Displaying items by tag: fish

Under the watchful eye of Bury Hill's BIG FISH tutor Eric Bailey, young Bradley Gibbons aged 11 caught the fish of a lifetime yesterday, a stonking 13lb 12oz zander.

Catching his first ever zander, Bradley was fishing with his dad John. Fishing swims 46 and 47 eric tackled the pair up with a light ledger rig and single size 4 hooks and following recent successes opted to fish a Mackerel fillet to the lily beds, the pair also caught 3 smaller fish but also lost 2 or 3 as the fish were in a finicky mood.

A 13lb 12oz zed is a huge fish by any standards, but for an 11 year old to catch such a fish on his first ever zander trip is a well deserved feat, congratulations Bradley and Eric.

Source: Bury Hill Fisheries >>

The Angling Trust is giving anglers over the age of 60 the opportunity to fish for England, with the first 2009 trial for the England Veterans team taking place on Furzton Lake in Milton Keynes on Wednesday 11th March

This will be the first of a series of trials in which England Team Manager Joe Roberts will ask all attendees to fish the match to international rules to help identify anglers who are of international calibre. The match will give anglers a unique opportunity to fish on this year’s F.I.P.S.ed organised World Championship venue using the same tactics that will be needed on 11th and 12th July later this year.

England selectors will be looking for anglers who have an excellent knowledge of bloodworm and joker techniques demonstrating their ability to fish at international level. Anglers will also need to adapt their domestic style of fishing considerably following F.I.P.S.ed rules where only float fishing with a pole up to 11.5m or waggler are permitted.

Any angler who believes s/he has the aptitude to enhance England’s standing in international fishing further and contribute to another gold medal summer should contact England Manager Joe Roberts directly on 07860 469 595 or 01604 712 897.

Any potential anglers who would like to fish the trials need to be 60 years of age on or before the 31st December 2008 and join the Angling Trust to be eligible to fish, which can be easily done via the new website, www.anglingtrust.net or by calling 0844 7700616.

Joe Roberts, England Team Manager, is expectant of a good year for 2009, commenting: “Last year we had an incredibly successful World Championship in Portugal winning team bronze and individual gold with Mark Addy. This year the eyes of the world will be upon us, especially as we are fishing on home water. The anglers that come to trial will need to be at the very top of their profession, as nothing short of gold will be expected.”

International Events Manager Dick Clegg supported Joe, adding: “There will be huge pressure on this year’s Angling Trust England Veterans team due to the venue. However, the team will be able to take nothing for granted as the skills required to fish to international rules are completely different to domestic angling techniques. This makes the series of trials that will be conducted by Joe, become even more important ensuring selected anglers have the abilities required to bring success on our home waters.”

Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd commented: “we want the best team possible to ensure that the England veterans can continue their winning streak, and so I would encourage all eligible anglers to register with Joe as soon as possible. As the old saying goes: time spent fishing is time added onto life.”

Source: Angling Trust

I have fished at Wood Lane on about 6 occasions and have never failed to catch a good head of fish. In the middle of August I was fishing the smaller island lake on a Sunday with bread and sweetcorn on the ledger. By noon there wasn't much action, so I used a small spinning rod with just a size 8 hook attached and stalked the far right corner of the lake with one inch chunks of bread crust.

I had spotted lots of activity just in front of the reeds at this end. By 6 O'clock I had caught 15 carp, mostly mirror but at least three common. Most were around the 6-7lb but one made 11lbs. It was a very satisfying afternoons fishing. For every fish I caught, I saw 10 of my crusts spat and tail flapped into crumbs by these wily old fish. All the fish were in good condition and put up a healthy fight.

John Freshwater, September 2008

Around 8,000 fish in Ely have been re-homed by the Environment Agency due to spawning being too successful.

Large numbers of healthy juvenile roach, rudd and common bream have been thriving in two fishing lakes near Ely but there were so many fish they were competing for food.

Fisheries officers from the Environment Agency carried out exploratory netting in the lakes to identify the number of fish and the species living there.

As a result, more than 500lb of fish were moved to local fisheries on 3 and 15 December, including the popular angling venues at Cambridge Fish Preservation Society’s Barnwell Lake, Cambridge and Mundford Angling Club’s Buckenham Lake in Ickburgh, Norfolk.

