A warm welcome from the autumn magazine of the Harrow Angling Society, to all you long established members and also to those who joined us this year. We hope you have enjoyed your fishing this year and that ill stay as members for many years to come. In general this year, I have found the fishing excellent. Although, I have not as I write fished Rowley lake, all the reports that have reached me have advised me it has been fishing incredibly well. Some say too well, but you can't please everybody. Harefield No2, has for me personally, and for others made a start to the season that is in my recent experience unprecendted. The small dye marked Carp that were stocked to test the problems we have recently had, are showing regularly, looking very fit, very healthy and go like crazy! The Tench seem to be less in evidence, but the report of a HAS record from No2 is most welcome. The Bream are showing very well, aided in my opinion by the excellent fishing weather we have had of late, good winds, overcast, and warm. This has led to another record for No2, two reported double figured Bream! It is here I must interpose with a plea, that is as relevant to all our waters when big fish like these are caught. They should be treated with kid gloves, and returned to the water quickly as possible, they sometimes need a little support. If we do not treat our fish with care, we will lose them, and our excellent sport. It is the absence of the Roach at No2 that shocks everybody I talk to. Where they go for the early part of the season is anybody's guess, if you know please tells us! The surprising thing is, that they usually put in a major appearance from the middle of August onwards, so don't despair, stick with it and it will produce results. Harefield No1 has been over the last few years the subject of much heated debate. The reason? The weed. This year the situation has got much worse. Included in this mag is an extract from Jim Gibbinson's Latest book, which addresses the problem of weed. With our previously experience of chemical solutions at Langley and Rowley, you can imagine our reluctance to use such dramatic solutions. We are currently seeking advice from the experts to resolve the problem. To discuss this and other matters you are invited to our members meeting which will be held on: 29th September 1993, Ruislip Manor Sports & Social Club.
Respect
Is it really necessary to continually lecture the minority within our club that are intent on spoiling it for all! It gives me no pleasure at all to expound a dull message, but here goes. Please respect the honorary officers of your club, they do it for the love of it, and when they ask you to follow some reasonable procedures in obtaining night & guest tickets then obey, or you will not get any more! If you are specifically asked not to knock on the door for tickets, then don't! If you are asked to give notice of your requirements then do, if you don't, then tough, you wont get what you require. Following many requests Terry Gibson started doing guest tickets, but what followed, was some not paying the cash, others knocking or phoning outside of the required hours of 7.00pm - 9.00pm. It is as a result of these pains, that Terry will no longer do visitors tickets any more. If people continue he may stop doing night tickets as well, you have been warned.
Harefield Red Gate
Complaints have been made about people using the red gate into the Harefield lakes making a lot of noise especially, early and late. Please be quiet.
Cover Picture & Articles
The cover picture was drawn by Vince Holmes, my thanks to him, more are required, if you can draw please do so. Articles as always will be welcome.
Vince Sutton
Ours is a quiet fishing village. Gulls wheel and scream over our tiny harbour every morning and as the day closes the curlews and whimbrels cry mournfully over the saltings and mudflats. Nothing much happens here and that's the way we like it. Although we live uneventfully, there came a day when we hit the headlines. The reason? A thumping great whale was washed up on our small beach right opposite our hotel - three rooms! It was very dead and, with the hottish weather we were enjoying, it was a menace. Already an unmistakable odour pervaded the foreshore and the blue-bottles and sandflies were having a field day. When I inspected the whale I immediately christened her Emily because she somehow reminded me of an aunt of mine.
Our village bakers name is Joe Salvation. We call him Salvation Joe. Besides purveying bread and cakes, he is also a highly regarded councillor for our little community and he felt it was his responsibility to remove the whale without delay. Joe proposed that our three local fishermen should launch their crab boats at high water and haul Emily out to sea. the operation proved most interesting. Hawsers were attached to the whale's tail fluke then the the boats revved up like mad and made for the skyline. The hawsers broke twice and thirty yards of good cable were lost but the resourseful Joe produced some ship's chain and gradually Emily slid off our beach.
