December and January have been really busy for us this year. We set ourselves an ambitions plan of work and we are pushing hard to complete all the work in time for the start of the new season which is now only three weeks away.

Silt Removal

We started this work in December and it took us three weeks to remove the build up of silt which had created an island at the inlet. We removed around 50 qubic tonne of silt and ended up with a good meter and a half depth at the inlet behind the first island. We also added a small silt trap to slow the water down at the mouth of the inlet and make it much easier for us to maintain this area.

Snag removal

We also removed at the same time a lot of rocks and stones from the far margins. We estimate around three tonne of rocks has been taken out. In the process we spent some time ensuring peg 5 had two margin areas to present a bait effectively. Peg 5 had a lot of small stones and I removed a lot from this area to ensure good bait presentation.

Peg 1 and 2 improvements

We have spent a lot of time looking at what we could do to improve peg 1 and 2 from an anglers perspective. We in the end decided to remove a lot of the very tall trees from the middle of the peg between 1 and 2. This now allows the sun to get into the peg for you to enjoy without taking away the lovely shade which you need in the peak of the summer. We have also created a logged and gravelled area in between the pegs for your social area. Power will be installed here shortly.

Peg 7 improvements

We have completely changed the peg here.  You will not recognise it. We have moved it to the right, dug out the bank and created a raised area on a bed of hard core as this area is very wet. We have then logged the area and gravelled it as per peg 1 and 2. Power is also at the swim. It opens the swim up much better. The only problem is the margin is very shallow here now and you will need to go into the water to land the fish. Not a bad thing. You should be able to set everything up in the water and there should be little need to take the fish out even for weighing.

Power

We have now connected power to pegs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. You have three power stations located in between the pegs which you can share between you. There are two sockets allocated to each of the pegs. This is free for you to use for charging your phone and bait boat batteries. If you are using the power to connect additional applieances then you will be asked to pay 25 euro for your weeks power. If time permits we will try to get pegs 1,2 on the power also.

Toilet and Shower Block

We have totally refurbished the block. This has been a big job. We have rewired, re-plumbed and re-modelled the layout. You now have two large showers and a double sink plus the existing two toilets. All fitting and bathroom wear are new and of a high specification. We have also created a changing area for you with a bench and pegs for you to changed outside the bathroom before you shower. Showers are also now free to use. Please not that the showers are communal. We have a number of ladies who fish and come with their partner and the whole block will be locked when ladies are showering or using the facilities. Please be patent and respect or female anglers.

New Fish

We have also acquired 30+ new fish between 30lb and 44lb they have been added to the stock pond and not the lake which is why you have not seen them yet. This is part of our policy only to stock new fish every three years and to only add exceptional fish. We aim only now to add fish which are over 40lb/20kg. The fish we acquired this year are very special fish they are young and have massive growth potential. I am very excited that we have acquired them and I look forward to sharing them with you in 2018.

Accommodation Facelift

We are also giving most of our accommodation a refresh and facelift. This includes, painting, new appliances where appropriate, décor replacement and new bedding. Next year we will begin the refurbishment of bathrooms.

Fish Care

As normal we have continued, when the lake has not been frozen, to feed the fish. We have fed them three times a week and in December they were still feeding as I would expect them to be. January has been very cold and the water temperature has been below 5 degrees so its been difficult. I am hoping that February is better and allows us to continue feeding. During the very cold spell we have keep the lake from freezing totally by deploying our two surface airatours. This means the oxygen levels remain high and that we get now build up of gases under the ice. The wealfare of the fish even in very cold condition when they may be largely dormant is still important. We want the fish to be in top condition when you fish for them in the spring.

New Website

We have also launched the new website for the start of the season. The aim is to use the blog to keep you up-to-date with how things are progressing against our plans. I will use the newsletter to link to in more with video and news once the season starts. We will continue to use Facebook for weekly catch reports. You will also notice that some of the rules have been updated. The most important are no maggots, no nuts, no leaders and photograph all you fish in the water. Peg 4 drop the lead and use barbless on this peg. We lost a nice long 30lb fish on peg 4 in the rocks. If it was on a drop off and barbless it would of been ok. So its a must.