Fisheries officer Justin Mould said: ‘During the winter months we try to re-home as many fish as possible from overcrowded lakes to angling club waters in need of a stock boost.

‘This is all part of the service provided by the Environment Agency and is paid for by anglers’ rod licences.’

The intervention by the Environment Agency will boost fish stocks and improve angling at the receiving lakes.

Source: www.environment-agency.gov.uk

The NFA has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Dulley Ceilings and Partitions Ltd who will sponsor the National Championship for Anglers with Disabilities. The DCP Ltd sponsorship will also enable the championship to become one of the country’s leading disability competitions.

The sponsorship deal only recently finalised will allow DCP Ltd full naming rights of the competition, with the event now being called ‘DCP Ltd National Championships for Anglers with Disabilities’.

The sponsorship brings forward a new era for anglers with disabilities and provides competing teams with the opportunity not only to fish at the highest level but also to receive significant prize money with a prize fund of almost £4,000.

The Championship is made up of eight regional teams who will have the chance to compete for the top team prize of £1,500. It’s not only the winning team that will receive financial rewards as the second placed team will also receive £1,000 and the third placed team £500.

Individual anglers competing will also see the rewards of DCP Ltd’s sponsorship as the first placed angler will receive £500; second placed, £200 and third place will receive £100.

The involvement of DCP Ltd will not only help raise the profile of angling with disabilities but also increase the level of interest in disability sport as a whole. The sponsorship will encourage top anglers to fish the competition, providing the ideal platform for the England team manager to select the finest anglers this country has to offer from to compete in the World Championships.

DCP Ltd will also be looking to support existing programmes such as the Creating Positive Images for People with Disabilities (PIPs) scheme, which supports the training of people with disabilities to become Level One and Level Two angling coaches. These coaches will also then be encouraged to work at a local level with DCP Ltd’s preferred charity ‘The Children’s Trust’, introducing them to the benefits of the sport.

The deal was signed with the NFA but will transfer to the new Angling Trust which will be launched in January 2009. Marketing and Communications Manager for the NFA, Tom Goldspink commented, “DCP Ltd’s sponsorship of the Championship is a hugely significant contribution to the development of angling for the disabled. It will help raise the profile of elite angling for the disabled and hopefully attract the best anglers in England to the competition.”

Chris Dulley, Managing Director of DCP Ltd, said, “As a successful company, DCP have for many years supported children with disabilities at The Children’s Trust in Tadworth, Surrey. We feel that by taking the opportunity to sponsor the National Championships for Anglers with Disabilities, we are not only promoting the sport, but encouraging disabled children and adults to enjoy the many benefits of angling. This seems a natural progression of our existing charity work and we are proud to be associated with the NFA’s National Championships for Anglers with Disabilities and in the New Year are very excited to start working with The Angling Trust.”

Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd is looking forward to raising the profile of angling for people with disabilities, commenting, “This sponsorship is a great achievement for the sport of angling. The Angling Trust is looking forward to working with DCP Ltd and ensuring that their generous support will deliver success on a national and international level. We will be looking to build on this positive step to demonstrate one of angling’s great strengths: that it is accessible to everyone”.

Source: National Federation of Anglers

Nearly 4,000 juvenile fish have been released by Environment Agency fisheries teams in and around London rivers today Tuesday 9 December.

The Hogsmill at the Open space on the river Hogsmill, Beverley Brook at Richmond Park and the River Wandle near Ravensbury Park are now the new homes for the young fish thanks to a yearly stocking programme by the Environment Agency.

The batches of two year-old barbel, chub, roach and dace have been specially reared and trained for life in the wild at the Environment Agency’s Calverton Fish Farm in Nottinghamshire and were released into three different locations.

Environment Agency fisheries officers released Chub, Roach and Dace into the Hogsmill near West Ewell and the Beverley Brook at Richmond Park. Both are urban rivers and since they have begun to recover from historic pollution and degradation they have been stocked regularly by the Environment Agency. The rivers are still vulnerable from low water levels and at risk of pollution by mis-connections of domestic appliances and industrial accidents. However, these rivers offer valuable wildlife habitat and recreational space in a predominantly urban area.