The fisherman thought Swivel deeps, ten miles out, would be a good spot to make for. There the sea is 200 fathoms deep. It was heavy work towing the corpse across the tide and Joe, sweating profusely, wasn't sorry when he released the shackles and consigned Emily to the deep.
The excitement over, Joe resumed his bread-making, we resumed our quiet lives and the incident was almost forgotten till four days later when Emily turned up again. The currents from Swivel deeps maliciously dumped her slap bang in the middle of our little harbour. Joe was frantic. By now Emily was decidedly the worse for wear and the position was serious. I suggested the three old derelict cars from a nearby field should be affixed to the whale as anchors. This seemed a good idea as the cars were and eyesore anyway. Joe organised a tug from the nearby yard, the cars craned up fo'ward and Emily was neatly lashed alongside.
The sun shone, the sea was blue and I knew Joe was pleased because all the way back to swivel deeps he whistled through his teeth and licked the spray from his lips. We secured the cars to Emily's carcase and when Joe slipped the shackles, the consignment sank like a stone. Joe and I returned to the 'Lobster Pot' and over a couple of pints, we reckoned we'd done an excellent morning's work. A week later when I called on Joe for his flour order I found him almost demented and in no mood to talk business. The pier master had just reported that Emily had turned up again. This time she was firmly wedged under his pier and the stench was overpowering. The tangle of old cars were atop his new pinnace which didn't please him either. That wasn't all. Our hawser tackle had somehow picked up an old wartime mine and this was now bobbing about alarmingly in the shallows. But this was a blessing in disguise. It took the problem out of our hands.
As I said, nothing usually happens in our quiet village. We'd like it to stay that way.
Frank Webb
Dear Paul,
With the demise of Langley, I write on behalf of the committee to thank you for the time and trouble in carrying out your duties as bailiff on this water.
The job can be a thankless task and not without some risk - particularly when taking on would be poachers in the dead of night (are you mad?) - a high degree of commitment; very much appreciated.
The Committee very much hope that you will see fit to remain on the team - with the view to providing back up to Ray on Rowley.
I know that in the past the two of you worked together - covering during holiday times etc - and would like to see that relationship extended to a full time basis. Ray is agreeable to such an arrangement and I am confident that you can come to a mutually acceptable arrangement.
Once again Paul, many thanks.
Best regards,
John Miles
I Have just returned from a 48 hour session on Rowley and arrive home with mixed feelings; not to say a little depressed. The 'Lake' as predicted, is fishing very well with Carp to 20lbs, Tench to 6lbs and Bream to 5lbs, being taken so far. The lake looks a picture with its large beds of lilies, lush bankside vegetation and abundant wildlife.
I enjoyed a relatively successfully couple of days with numerous Tench, and a couple of Carp gracing my landing net and just generally soaking up the peace and tranquillity of the place. So why the depression? Well it seems the bain dead minority are at it again. Hell bent on screwing up our enjoyment and damaging the name of angling in general.
Taking it from the top. In the car park there are empty plastic bottles, crisp packets, fag packets etc. In the woods to the side of the path there are piles of excrement and toilet paper - even a discarded toilet roll. Every swim has evidence of litter - line, pieces of paper, fag ends, cellophane wrappers. At the back of the dam by the dip tanks a bag of rubbish, an old towel on the path. I get to my intended swim on the island and there, as bold as brass, in the middle of the swim, a garden chair; its idle owner having stuck his backside through it and left it for someone else to dispose of. He took it there - why couldn't he take it away?
Behind the big willow on the island a mound of maggot infested crap, is proof enough of the laziness and selfishness of these nerds who call themselves anglers. Anglers - friends of the water; Anglers - the original conservationists. This kind of behaviour makes a nonsense of such well intended (and true) statements and there is no room for such people in the Harrow Angling Society. These same non caring, self indulgent idiots are the same that blatantly use the field as a short cut and pathetically attempt to hide bags of rubbish in a field full of livestock thinking they will go unnoticed. Great ambassadors for the club eh!?
