2008 Members Newsletter
Welcome to the eighth Bainton Fisheries Newsletter, which is designed to keep you informed about the Fishery, in terms of news during the last season, future events and issues.
Membership 2007 – 2008
There continues to be significant demand for permits on the complex. New members will only be accepted in place of existing members who do not renew by the deadline. Membership numbers will be fixed again for the coming season. Operating profits have been spent on fish stocking, staff, (bailiff and contract labour), swim building materials, a few tools and admin costs (e.g. Stamps/Printing etc).
Stockings News
In the 2007/8 season four stockings were managed. As agreed at the 2007 members meeting supplies of Bream and/or Tench were to be sought for stocking for pleasure anglers. To summarise fish purchased during 2007 – 2008 :-
In May 2007 a netting of Buckden Gravel Pits, near Huntingdon produced a few specimen fish which were stocked into the following; L Shape 13lb bream and a handful of fish 7-8lb, 10lb and 7lb tench plus some smaller tench, Orchid 20lb and 24lb carp , Carp Lake 15lb and 20lb Pike.
Also in May 2007 a netting of Culverthorpe Estate Lake , bear Grantham produced a large quantity (125lb) of small bream, mainly in the 4oz to 1.5lb range; these were stocked into the L Shape.
In December 2007, 33 Carp in the 5-10lb Bracket from Centre-Parcs, Nottingham and stocked into the L shape Pit. These fish had previously had an existence of being hand fed by guests of Centre-Parcs.
In February 2008, 35 Bream were stocked into the L Shape Pit. These fish were removed from Goady Marwood Estate Lake and were in the 4-5lb Bracket.
If members know of lake owners who would be interested in selling fish to Bainton Fisheries then please pass their details to me.
Fishery Maintenance and Development
Two working parties were held in 2007; 3 Swims were opened up on the Orchid lake using mainly railway sleepers and pea gravel and weed was also transferred from the Orchid into the L shape pit. The other working concentrated mainly on fence and swim repairs and gardening around the complex.
Working party dates
This year there will be working parties as follows:-
Sunday 27th April from 9 am – New Pit mainly and some repairs to the Big Pit and Carp lake swims. Redesign of New pits swims to limit number of anglers, repair of point swim on East bank of big pit and some minor swim repairs on the Carp Lake . Generally lump hammers, shovels, spades, chest waders, wheel barrows are all useful plus usual gardening tools.
Sunday 18th May from 9am Carp Lake , rebuilding the road along the Maxey Cut Bank; shovels and rakes needed.
In terms of arranging a plan of action for the working party days I would be grateful if members could either e-mail or ring me before hand to say they are coming. This will enable me to plan the tasks ahead for the day.
Feedback from Members Meeting
The eighth members’ meeting was held at the Millstone Pub, Barnack on 1st April 2008. This had a very good turn out with about 60 members which was excellent. The theme to many of the issues raised was around considerate behaviour to other anglers and the future of the New Pit.
The main items discussed: –
After a lengthy debate about the future of the New pit the following actions were agreed by majority vote of members:-
• A netting will be organised on the New Pit to remove double figure carp and move them to the big pit, where they will hopefully grow on to bigger fish. As part of this netting tench and bream that are caught will be moved to the L Shape pit.
• Designated swims will be identified on the New Pit at a working party and only those swims will be allowed to be fished from. These swims will try to ensure that anglers do not fish opposite each other and have a variety of options to fish margins on both sides of the lakes.
• The rod limit will be three rods all year round now on the New Pit as the swim design will hopefully lead to this being a happy compromise between limiting anglers versus limiting rods in the summer months.
• With swims being at a premium on the New Pit, there was discussion about anglers therefore reserving swims with bivvies and then claiming that they were fishing and subsequently left the complex for up to 6 hours, as permitted by the rules.
• As a result a 3 day (72 hours) maximum fishing time will come into force on the New Pit without return for a further 3 day (72 hours) on this pit only. Anglers can continue to stay on the complex but must leave the New Pit after three days to allow other anglers the opportunity to fish.
• Concern continued about the size of unhooking mats and landing nets on the complex, although a rule was introduced mandating the use of large unhooking mats; some anglers were still using inadequate mats and nets. It was agreed to change the rules to ensure that Pike, Carp and Catfish had an unhooking mat of a minimum of 1m in length and 50cm wide. Landing nets too should be at least 42 inch for these species.
• It was agreed that the Environment Agency Byelaw about rods being left unattended was still being ignored by some anglers, active enforcement would continue on this issue.
• The rule about anglers cars being parked without consideration to other anglers was discussed. It was felt that large vans and trucks were being parked very close to the waters edge creating a visual eyesore and also doors were being slammed shut creating a disturbance. It was felt that the existing rule was adequate, but people just needed to consider the impact they were having upon other people’s enjoyment, both from a visual perspective and also the disturbance to others fishing.
