Fishery Management Report
The club is working through a programme of platform maintenance at Stemps and Cart and you may already have seen the results of our labours.
The maintenance of the platforms may involve total stripping down and rebuilding or just replacement of odd boards where the main structure is OK. A list of platforms that required work was generated and we have been working through this.
On Cart, platforms 24 and 29 have had complete rebuilds and several platforms only required odd boards replacing. The platform on peg 21 was set back from the water and the reeds have started to encroach on it, limiting the amount of fishable space. It was decided to relocate the platform further out into the water which initially required dismantling the old platform. This took longer than normal as it required the dismantling of three platforms as the current one had been built on the two earlier platforms. Once this had been done it was noted that there very little support left for the platform as the bank had been undercut. Two scaffold poles were knocked in further out in the water and a pole installed as a front support. Three bearers were installed from the front scaffold pole well back onto the ground, requiring digging out and levelling of the earth. Scaffolds boards were then used to finish off the platform and this has now created a peg that is further out in the water giving more fishable space.
Platforms on pegs 16, 26 and 27 have had hardboard sheeting placed on them to improve stability and these are on the list for longer term replacement.
The priority platform for replacement on Stemps was on peg 13 with the pier on the entrance to the peg having collapsed completely. The pier was ripped up and the main platform was found to be also falling apart so this was dismantled too. Again another case of the current platform being built on the top of the two previous platforms. Once all the boards were removed it could be seen that there was limited support for the pier and platform on the land end as the bank had been severely undercut. Scaffold poles were knocked in vertically across the back of the platform and pier and a new scaffold pole supported horizontally on them. Metposts were driven into the earth to provide the landward support for bearers. The platform was reboarded but we had run out of boards to finish the job. However Ray received a call from Mark to say he had some boards for delivery. This enabled us to finish the job. So I would like to pass on the clubs thanks to Mark G for the supply of the boards.
Platform 9 has been completely rebuilt – again yet another case of the current platform being built on the previous two platforms. Once the boards had been removed it was noticeable that the bearers had rotted through and were all replaced.
The platform on peg 3 had been wrecked completely when the trees had blown down in the storm earlier this year. The remnants of the platform had been cleared at the last work party and Les and Ray had installed new bearers with new boards completing the availability of another peg.
The programme will continue on the refurbishment of the pegs. I would like to thank Ray and Les for their assistance.
Mick Greenway