As I’m sure many members are aware, there is an awful lot of work that goes on behind the scenes at the club to keep the lakes safe, fishing well and looking tidy. As we’re all aware, however, to make an omelette one has to break a few eggs.
So, we thought that we should do a post specifically outlining our intentions going forwards for both lakes and river.
On Tuesday evenings from 5pm onwards, we will be carrying out basic maintenance around the lake, including hedge trimming and brush clearance at Bordeaux Pit. This is to continue to tidy the place up, increase airflow around the lake and make room around trees that will need dealing with once the birds stop nesting.
On Wednesday evenings from 5pm onwards, Whittlesford Pit will be being raked out by a team led by the Chairman. This is to continue our work on keeping the weed levels down in the lake to keep it relatively fishable for all members, not just dedicated carpers/specimen hunters.
On Thursday evenings from 5pm onwards, a team led by Roger and Sam will commence silt raking around Bordeaux Pit. This is to remove the years of silt build-up in the lake. This will make a huge positive impact on the catch-rate at the lake, as it will improve the surface on which we all fish.
We will also be running the odd work party day at the lakes on weekends when we have a larger job to do, or to make a good amount of progress. It is on days such as these, Wednesday and Thursday evenings where we really need some help from our wonderful membership!
As we are aware and is documented, over the last season, Bordeaux Pit has been fishing relatively poorly. We have discovered that this was due to a variety of factors. Dissolved oxygen was lower than it should have been due to the lack of airflow on the water. We are making leaps and bounds in the right direction to rectify this. With the project halfway done, we have already seen a massive 30% increase in dissolved oxygen. This means that fish are more likely to feed and will be more energetic. Another reason was the colour of the water – it was very clear. With the wind that is now getting onto the lake, the water is moving much more and is stirring up the bottom, colouring the lake and giving the fish more confidence. We have also had an issue with cormorant predation. We have taken steps to tackle this, with committee members getting to the lake at the crack of dawn with bird scarers and Doris and Delila the mannequins, among other measures we have taken. We are also investing heavily in the lakes fish stocking.
We are pleased to be able to say that the lake is now making good progress and is fishing very well again, with numerous big carp, big bream, pretty tench and decent roach coming out. Please bear with us on this project – it is by no means a short-term job and committee members are spending hours and hours of their free time at the lake working themselves to the bone. We hope that by this time next year, the tree and brush work will be largely completed.
It has also been decided by the committee that a further multi-thousand pound fish stocking will take place next winter at Bordeaux Pit and we are also looking into more fish for Whittlesford Pit.
The pictures on this post are all of recent captures from both lakes!
Saffron Walden Angling Club 