From the Chair
Following the retirement of our old Treasurer John Barnes to Devon, Dave Cargill kindly volunteered to replace John. Dave has thrown himself into a tricky assignment and I can report we have found a diligent Treasurer who is looking after the clubs finances very well. Due to this new commitment Dave has reluctantly relinquished his job as Editor of the newsletter, I would like to thank Dave and Sharon for all their hard work on the newsletter, producing an innovative product newsletter and yet again moving the bar upwards. Ian Warr is taking over in the Editors chair, I wish him well; please support him as he comes to grips with a very demanding job.
Our membership is at its highest since 1997, we are attracting plenty of new members, but we would love to keep more of you old ones, I would love to see the churn of members reduced, so please rejoin, or if you have any ideas as to how we can reduce the leavers please let us know.
With this newsletter you will receive your renewal form. Please complete it as soon as possible and send it to Paul our hard working Membership Secretary. You may have to wait a while until you have done your working parties and get your 'Stamps' if this is the case the fishery managers are looking forward to seeing you on their parties. If you have any tools, equipment or materials you think they may find useful, please contact them.
Please make sure you check your details on the renewal form and update any out of date information. Please try and supply a current email address if applicable. Included with your renewal will be a new updated rule book. Please take some time out to acquaint yourself with the changes and refresh your memory of Society rules.
Closed Season Fishing has been achieved for the first time in the clubs history on Harefield No 1. I think it is going to be a great asset for the club and I hope it will be a great success. This success depends upon us all, please ensure that you act sensibly and courteously at No1 as for those three months it will be the only lake open. You may fish on No1 till 15th June 2008 on your current membership card, to continue fishing after that you must renew.
The new Season opening dates are as follows, all dates inclusive:
- Harefield No1 - Closed 14th December - 14th March Open 15th March - 13th December
- Harefield No2 & Rowley Open 16th June - 14th March Closed 15th March - 15th June
The Committee continues its investment in No1 with 400 Tench 6-10” and 450lbs of Carp at 2-5lb to be introduced.
Thanks to Terry the Secretary for all the hard graft he puts in behind the scenes to keep the Society running.
Thanks to the fishery managers for keeping the waters in such great condition. Thanks to Larry for allowing us to use his home for our Committee meetings (and for all the tea and biscuits). Thanks to the Bailiffs for there vigilance on the bankside and to all you members without whom there would be no Society.
Please do not forget the AGM on WEDNESDAY 9th April, Ruislip Football Club, Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Vince
Harefield Pit 1
Hopefully you are all now aware that the season on No1 has changed, the lake will now be open from the 15th March this year, and it will close again on December 15th 2008. You will be able to access the water from midday on the 14th for those who wish to fish the opening night.
We hope that the fishing this season continues where it left off last year with carp to 29lb 8oz, bream to 10lb 8oz, tench to 6lb 8oz and many good roach and rudd being caught last autumn.
We will be stocking more 3-5lb carp and smaller tench this year as part of the ongoing stocking policy of little and often.
High water levels in the lake have been a problem, at one point in December through to early February the trestle boards on the “Helipad” swim were in danger of floating away.
The work required on some swims will not be done until the water level returns to near its normal level. There is as always other work to done, the path down the Marina bank is in a terrible mess and we want to move its course back further from the waters edge beyond the bridge, this will also give the first 2 swims along a bit more privacy and room.
The gate and access track into the back car park will also get some much needed attention. We will also be attempting to make the place more secure, a difficult job given the public access to the Colne Valley Park, this will hopefully help stop some of the vandalism and strangers walking round the place whenever they choose.
Working party dates on No1 for the new season are detailed on the back cover. We will if it’s necessary arrange other working parties through the early summer; these dates will be posted on the club web page and at the lake.
Poaching has become an even bigger problem than it was last year, static lines have been found pegged out on the public bank and on the Helipad swim. It seems our Eastern European friends take no notice of signs around the lake and will blatantly fish there until challenged and asked to leave.
Remember you are all entitled to ask anyone for their membership and tell someone to leave if proof of membership is not provided.
We were disappointed at the amount of litter that was found around the lake once the vegetation had died down this autumn, 3 black bin bags full were collected; please take all your rubbish home with you.
Good luck and tight lines.
Larry & Graham
Harefield Pit 2
Hello all
First as always, thanks go to our bailiffs Brian, Kenny, Dave and Stuart who perform a sterling job come ran or shine. We must mention here our gratitude to Hambo who has been one of the team for over half a dozen years now. David, as many of you know, has a young family and a hectic workload that takes him all over Europe and the US. He has decided that he can no longer commit to being a bailiff given the lack of hours he would be able to devote to the job. We thank you Dave for all the effort and hard work you have done on the Pit, don't become a stranger, come and enjoy the craic whenever you can!
The winter has not been as severe as predicted and we have had more rain than the cold many thought we were going to suffer. The lake took a pounding during January when it was particularly wet with the level rising two feet over several days. This put many swims under the wet stuff and the banks have obviously suffered, but it is not as bad as it has been in recent years and some minor work during the close season will put it right.
As those who have internet access will know, we had an incident in late December where an underground sewage pipe burst in the Dews Farm area of the lake. The whole of the area from the car park to the Railway embankment was covered in water which was entering the lake at various points up at that end. Environmentally no major issues occurred and the problem was quickly rectified, although the work carried out required heavy machinery which all went into our Dews Farm car park. The team leader on the day said that any damage caused would be put right in the New Year. This has not happened as of yet due to the wetness of the ground and should be done in a prolonged dry spell, hopefully before the start of next season!!
