Pitsford, A Lake Of Two Halves

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Glad Tidings

Now that Easter is open us and fishing is once more allowed in the Pitsford "little half" as it is affectionately known to the locals I have set here some musings on Pitsfords past and its potential future.

Dug out in the 1960's to serve a growing demand for water in the Midlands the lake is dissected by a causeway which in turn carries a road. Due to its large dog legged shape and several feeder arms Pitsford has many individual bays which makes it more than ideal for the bank fisherman in just about every wind direction. Over the years it has seen many transformations both natural and man made. I hope to give a flavour of some of those changes and a few ideas for improving the Pitsford fishing experience here.

A Trout Fishing Paradise Lost

Originally the "little half" was accessible to bank anglers. Those that were part of that lucky group of pioneer anglers report back prolific aquatic life and beautiful settings which more than justified the long walks to give some stunning fishing.

Out of Bounds

Sadly the current rule impositions mean that only a tiny fraction of that bank space is now available for anglers and boats are not allowed into the Scaldwell and Walgrave arms past the "old sunk road" marker buoys. Anyone who has set a summer boat drift from the buoys towards the causeway tunnel and seen the shoals of fish which keep on porpoising up through the waves past them on up towards the two arms has experienced first-hand the frustration these rules can bring. Contemplating how long those same shoals of fish are out of bounds and thus uncatchable can further compound ones indignation only tempered by the notion that they are growing on well due to the rich aquatic larder the "little half" has.

Coarse Fish

Also in the "little half" in past years at the end of May and the beginning of early June it was possible to wade out amongst huge shoals of spawning roach and rudd in the 2lb - 4lb class who took no heed of your presence and happily carried on spawning around your waders. Sadly those days are long gone as many tonnes of these coarse fish have been netted out as a revenue earner for Anglian Water - these fish being dumped in the local canal such as at Wilton and in the River Nene such as at Cogenhoe for local coarse fishing clubs. Almost all the seasoned ticket holders I have talked to have a story about catching large specimen sized roach, rudd or perch on the fly in years past. These fantastic catches are now but a fond memory now replaced by the regularly fly caught pike.

Pike

For many years Pitsford did not suffer any major pike problems. It was taken for granted that the lake was virtually pike free since its original flooding. This all changed in the 1980's when a prolonged period of pumping water from Duston Mill on the River Nene late in one May which coincided with an early spawning of the local pike population. This unwitting introduction of many pike eggs went largely unnoticed until the following seasons were it became almost impossible to get a small pheasant tail nymph back without a jack pike on the end of the line. Anglers were more concerned at the huge volume of water being pumped into the lake crashing out the water temperature to winter levels at the start of summer and the negative impact that had on the fishing at that time. Worse was to follow as the numbers of pike over the following five year period exploded in unprecedented numbers. Even now it is common to catch pike in the 3lb - 12lb class from the bank on the fly. Anglian Water have managed to turn this into a revenue earner allowing dedicated pike fishing from the boats in the summer and autumn during the traditional coarse fishing season. Pike in double figures and the twenty pound plus class are regularly caught by these non trout fisherman. Large brown trout into double figures are also accidentally caught by the pike anglers also.

The Black Death

The consumption of trout and coarse fish by pike despite being bad pales into insignificance compared to the wholesale decimation inflicted by Pitsfords resident cormorant flock. Scaldwell Arm now hosts a huge roost of cormorants that numbers in the high scores. Cormorants are indiscriminate fish killers and the largest recorded trout seen taken weighed over 3lb. All fish are potential prey including eels. The devastation caused by cormorants has seen whole summer classes of coarse fish wiped out such that waterways are populated by a small number of very old fish that are 4lb plus that are too large to be taken by the cormorant and that years fry. This leaves little hope for the indigenous fish conservation once this imbalance has been achieved by the cormorants. Nearly every angler has caught a cormorant damaged trout. Even if the bird cannot swallow the fish it can leave huge puncture wounds on its victims leaving them to a slow and unseen death. Currently the arrival of the latest trout stocking tankers is like sounding off a huge dinner gong for the cormorants who home in on the free gourmet food

Blue Green Algae

Three consecutive summers of clear water and bright sun saw the proliferation of poisonous blue green algae. After the deaths of local bank side livestock - fishing was suspended and the decision made by Anglian Water to introduce tonnes of Ferric Oxide into the lake in an attempt to tackle the problem. For a whole summer the sight of a small boat chugging around trailed by a huge orange cloud of dumped ferric oxide in the water was the daily rather ugly spectacle. The consequences of this wholesale chemical dumping would not become immediately obvious. The thick orange jelly that formed on the bottom of the lake in effect killed off virtually all the aquatic life in the "big half". Sadly this lasted for several years and drastically changed the trouts behaviour. With no buzzers, sedge or other aquatic life to feed on cruising rainbows had to resort to feeding on a meagre diet of terrestrials such as minute rape seed beetles. Inevitably this lead to long, lean and very starved fish. The brown trout population fed on whatever coarse fish they could find and take. This lead to a disproportionate number of 5lb - 7lb class fish being caught on lures, most not being returned as these were the best fish of a lifetime for many anglers. It took several years for the lakes aquatic life to re-establish itself back to its previous levels after this huge man made set back.

The Circuit Track

Pitsford used to be all about long walks to find a wind favoured spot to cast line. With the building of the road that runs around the big half access is much easier, not just for anglers, also for the large numbers of cyclist, joggers and families on a day trip out to the countryside. Easy access for all can lead to some congestion though, cyclist clipping anglers cars, joggers barging into anglers are not uncommon. Dogs allowed off their leads disturbing nesting birds happens every spring.

Potential Revenue Streams

Attempts to increase the revenue stream for Anglian Water are many and varied. Fly fishing courses, horse riding permits, past sales of netted coarse fish, season and day trout fishing tickets are just a few currently in place.

Here are my suggestions for improving Pitsford that can be combined to earn revenue, I hope Anglian Water can take these onboard

• Remove The Black Death
• License local falconry experts to fly their birds over the cormorant roosts on a regular basis
• License local marksmen to shoot the cormorants until they get the message to move on elsewhere - back to the sea preferably

• Improve Access to the "little half"
• Build a small environmentaly friendly footpath circuit of the "little half" and charge a small fee for using it
• Remove all of the out of bounds "little half" limits for anglers
• Increase revenue from the anglers by splitting day tickets into three types by location, repeat for boat hire also:

1. Whole lake
2. Big half only
3. Little half only

• Split the trout fishing season tickets into three types by location

1. Whole lake
2. Big half only
3. Little half only

These options if implemented will rekindle a lot of interest in the lakes potential and certainly raise revenue, perhaps there are more that spring to mind. What do you think?