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Welcome to the eleventh Bainton Fisheries Newsletter, which is designed to keep you informed about the Fishery, in terms of news during the last season, future events and issues.

Membership 2010 – 2011
There continues to be significant demand for permits on the complex.  New members will only be accepted in place of existing members who do not renew by the deadline.  Membership numbers will be fixed again for the coming season.  Operating profits have been spent on rent, insurance,  staff, (bailiff and contract labour), plant hire, swim building materials, a few tools and admin costs (e.g. Stamps/Printing etc). 

This year the lease costs for 2011/12 have been confirmed as a 5% increase which also attracts VAT at 20% now.  Therefore the permits will increase in cost by 50p for non-fishing permits, £5.00 for day fishing and £10.00 for night fishing to reflect this.

For 2011 – 2012 the prices are:-

Non-fishing Permit: - £18.00

Dawn to Dusk Permit: - £132.50

24-Hour Permit: - £265.00

Keys will be £10.00

Fishery Maintenance and Development
A working party weekend was held on the 24th and 25th April 2010 with the fishery being closed to anglers during the day.  On both days enough eager volunteers turned up to complete the programme of work on the L shape lake to establish new swims.

Working party dates
In 2011 year there will be 2 working parties, and they will take place over one weekend.  The fishery is closed to fishing on all lakes from 9am on Saturday the 16th April until 5pm and again from 9am on Sunday the 17th April to 5pm.  Anglers with 24 hour tickets are more than welcome to fish nights outside of these hours, however they must remove their equipment to a safe distance to avoid any possibility of damage, e.g. falling branches.

The required work will be some major relaying of tracks along the Maxey cut bank of the carp lake and around the L shape, using a JCB.  In addition 3 swims on the Carp lake will be repaired, and two trees that are a hazard to hooked fish will be trimmed.  On the big pit an attempt will be made to remove all the posts left over from duck shooting platforms in the lake and an attempt will be made to develop two new swims (snag survey permitting) along the main track in the reeds.  If time permits two very reed inundated swims in the North East corner of the big pit will also have small sleeper/gravel platforms built.

Bow saws, loppers, pole cutters, spades, shovels, chest waders, lump hammers, wheel barrows, very thick gloves are useful items to bring.  A boat will be used also on the working party so if you have a life jacket you may get a special treat.

Please meet by parking at the Bailey Bridge Pit on Saturday and the Stock Pond on Sunday.  As plant machinery will be used please ensure you leave plenty of room on the main track.

Feedback from Members Meeting
The eleventh members’ meeting was held at the Tallington Lakes Bar, Tallington, on 5th April 2011.  This had a fantastic turn out with about 65 members which was excellent.