• It was proposed that the 15lb mono rule for pike, should be amended to ensure that braid of equivalent diameter was used also to 15lb mono.
• Anglers were reminded about the littering rule, and that teabags and cigarette butts were also included as litter and should be taken home.
• Communication between anglers was discussed, after the Internet Service Provider broke the Bainton Fisheries Bulletin Board, the group was informed that a new bulletin board had been added to the web site with immediate effect.
• The deadline for renewal will be to ensure that all applications are received no later that Tuesday 20th May 2008 to ensure that membership does not lapse, thereafter; existing members will compete with new applications.
• The sponsorship of new members was also discussed; it was felt that last years new proposal was a success and that it should continue. This would allow for the new member’s application to be returned in the SAE supplied along with the existing members own renewal. Applications would be prioritised in the following order. 1st Existing members, 2nd New members refereed by an exiting member, 3rd New members applying after May 20th 2008 without a referee. Members should not recommend any angler who they have concerns over as it will reflect upon their own membership.
• The costs of running the fishery will increase by 5% during 2008/9 therefore permit cost will need to increase to reflect this. In addition all fishing permits will again include a refundable £10.00 levy to encourage members to attend working parties. Attendees of the 2007 working parties will get a £10 discount on their following years renewal.
Non-fishing Permit: – £16.00
Dawn to Dusk Permit: – £60.00 + £10.00 levy
24-Hour Permit: – £115.00 + £10 levy
Keys will remain at £6.00.
A Note from the Bird Ringer!!
2007 saw the Silver Jubilee of the Constant Effort Site (CES) ringing scheme run by the British Trust for Ornithology. For most of that time, Bainton has been one of the scheme’s premier sites and remains so despite a pretty disastrous breeding season for lots of birds in 2007. As you sat there with rain dripping of the end off your nose, patiently waiting for a bite, I hope you were sparing a thought for the poor old summer visitors who had slogged it out to reach Bainton from sub- Saharan Africa.
Most of our warbler species fared badly due to the extremely wet weather and even old favourites like Blue and Great Tit had their worst breeding year for at least a quarter of a century. Just when they needed hundreds of caterpillars to feed their young, the incessant rain (and cold) washed them off the trees. Result – 10 million, yes 10 million young Blue Tits are estimated to have perished due to starvation. It’s only possible to work out these sums, using some fancy computer modelling and the data from 120 CES sites in the UK . Bainton, along with nearby Ferry Meadows are two of the ‘best’ sites around.
And now for some good news! It wasn’t all gloom and doom and some species managed to get well into their breeding cycle during the glorious April weather with Robin doing particularly well. The real eye opener was catching juvenile Long tailed Tits in early May, at least 3 weeks earlier than normal so there should be quite a few of these delightful little birds buzzing around in 2008.
Bird ringing is a bit like fishing in that you never quite know what you’re going to catch. Where it differs is that you guys no doubt bait the likeliest spots to attract feeding fish onto the hook but the CES scheme doesn’t allow me to artificially feed or tape lure birds so I have to work out where the best net sites are and, well, hope for the best. Interestingly, I have to keep the nets in the same place year after year in order that the data I collect is statistically valid so, apart from a little light ‘gardening’ to keep the brambles at bay, I’m stuck with what I’ve got. However, the vegetation doesn’t grow too vigorously so I still catch good numbers of birds. Well I do in a ‘normal’ year anyway.
Just to prove how perverse ringing can be, for most of the year the catches were very modest yet on 6 th August, the nets were bulging with birds, mainly warblers, heading south on migration. I know this because some Bainton ringed birds were picked up again only a few days later on the south coast as they headed off to their winter quarters. Most travel down through France , Portugal and Spain , over the Med and head off into Africa .
Some species like Blackcaps will winter in North Africa but others, such as Willow Warbler (weighing in at a hefty 8g!) have a trip over the Sahara to face. Having been there a couple of times myself, I’m constantly amazed at their ability to survive the trip and when I catch one back at Bainton the following spring, knowing that this modest little bird has made such a fantastic return journey, it’s quite humbling. Salmon also undertake fantastic journeys as you know. And we think we’re smart!
I hope you all have a successful fishing season in 2008 and I hope our feathered friends have a good year too. Listen out for the Nightingales from late April/early May as Bainton is a cracking place to hear them. One of them might just be the one ringed in Denmark in 2002 who made another appearance in 2007.
Chris Hughes
And Finally
Without all your support and effort running this fishery would be an impossible task. Please think as it as much as yours as mine. Hopefully you get out more from it than just a days fishing, I hope you feel included and consulted and feel that you are making a contribution into shaping the ways things develop.
Remember the Bainton Philosophy is for conservation minded anglers who care about the environment they fish in.
Ian Wakeford