. A very early (60s) Davenport and Fordham, Grays Inn Road address, glass (Sportex blank, I believe) Farstrike 10' Carp. Mitchell 410. Entirely suitable and traditional...
The lake is a very long-established estate lake in beautifully landscaped grounds with many specimen trees in the woodland, tucked away from the big house. Banks not manicured and NO PLATFORMS! Hurrah. Public walk round the lake but didn't seem too interested in the anglers, thank goodness, of which we were the only ones 'til late afternoon.
Bites came quickly and regularly through the day. Long story short: I banked 12 carp, 6 Common and 6 Mirror. I dropped 7, when I thought I had a good hook-hold and a very good bend in the soft old rod. I was snapped at the hook length once and I lost another right at the rim of the net.
In all, I made good contact with 21 fish. All of whom, ran like stink, as promised by my host.
And what fish. Largest 7lb, smallest, less than 2lb. All very thin indeed - arrow-head shaped from the very prominent back of the skull to the caudal fin. Clearly grossly over-stocked and the fish near-starving.
At those weights and those numbers, if only they had been Tench!
Worse: 80+% of them had the most horrific mouth damage. Multiple tears to lips. Really horrible to see. The worst victim had nothing left that may be described as a mouth. I rather fear that losing so many seemingly well-hooked fish was a result of their terrible mouth conditions, I have probably made them worse, regrettably.
I was hoping that the bailiff might appear so that I might learn something of the fishery management policy of the syndicate owner. Did not show up.
After due reflection, I think that allowing the fish stock to get into such condition might be viewed by some as acts of animal cruelty...??
I will not be returning to that rather beautiful lake.
It would make a fantastic "traditional" club water, run by a responsible outfit. It would take a lot (time and money) to get it to what it should be (in my opinion) and would entail removing and replacing probably all of the existing stock.
I wish I had the time and dosh!
Mike
A gentlemanly 0730 arrival, a look around to select swims, tackled-up and baits in the water by 0800. A very early (60s) Davenport and Fordham, Grays Inn Road address, glass (Sportex blank, I believe) Farstrike 10' Carp. Mitchell 410. Entirely suitable and traditional...
The lake is a very long-established estate lake in beautifully landscaped grounds with many specimen trees in the woodland, tucked away from the big house. Banks not manicured and NO PLATFORMS! Hurrah. Public walk round the lake but didn't seem too interested in the anglers, thank goodness, of which we were the only ones 'til late afternoon.
Bites came quickly and regularly through the day. Long story short: I banked 12 carp, 6 Common and 6 Mirror. I dropped 7, when I thought I had a good hook-hold and a very good bend in the soft old rod. I was snapped at the hook length once and I lost another right at the rim of the net.
In all, I made good contact with 21 fish. All of whom, ran like stink, as promised by my host.
And what fish. Largest 7lb, smallest, less than 2lb. All very thin indeed - arrow-head shaped from the very prominent back of the skull to the caudal fin. Clearly grossly over-stocked and the fish near-starving.
At those weights and those numbers, if only they had been Tench!
Worse: 80+% of them had the most horrific mouth damage. Multiple tears to lips. Really horrible to see. The worst victim had nothing left that may be described as a mouth. I rather fear that losing so many seemingly well-hooked fish was a result of their terrible mouth conditions, I have probably made them worse, regrettably.
I was hoping that the bailiff might appear so that I might learn something of the fishery management policy of the syndicate owner. Did not show up.
After due reflection, I think that allowing the fish stock to get into such condition might be viewed by some as acts of animal cruelty...??
I will not be returning to that rather beautiful lake.
It would make a fantastic "traditional" club water, run by a responsible outfit. It would take a lot (time and money) to get it to what it should be (in my opinion) and would entail removing and replacing probably all of the existing stock.
I wish I had the time and dosh!
Mike