Thankfully most of our members have the future of the Society at heart and a good number have worked long and hard in order to secure our future on Rowley. However all the hard work will be wasted unless the "don't give a shit" brigade are sorted and expelled from the club. In addition to the above some peoples standard of angling leave a lot to be desired.
Ray Rogers said that he had seen a 20lb Carp that somebody caught and that it looked like Moby Dick with hooks and lines hanging from its mouth and body. A couple of these lines were no more than 5lbs breaking strain - hardly suitable tackle when Carp of this calibre are known to frequent the lake. I also saw somebody lose 3 fish in succession in the pads in the shallows. He was fishing tight between two pads. On two occasion he snapped off on the strike and on the other the fish made the pads and snagged him. He was using inadequate rods and line and on each occasion re tackled and repeated the same stupid procedure. Meantime those fish are dragging line and lead around until either they are able to lose them or they become tethered and die.
Optonics - why do some folk insist in winding the volume up so that the whole of Wexham can hear the slightest beep. Bloody irritating and again selfish. Similarly - why do people feel the need to bang bivvy pegs in with a 5lb club hammer. I've fished Rowley for 20 years now, on and off, and never had a problem pegging my bivvy down. Remember the lake is only 4 1/2 acres and in piling your bivvy you effectively screw up the fishing for others. To summarise:
I make no apologies for the content of this report - it should not be necessary and if I've offended anyone then that's tough - you're probably the guilty parties anyway. Finally, I am reminded of a quote from Paul Boote's excellent book 'Somewhere down the crazy river' - "You are in the realm of the animals. Leave only footprints" Remember that.
John Miles 31st July 1993
Harrow Angling Society Cup - Harefield No 1 Excluding Pike and Carp
Winner J.Goddard Bream 5lbs 12oz
Mick Read Shield - Harefield No2 Excluding Pike & Carp
Winner L.Skidmore Bream 9lbs 9oz
Runner Up C.P.Taylor Tench 6lbs
Commended A.Johnson Perch 2lbs 2oz
Ken Miller Rowley Lake Trophy - Excluding Pike and Carp
Winner D.S.Cassidy Tench 4lbs
Harrow Angling Society Carp Bowl
Winner K.Pitcher 24lbs 12oz Langley
Runner Up K.Pitcher 20lbs 4oz Langley
Steve Jenner Pike Shield
Winner P.Bennett 22lbs 12oz No2
Runner Up P.R.Jones 21lbs No1
Commended R.Pluff 18lbs 10oz No2
There were no reports for the following Trophies:
Ron Porter Memorial Trophy - Langley excluding Pike & Carp
Ladies Cup
Ron Porter Memorial Cup - For Juniors
Junior Consolation Cup
Les Mead Memorial Trophy - Best Magazine Article
Frank Webb Hon Curator April 1992
No angler can fail to have realised that there has been an incredible increase in the extent and density of weed in many of our waters. It was not so many years ago that the gravel pits on which I spend most of my fishing time were fairly barren waters - even mature pits tended to be relatively weed-free. Now the majority of those waters are densely weeded for most of the summer and autumn - it is thick weed too, real pull-for-a-break stuff. Why has it happened?
A popular view is that recent mild winters are responsible; and it is a tempting theory because the exceedingly mild winters of 1988/9 and 1989/90 certainly saw relatively little reduction in the extent of the weed. I even saw new weed growth in January, which is a pretty bizarre state of affairs in anyone's book! But mild winters are not, in my opinion, a particularly significant element in the equation - after all, if they were, then continental waters would be similarly affected would they not? They have had mild winters too. But such is not the case. The gravel-pits I fish in northern Europe are beautifully weed-free, just as ours used to be. I think there are two main reasons for the change - they are independent yet, at the same time, inter-related.
