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 Welcome
to the sixth 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 2005 – 2006
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 2004-5 two stockings were managed.
As agreed at the 2005 members meeting supplies of Bream and/or Tench were
to be sought for stocking for pleasure anglers.
To summarise fish purchased during 2005 – 2006 :-
·
In November 2005, 300lb of Bream in the 3-5lb range
were purchased and stocked into the L Shape Pit.
These fish were uncaught fish having been removed from Abbey Park Boating
Pool in
Leicester
.
·
In Febuary 2006, 15 Bream of between 3-4lb in
weight, several hundred skimmers and rudd and 2 large Perch where electrofished
out of the Grid Pit. The lake could
not be netted as the weed in the lake was still 2 feet thick on the bottom.
But the value of the fish equated to the cost of contractors for the day
so it a worth while exercise nether the less.
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 2005; New
swims were created along the Maxey Cut bank of the
Orchid
Lake
using platforms. The stock pond and
South bank of the New Pit had swims made safer.
Working party dates
This year there will be working parties as follows:-
Sunday
23rd April from 9am – L
Shape, swim restoration and general gardening on complex.
Useful to bring, loppers, shovels, wheel barrows.
Sunday 7th May from 9am – Big Pit, new swim and car space creation and general gardening.
Useful to bring waders, shovels, bow saws, gloves.
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 sixth members’ meeting was held at the Millstone Pub, Barnack on 4th
April 2006. This had a very good
turn out with about 40 members. There
was a theme emerging that common sense and conservation did seem to be missing
from some angler’s mentality and as a result new rules had to be developed to
protect the fishery from their behaviour which could result in their removal if
breached.
The main items discussed: -
·
Unauthorised swim opening beyond what was considered
it’s original design was strongly criticised.
It had been raised at last years meeting and still people were ignoring
the request. It was decided to
create a new rule where stems up to an inch thickness were allowed to be cut by
anglers without authorisation by the bailiff of fishery owner.
·
There had been serious concerns raised about the
mishandling of pike that have been observed and poor rigs that had been used,
sometimes resulting in wire traces having to be recovered by later captors.
It was agreed a campaign of education would be offered to anglers, this
would be arranged in time for the new season.
It was also agreed that Pike fishing for would be limited to lure fishing
only between 1St April and 30th
September each year, this would be from immediate effect to protect the stocks.
It was also agreed that the current wire trace rule would also include a
minimum 15lb B.S. mainline for pike fishing.
·
It was agreed that Rule 1 is to be extended to cover
Tench and Bream as fish well in excess of 5lb had been witnessed be retained in
keepnets.
·
 The
issue of angler identification was discussed, it was agreed that this year the
window sticker would be replaced with a dashboard card which anglers must
display when on site. This would
remove the issue of people changing cars, having two cars or having screens
replaced.
·
Rule 25 was to be amended to remove the requirement
to leave a note if anglers leave the site for up to six hours.
·
There was a proposal to fertilise the L Shape pit as
per the Orchid Pit. This proposal
would be investigated and costed and may take place during 2006; it may be too
late for this year.
·
Pot holes were discussed, members were reminded of
the 10mph limit, please keep Andy happy, keep the speed down!
·
Stocking was discussed; the continued development of
the L shape would be the priority in 2006/7.
Tench and Bream would be targeted.
·
The costs of
running the fishery have seen a significant increase again.
This is mainly due to the lease going up again and the increased public
liability insurance requirement of £5m instead of £2m.
This has necessitated the following permit costs for the 2006-7 season.
Non-fishing
Permit: - £15.00
Dawn to
Dusk Permit: - £55.00
24-Hour
Permit: - £105.00
A
Note from the Bird Ringer!!
Some of you may have wondered who the strange bloke is emerging from the
reeds with loads of linen bags hanging from hooks round his neck.
Well, it’s me, Chris Hughes, a qualified and licensed bird ringer.
Birds have been trapped and ringed (a small metal ring is attached round
the birds leg, each ring carrying a unique number and a return address, usually
The British Museum, London) for many years at Bainton and it is one of the most
productive sites, in terms of numbers of birds caught, in the UK.
For instance, over 10% of all Nightingales caught in the
UK
in 2004 were caught by me at this one site.
The Nightingale is a site speciality and certainly lives up to its
reputation as the very best songbird in
Britain
.
Much has been discovered about birds by counting and watching them but
such methods rarely allow birds to be identified as individuals.
This is essential if we are to learn more about how long they live and
when and where they move, questions that are vital for bird conservation.
Ringing provides a harmless and reliable method of identifying individual
birds.
In 2005 I caught almost 1300 birds here, some of which had been ringed
here many years before. It is always
good to welcome back old friends knowing that they’ve spent the winter in sub
Saharan Africa and interesting to see where ‘our’ birds go to. Last year one
of the young Reed Warblers ringed at Bainton was caught again by French ringers
near
Bordeaux
and a Goldcrest,
Britain
’s smallest bird weighing in at around 5g, was found in Haslemere in
Surrey
. Over the years, Bainton
ringed birds have turned up all over
Europe
and migrant warblers have been caught again in several African countries.
So, if you see me lurking by my car please feel free to come over and see
what I’m up to as I’ll be more than happy for you to see, at close quarters,
many of the birds you may only see whizzing about in the sedge and reed – or
past the tip of your rod!
With best wishes for a successful fishing season in 2006
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.
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