We have in the last few weeks had a site meeting with a representative from our landlords regarding the trees around the lake. There are some huge trees that adorn the banks of the lake and we have worries of the damage that could be done if any of them ever went over. Obviously we can do some of the work ourselves but we are waiting to hear of any professional help that we can obtain in tackling the larger trees. If there are any tree surgeons in the club who feel that they can help out in anyway please feel free to contact the committee.
Whilst on said meeting we pointed out some of the problems we have with campers and weekend "barge" people plotting up in the area along the canal bank. We told of some of the incidents from recent years and it seems our landlords look upon these "visitors" pretty much the same way as we do. They should not really be there and the damage caused by clearing areas and having fires is not looked upon with favour. We have been given a number for the LBH Parks section, they look after this type of area and their office is open 7 days a week, pretty much 10 til 10 all year round. If you have any queries or see any activity that could be damaging to the surroundings of the lake feel free to contact them on the number below.
The sight of a police car on the banks of the lake is as rare as rocking horse .... but one was seen during a weekend in January. We had a nice chat with the occupants of the Panda car and given assurances that they want to look after the surrounding area as much as we do. The problem of motorcyclists has reared its head again and the local Bobbies are interested in catching the perpetrators who this time nearly knocked someone over. Contact numbers are on the back cover for anyone who is fishing and sees this kind of activity whilst on the lake; the police would like to hear of it as soon as possible.
On the fishy side of things the lake has fished well over the last few months, mainly on the pike front. We have reports of at least one 20lb pike. Congratulations go to Nick Wright (see fella no need to go to Wraysbury there's been one under your nose all this time!). This is not the only big one, many upper doubles have been caught and multiple captures of 3 or 4 fish in a session have been reported. There have been many fine Perch caught also with 2lb plus fish gracing nets since Autumn on a regular basis.
The Bream, Tench and Carp have obviously been having their usual winter siesta but should be getting rumbling tums now the days are drawing out again and the weather is turning milder.
The close season brings the usual list of jobs that need to be done. The official working party dates are detailed on the back cover, but we have decided that this year we will be running some on Saturdays as well. Maybe not strict 8 til midday affairs, but a longer more relaxed day with maybe some refreshments involved. No dates for these, they have happened before on an adhoc basis. If you are unable to attend the usual days and want to come along to any of these please feel free to contact either LES or IAN on the numbers listed on the Society Officers page, as stated no set dates just see when they happen.
The job list this year mainly consists of swim maintenance. New fronts, underpinning with sandbags, levelling off and removing bank side snags will be the main objectives. If you have any materials (especially metal spikes) that would be beneficial to these jobs please let either of the fishery management team know.
(As a foot note to the above, thanks go out to our regular suppliers of materials and equipment. Fudgey and the Don, Ian Scaf2000, Stuart the Bailiff, Stevey (where are you man?), Ken for the sleepers, it is all appreciated and put to good use).
That's about it for this time folks, we pray that a monster or two may slip up before the shut down, you never know it could be in your net if you are a dangling!
Regards
Ian & Les
Rowley Lake
“I am writing this at the end of February. The weather is mild with the wind from the South West and all the indicators are for a good last couple of weeks. If it stays this warm we will surely be winding them in”.
So I wrote this time last year and it turned cold. This year we are enjoying similar conditions, fish are being caught; it’s been the mildest February on record but…… who knows??
Certainly the last couple of weeks of February have seen some startling results with Carp, Tench and Roach providing the sport.
One long standing member I saw down there (sorry can’t remember your name) had some quality Roach fishing maggot feeder and quiver tip while a couple of lads doing a couple of nights first weekend in March had, on their first night, a mid twenty Mirror, a dozen stockies and around fifteen Tench between them. All in such a howling gale that they stopped fishing for fear of their bivvies being blown away. What happened second night guys? I’d love to know.
The weekend prior to that a young lad, on what was to be his last session for some time because he was going away to University, had the ghost at 25 lb. What a parting shot – well done.
The stockies have provided action on days in the Winter when all else failed and are packing on the weight with some around 6 -7 lb. If we get a good Summer they will grow like the clappers.
I say it every magazine but please let us have your fish reports on anything of any size that you catch. What happened to the small Tench and Crucians that went in? Anybody seen them? Anyone caught any decent Perch? We hear rumours but need to know for sure so that we can establish what’s going on within the water and thereby plan for the future.
On the down side – very down side - our dumping friends have been at it again. This time fouling the stream at the back of the dam and decorating the surrounding shrubbery with their vile paper trail.
Make no mistake this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and will surely lose us the fishing on this water unless those responsible clean up their act. Most of our members, I believe, feel the same way and have a loyalty to the water and it’s surrounds. Hopefully the perpetrator / perpetrators are just passing through and will be sodding off next season taking their foul calling card with them.
Why do people seemingly not consider tea bags to be litter?? Especially those with the little blue tags attached! There has been a spate of these lately.
LITTER LOSES FISHING - TAKE IT HOME!!
In these days of foreign poachers I was concerned last week to find the island broken into, the boat house door ripped off and the boat stranded in the reeds at the far end of the lake, minus the oars, which I later found elsewhere in the margins. Luckily the only thing we lost was the lifejacket which we keep in the boat and my morning which I had to spend tidying up and fixing improved defences to the island.
This was coupled with the various notices being ripped off and gates being left open.
I believe this was down to kids messing about as it coincided with half term week, but we should be ever vigilante and if you see anything suspicious or people just walking around please let me know. If we know that such things are going on we can take steps to dissuade them.
Working Parties – Materials required, especially good quality timber for swim building and repairs to the bridge and hardcore (not builders rubbish) and scalpings, again for swims and improving the lane underfoot on the walk down through the woods.
We will continue our liming policy, ball ache though it is, as this has positive benefits to the fishery both in terms of water quality and growth of our valuable fish.
Looking forward to seeing the usual stalwarts on the working parties and at the AGM.
Good fishing.
John Miles