ROACH PIT
I purchased the lake in August 2012, with our first priority being the errection of the otter fence to protect the stock, then i needed to look to the future of the fishery with regards to the stock. Since the purchase of the lake, I have implemented a stocking programme, as the fish in the lake were between 30 and 40 years old, it was inevitable that as the years rolled by, the stock would be reduced every year. I have 4 suppliers of fish, Lower Berryfield Fisheries who supply me with Leney strain fish, which are dark in colour and beautifully scaled. Tony Campbell supplies me with some unique scaled fish, Dink strain, with great growth rates, scaly and great body shapes. Simon Bartlam supplies me with his amazing Dinton strain fish, which have an amazing track record, scaly, fast growing and a nice mixture of shapes and colours. Mark Simmonds supplies me with some of his famous strain of fish, which have great growth rates too.
More recently we have added some Avon Valley Fish strain to the mix, these were stocked at smaller sizes, but the growth has been very good. All of these suppliers allow me to go and hand pick fish from their harvest, which lets me make sure we have unique fish which all look different from each other.
The stock fish from the first stocking in 2013 are now reaching 40lb+, and we have put in a small number of fish each winter since then. This gives me a chance to monitor which strains grow best in this lake. In total we have between 90 - 100 fish in the lake now, and most of those are now over 20lb, with about 20 fish being over 30lb up to 41lb. With the 25 remaining originals and the new younger fish, there is a great mixture of fish and something for everybody’s tastes.
Some of these stock fish have been putting on 8lb+ in a year, so the future is very bright indeed. I estimate that in less than 5 years time, the lake will hold more big fish than at any point in its history.
The largest of the Simmo strain is now 41lb with 3 others over 35lb. We have 14 of them in the lake, with 5 more 20lb+ due to be stocked in late 2019.
The biggest of the Dinton strain is 36lb with another half a dozen over 30lb and a good number of fish due to go thirty on their next capture.
The Leney strain fish are growing a little slower but many of them are now 25lb+.
Tony Campbell’s fish of which there are only 5, are now heading for 30lb.
The Avon Valley fish are mostly mid doubles at the moment, but they are growing quickly and should reach 20lb in the next 12 months.
I allow the use of boats for baiting up and towing out rigs. These boats are distributed around the lake for everybody to use.
Again we have the same set of sensible rules as all the other lakes, designed with fish welfare in mind.