• Details of the proposed tasks in hand for the working party were discussed.  There was particular interest in increasing the swim capacity on the big pit and making it a safer lake to fish by removing snags.  It was agreed that a small team would work on the big pit on the working party Saturday with a member who  is a diver to identify snags and remove them from the lake.  This would require an additional boat and possibly rope to pull snags to the bank.
• There was a proposal discussed about the introduction of a 72 hour “on” and 72 hour “off” rule being extended to the Big Pit and Carp Lake.  The argument being made was that it would give more anglers flexibility and choice as people would have to move on after 3 days to another lake on the complex.  After a good discussion with members present, there was narrow vote in favour of this at the meeting.  I have since sought to validate this ruling to see what effect positive or negative it has had where it has been introduced on other fisheries.  The opinion is, that although it tries to create opportunity for people, in reality it achieves the opposite.  As anglers form swim rotation cartels between them and are constantly watching each other to see if they breach the 72 hour rule.  I have been advised that also creates an additional bailiff overhead which you need to develop procedures to manage this rule.  I think therefore on reflection it was a poor decision on the night possibly influenced by a vocal minority and a generally agnostic majority, including myself as I’ll never have the luxury of fishing 3 nights.   Therefore we’ll leave things as they are for now.
• It does however raise an important point that the members meeting is designed as a forum to consult upon future direction for the fishery and that it is really important  for members that are able to attend make the effort and make their views known.
• Members had complained significantly about speeding on site throughout the year and it was stated that a harder line would have to be taken with offenders.  The site speed limit is 10mph and that is a safe speed for the fishery, which has poor visibility in places and being mainly a gravel surface has very poor stopping distances under braking.  Unnecessary track maintenance is also caused by people driving at speed and requires additional work on a regular basis because of it.  It was stated that an example would probably have to be made of the next serious offender to demonstrate that excessive speeding will result in a ban from the fishery.
• There was a proposal to site a Portaloo on site.  This would have to be serviced under contract as the neither Fishery owner nor bailiff wanted to be responsible for cleaning it.  The costs would result in an extra levy of £8.50 per angler per year.  Members generally felt that such portaloos generally became disgusting and that most anglers would not be prepared to wind their rods in to visit such facility.  Most people agreed that the current arrangements worked for them and that Bainton Fisheries monies should be spent elsewhere.  The proposal was rejected but members were reminded that they should take their waste home with them.
• A proposal to introduce an additional weekday ticket was also discussed following a proposition from a member.  This ticket could be cheaper but would require additional members to be added to the 170 limit.  This was rejected by members as they felt that weekdays were also quite busy and they did not want to increase membership numbers.
• Stocking was discussed and it was noted that although no stocking had taken place over the winter, mainly due to the weather making netting unfeasible by contractors, a watchful eye would be kept on opportunities especially for pleasure angler species.  Again if members know of any lakes locally that could potentially offer fish to Bainton Fisheries then they should contact the owner.  Members were also reminded that they should not unilaterally move fish between lakes. 
• A discussion was also held on the stock of carp in the Stock Pond, the owner stated that if people wanted to target these carp and could capture them they should be moved.  Upon capture they should ring the fishery owner for a suggested destination lake.  The last fish caught was an 8lb Mirror but as they get bigger they are becoming a hazard for light tackle pleasure anglers.
• The deadline for renewal to ensure that all applications are received will be no later than Monday 16th May 2011 to ensure that membership does not lapse, thereafter; existing members will compete with new applications.  Should existing members wish to sponsor a new applicant please be aware that an early renewal accompanied with that sponsorship is advised as latent demand for tickets seems to be great this year.
• There was a discussion about what time dawn started and dusk finished so that anglers were clear about when they should be off the complex if they only had a dawn til disk ticket.  This is not precisely defined and nor did the fishery wish to go down the route of defining it. However it was felt that if it was so dark that you had to use a torch or car headlights to pack up then you were probably night fishing.  There is also the disturbance factor of cars leaving with lights on full beam.  So people need to consider other anglers who are night fishing.

A note from the Bird Ringer……
It never ceases to amaze me how our resident birds survive over the winter months.  I’ve just been looking at an amazing photo of a Goldcrest – our smallest British bird - covered in frost.  It looks like it’s just been taken out of a freezer.  And yet, somehow or other survive they do and, in nature’s typical fashion, a good breeding season tends to follow and stocks are replenished.  This seemed to happen in 2010 after the severe winter and, for example, I ringed nearly twice as many Blue Tits as the previous year.  I also ringed four Goldcrests whose combined weight was less than one ounce! Our summer visitors, who only have the small matter of a journey to Bainton of several hundred miles to contend with, also did well and overall 2010 was a much better breeding year all round.  If the cycle repeats itself, summer 2011 should be a good one.

Of the more unusual species caught this year, perhaps the Cuckoo was the least expected.  They’re notorious for wriggling out of nets but this one stuck and very nice it was too.  It’s not often I get close enough for a good look at one, although the males are vocal from the early hours at Bainton, so it was a real treat to catch one here at last.  They are superb birds and a species much in decline. Thankfully, they are hanging on at this site and long may it continue.  Another species you may have heard this year is Cetti’s Warbler. The male’s explosive song can be heard blasting out from the scrub around the lakes at any time of day.  I’d ringed a female back in 2003 and had not seen nor heard one here since so when one rattled off at me in the reedbed I thought I’d misheard.  Then, there it was, sat patiently in a net waiting to be ringed.  This was followed over the weeks by another male and two juvenile birds, one of which turned up in Wales when it was caught by the Pembrokeshire Ringing Group twice in November.  Unlike most warbler species, these guys hang around all year and this young bird made the record books by recording the longest movement for this species within the UK – 337 km.  Other interesting recoveries were two old timers – a Reed Warbler ringed in 2004 and a Garden Warbler ringed in 2006, both caught again in Sussex and Suffolk respectively.  And, to round it off, a Long tailed Tit, ringed here as a juvenile in 2007 was caught again at my old stamping ground – Ferry Meadows – in May.
 

Look forward to seeing you around in the summer and I hope you all have a peaceful (apart from the bird song) and enjoyable season.  Look for the Skoda as usual!

Chris Hughes

And Finally…….
Without all your support and effort running this fishery would be an impossible task.    Hopefully you get out more from it than just a days fishing, I hope you feel included and consulted and feel that you are making a contribution into shaping the ways things develop. 

Remember the Bainton Philosophy is for conservation minded anglers who care about the environment they fish in.

Ian Wakeford