The first factor is a radical change in the sort of weed that we are finding in our waters. Nearly every pit I fish is infested with Canadian pondweed (Elodea canadensis). The trouble with Elodea is that it spreads in an alarming and quite unrestrained manner. It is exceedingly tough and can survive all through the year - although in shallow water, and conditions of very low winter temperatures and high winds, will get "chopped up" and deposited on the downwind bank. Not that this is necessarily a good thing, because those broken fragments can take root and grow into new plants.
Elodea was introduced from North America in about 1840, and according to John Clegg (pond life, Frederick Warne and Co Ltd, 1956), quickly became so rampant as to be a pest. After which, so Clegg tells us, it became less abundant. Since then it as obviously had a resurgence, and has reached pest proportions again. Why, after behaving itself for so long, has it suddenly "exploded"? The answer to which, brings me to the second factor - and this is one I have written about before. In parts of the UK we suffer from alarmingly high levels of nutrients in underground water supplies, and this leads to eutrophication (over fertilisation) of pits and lakes fed by the affected ground-water.
The reasons for the excessive levels of nutrients are undoubtedly rather complex; but despite their frequent indignant disclaimers, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that farmers qualify for a considerable proportion of the blame. The excessive use of fertilisers, hitherto encouraged by EEC agricultural policy, has led to contamination of the ground water with nitrates. This, combined with historical high levels of dissolved phosphates that have got into the ground water via river systems (due to our less than savoury practice of dumping sewage in them), creates perfect circumstances for weed growth. Or to be more accurate, excessive weed growth.
Unfortunately, as tends to be the way with ecological opportunism, the toughest and least desirable weeds, chief among them being Elodea, profited most from the nutrient bonanza. That is what I meant when I said that the two factors were inter related. The bad news is that the situation is here to stay - and will probably get worse. The even worse news is, waters that have currently escaped being overrun by weed in general, and Elodea in particular, will doubtless become affected before very long. A pessimistic view? No, just a realistic one.
Even if local councils stop dumping sewage in rivers, and farmers stopping putting excessive amounts of fertiliser on the land (changes in EEC agricultural policy are afoot which might result in that desirable state of affairs), the existing accumulation of contaminants is so extensive that it will be very many years before available nutrients are used up, and the situation starts to improve. There are, as politicians are so fond of saying when confronted with long-term problems of their own making, "No quick-fix solutions." So we are stuck with the problem - unless of course the eutrophication leads to the development of algal blooms which, by increasing the turbidity of the water, cause all sub-surface weed to die.
This lowers dissolved oxygen levels to such an extent that fish deaths can occur. If fish survive, the fishing will be very poor - after all, your appetite would hardly be enhanced by living in a state of near anoxia, would it? The dead weed then produces a thick layer of foul smelling ooze which, being rich in nutrients, results in the weed being worse than ever when it becomes re-established! So we have to either learn to live with it, or deal with it. Physical weed-removal, by cutting or dragging, is a possibility but is ineffective in that it is always a short-term solution. I worry too that it has a drastic effect on the water's eco-system in that large quantities of natural food forms (snails, larvae etc.) are removed along with the weed. Then there is the use of chemical weed-killer. I have seen this done well, and seen it done disastrously. In the hands of experienced operatives it can be effective, and is no doubt safe, but I have an instinctive aversion to the use of alien chemicals in a fishery. It smacks too much of husbandry and takes away the natural, wild feel of a water. It is altogether too artificial. The dead weed forms the aforementioned stinking black ooze too, which can exacerbate the weed problem in future years. And if weed-killer is used by well-meaning but inexpert operatives, there are obvious dangers to the eco-system, the fish and no doubt, the operatives themselves. I reckon chemicals should be seen as a very last resort - and when that last resort is deemed to have arrived, they should only be used by, or under the supervision of, a trained and qualified operative.
We would like to thank Beekay Publishers for their king permission to reproduced this extract from, Carp Sense, by Jim Gibbinson, a very good read.