The Wandle was stocked with Barbel, Chub, Roach and Dace at Hackbridge, Poulters Park, Ravensbury Park and Morden Hall. These areas were affected by a major pollution event in September 2007. The Environment Agency has been working closely with local and national angler groups, landowners and regulators to find opportunities to further improve habitat along the river and provide shelter for smaller fish in high flows and help protect them from predators and pollution events. Previous stocking has shown that fish thrive in the River Wandle because it is so productive.

Environment Agency fisheries officer Tanya Houston said: “The release of 4,000 fish into these rivers will really enhance the local environment. Healthy rivers have good fish populations which form a key element of the aquatic environment and our restocking programme ensures that a wide variety of fish can flourish and give local people the opportunity to enjoy the river within an urban area”.

The Environment Agency carry out more than 500 fish stockings transfers every year. Stocking of fish can bring socio-economic and conservation benefits to fisheries by increasing the numbers and species of fish available for capture, or by restoring stocks lost due to pollution or habitat degradation.

source: www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Environment Agency delivers a stocking packed with 1,250 barbel to the Thames River. Christmas has come early on the River Thames this year as the Environment Agency delivered a stocking packed with 1,250 barbel to the Thames River last week.

The batch of 18-month-old fish was released in three areas along the river as part of an Environment Agency project to give the declining barbel population a boost.

The fish have been marked with a small orange spot in the translucent skin adjacent to the eye. The marks will help the Environment Agency keep track of how the population is developing in the coming years.

Anglers are being asked to do their bit by reporting any catches of barbel which have the distinctive orange spots. Working closely with local anglers the Environment Agency will be able to build a more complete picture of the fish’s movements and survival rates.

Environment Agency fisheries officer Lizzie Rhymes said: “Our aim is to see these barbel flourish in areas of the Thames where numbers have declined. When the fish reach maturity, we hope they will spawn successfully and continue to boost barbel populations.

“The stocking is part of the Upper Thames Barbel Project, which we started in 2005. The project identified areas of the Upper Thames where barbel populations are threatened. We have also begun a programme of habitat restoration to improve and create new spawning grounds. Stocking juvenile barbell in the river is designed to complement this work.”

Barbel, which can live up to 25 years, indicate high quality river habitat. However, the species faces many pressures which threaten populations in the River Thames. These pressures include a lack of suitable spawning grounds, and an inability to reach important habitats as a result of impoundments.

To spawn, barbel require shallow gravel areas with fast flows. Hatching larvae use still shallow bays to feed and avoid predators. As juveniles grow, they use faster flows on shallow gravels. These habitats are required if larvae are to survive their first critical winter. In rivers without suitable spawning grounds nearby, adult barbel will migrate over 30 km to spawn.

The fish have been bred at the Environment Agency fish farm at Calverton, near Nottingham, which produced half a million fish last year. They were released on Thursday, 4 December, between Buscot and Newbridge. This follows on from last year’s stocking programme which targeted the upper reaches of the River Thames between Hannington Bridge and Cricklade.

Lizzie Rhymes added: “We plan to monitor these barbel during our annual fisheries monitoring programme. However, we are also asking all anglers fishing the River Thames to look out for these marks. If anyone is lucky enough to catch a barbel, and it is marked, we would like to hear about it.”

“We carry out more than 500 fish stocking transfers every year. Other stocking programmes this winter will be taking place on the river Cherwell, Great Brook, Enbourne, and Thame. Species due to be stocked into these rivers include: chub, dace, roach and bream.”

If you catch a barbel, please contact Chris Bell on 01491 828358.

Source: www.environment-agency.gov.uk

A Lancashire man has been fined £1,400 and ordered to pay £1,100 in costs after pleading guilty to poaching offences, at Lancaster Magistrates Court yesterday (30 October 2008).

In the early hours of 17 June, 2008, Mr X was discovered by Lancashire Police at his home on Thursby Road, with 25 freshwater fish (salmonoids) trapped in a large net. MR X appeared to be removing the fish from the net and from a number of plastic bags, officers also spotted a deflated dinghy in his front garden.

