We thought that an update on Hurston Lane was well overdue so to keep you in the picture with regard to progress – here goes.

Entrance
Firstly we will be spending some money improving the security of the site by improving some of the fencing and raising the height of the gate to discourage casual or malicious entry by non club members. You can help out with this as well by making sure that the gate is kept closed and locked.

Tench Pond
We had a stock survey carried out on the Tench Pond and this showed that the stock had seriously depleted from a couple of years ago. We know that we have had cormorant problems and unfortunately we cannot rule out poaching hence our efforts to improve security. As a result of this we have introduced further stocks of both Tench and Crucian Carp to the pond, the fish are small to medium sized were reported to be in excellent condition and should grow on well. We hope to have some photographs of the introduction, which we will post on the website as soon as they are available. We have had some early feedback from those that quite regularly fish the pond and they have said that the stock introduction has really pepped up the fishing and good catches have been reported. We have not been idle bankside either and Nelson and his team have refurbished / updated five swims on the Tench Pond to cater for disabled anglers.

Middle Pond
Following the drain down and weed treatment we are now allowing the lake to refill. Ironically (given the recent rain) we are acting under drought advice from the EA at the moment and part of this advice is that we should not move any fish stocks. Therefore, unfortunately we are going to have to wait a while before we can think about putting stock back into the Carp Pond. As well as moving the larger fish back from the Match Pond we are finalising a stock order for fish that will be introduced in the autumn. This will at least allow the water to settle down thoroughly and will allow us to assess how successful we have been in tackling the weed issue before we put stock back into the pond. We are also having three floating island type fish refuges constructed and these will be introduced to the Carp Pond as soon as the water level allows. So at the moment the Carp Pond is essentially fishless and closed to angling.

Match Pond
Since we moved the fish from the Carp Pond anglers have been reporting some really excellent sessions on the Match Pond. But it is fairly obvious that as soon as we are able we need to move the bigger Carp back to the Carp Pond. We have also introduced some more silver fish into the Match Pond with around 500 Roach up to 1/2 lb being introduced at the same time as we put the Tench and Crucians into the Tench Pond.

River Bank
We have very recently had our application approved to carry out work to strengthen the riverbank and stop erosion of the path between the ponds. We will be having approximately 30 metres of wooden hurdles constructed and installed in the most vulnerable areas of the river and these will then be back filled to re-establish a stable riverbank.

So as you can see a lot has been going on behind the scenes and we hope you will bear with us whilst we continue to improve our Hurston Lane Fishery.