When questioned by officers at the scene, Mr X claimed to have taken the fish from the sea at Heysham, but on further questioning, he later admitted to having poached them from the Lune Estuary. Mr X also admitted to not having a licence to fish.

Richard McIlwain, Fisheries Team Leader for Lancashire said: “The removal of 25 fish from the Lune Estuary could have had a huge impact on fish stocks. If half the fish were female, there would potentially be a net loss to the river of around 60,000 salmon eggs.”

“Considerable time, effort and money has been spent on improving the fishery on the Lune, and for somebody to come along and just help themselves could have caused major set backs both ecologically and financially. Any re-stocking works will bring about considerable costs.”

“This is a significant case for the Environment Agency and we are satisfied with the result, let this be a warning to those who think poaching pays.”

Duncan Thomas, Lancashire Police Wildlife officer adds: “This is a classic example of successful partnership work between the Police and the Environment Agency, we are very happy with the conviction and sentence, and hope this sends a very clear message to poachers - that we are targeting them. We believe the fish would have been sold on for financial gain, so this fine will go a long way to redress the balance.”

During a formal interview with Environment Agency officers on 21 July, 08, Mr X responded to questioning with a ‘no comment’ response throughout. At the time of this incident Mr X was already on police bail in relation to offences of deception.

Source: The Environment Agency

Over the past month, fisheries staff from the Environment Agency have been out surveying the fish populations on the rivers Ancholme, Witham, Welland and Nene.

The team has been using an acoustic fish finder which is the freshwater equivalent of the equipment trawlers use at sea. A pulse of sound is fired out from a transducer, and from the strength and direction of the echo received, the location and number of fish can be found.

Using this type of equipment means large areas of river can be surveyed in a few hours, compared to the usual netting method that only covers 100 metres and can take most of the day.

In the past, the areas the acoustic boat has surveyed has been dictated by the need for a suitable slipway nearby for the boat to enter the water, however a smaller boat has now been fitted with the equipment for the first time this year and is able to reach areas of water that were not possible to survey before.

Ecological Appraisal team leader, Chris Reeds, said: ‘The information gathered from the acoustic survey is invaluable in identifying areas of river that fish use for shelter and feeding, as well as giving a good idea of fish distribution over many miles of river. Monitoring fish populations also gives us an idea of the state of the rivers and how healthy they are’.

The acoustic survey is carried out at night as fish move about far more under the cover of darkness and can be detected more easily.

‘It is still necessary to net some fish to find out more about the age and species of fish in our rivers, but for monitoring fish population numbers, acoustic methods take some beating,’ said Chris.

The acoustic survey begins in spring and runs through to the summer routine survey, and then the autumn acoustic survey. All the data is processed during the winter to find out the population numbers and health of fish in rivers.

Source: The Environment Agency

UK Fisherman is delighted to be able to bring to the angling public a series of superb carp fishing articles written exclusively for UK Fisherman.

Written by Mark Gough, a self-proclaimed carp addict with over 30 years carp fishing experience, this series of articles is sure to appeal to carp anglers and coarse anglers alike.

Below you will find a few details about Marc and below that you will find his carp fishing articles ... believe me they are well worth a read !!

Profile Of A Carp Addict:

Name:	Marc Gough
Date of Birth:	19th January 1968
Home town:	East Grinstead
Marital status:	Seperated
Occupation:	Carpenter / Full time daddy
Interests (outside fishing):	Drinking, DVDs, darts, pool and computers
Best moments:	Birth of Annalise and catching his first 30
Worst moments:	None
Quotes:	"Born to fish, forced to work" "Life is too short, you are a long time dead" "Treat people how you would like to be treated in return" "Look after your fish to preserve our sport"

Feel free to click on the titles below to read the full article and if you would like to comment on any of these articles or you would like to contact Marc, you can do so via the contact page.

Marc's Carp Articles

CARP FISHING WITH MARC - SEASONAL CHANGES (Pt.2)

CARP FISHING WITH MARC - SEASONAL CHANGES (Pt.1)

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UK Fisherman would be delighted to here from you if you would like to comment on any of the fishing articles or if you would like to submit an article of your own.

To do so, please visit the CONTACT page.