28.09.05
NEW DRIVE TO LURE THE YOUNG AWAY FROM CRIME
A new scheme to get more people into fishing and steer youngsters away from crime has been launched in Reading. Parliamentary spokesman for angling and keen fisherman, Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, chaired the launch of the Angling Action Project
[Read More]

21.09.05
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY BOARD FOCUSES ON FISH
More chances for people to fish and a boost to the local economy, are just two of the benefits the Environment Agency plans to make by 2012, the Agency's Board will hear today [Wednesday]. Reporting to its Board today on how to improve fish stocks and provide a better environment for wildlife and people    [Read More]

20.09.05
CONSTRUCTION FIRM FINED FOR RIVER ADUR POLLUTION
The Environment Agency has prosecuted a construction plant company based in Partridge Green for polluting a tributary of the River Adur on two occasions. M J McCabe and Sons Ltd of Star Road Industrial Estate, Partridge Green, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to both offences at Horsham Magistrates Court    [Read More]

19.09.05
WHERE TO FISH THIS WEEK [MID-SEPTEMBER 05]
Want to know where to fish this week. Well Fish South East can tell you. The following is a round up of coarse fishing venues [all featured on Fish South East] that are fishing well at the moment and how to catch at each venue. Click on the link for more details of each fishery    [Read More]

15.09.05
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY CLAMPS DOWN ON ILLEGAL FISHERIES
The Environment Agency is stepping up enforcement action on fisheries that stock alien species and threaten native fish populations in Sussex. The Environment Agency’s Sussex Fisheries enforcement teams, supported by the National Fish Movement Enforcement team, have been visiting fisheries in the county to make sure    [Read More]

14.09.05
SOUTHERN WATER FINED FOR FAILURE TO TAKE ACTION
The Environment Agency has prosecuted Southern Water for failing to remedy a failure at the Allington Pumping Station after sewage leaked into the River Medway. Southern Water pleaded guilty to the offence at Sittingbourne Magistrates Court on Friday 9 September 2005. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay    [Read More]

13.09.05
WHERE TO FISH THIS WEEK [EARLY SEPTEMBER 05]
Want to know where to fish this week. Well Fish South East can tell you. The following is a round up of coarse fishing venues [all featured on Fish South East] that are fishing well at the moment and how to catch at each venue. Click on the link for more details of each fishery    [Read More]

07.09.05
BURY HILL FISHERIES NEWS - W/E 3rd September 2005
As we head into autumn, a glorious week weather wise with temperatures hitting close to the upper 20’s towards the weekend. Whilst sport did slow a touch following the rain the previous week, sport really picked up mid week as temperatures and oxygen levels levelled out with some really big bags being reported from all lakes    [Read More]

04.09.05
FISH SOUTH EAST WINS WEBSITE AWARD
Fish South East has been nominated for and won its first website design award, the Captive Angler Fishing sites with Style Gold Award    [Read More]

01.09.05
GRAVEL COMPANY FINED FOR POLLUTING THE RIVER ROM
A gravel extraction company which polluted an Essex river with silt was fined £5,000 on 30 August after being prosecuted by the Environment Agency. Brett Lafarge Ltd, who operates a quarry at Marks Warren Farm, Whalebone Lane North, Romford, Essex, admitted to polluting the River Rom with silt on 4 February this year    [Read More]

A new scheme to get more people into fishing and steer youngsters away from crime has been launched in Reading.

Parliamentary spokesman for angling and keen fisherman, Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, chaired the launch of the Angling Action Project. It is part of a three year plan that ties into Reading Council's City 2020 Vision, involving a partnership between the city council, the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders [Nacro], the Environment Agency [EA] and local angling clubs. With £15,000 already donated by the EA as part of its commitment to get more anglers on the bank, a further £12,000 has been earmarked for the pioneering project later this year.

Fisheries development officer, Alan Butterworth said, "angling continues to be one of the most popular and accessible sports and has a remarkable record for steering young people away from a life of drugs and crime." The project has also received a financial boost from local businessman, Joe Hermani.

The main aims of the project are to increase angling participation in Reading, provide improved facilities and access and establish regular programmes of angling activities in a safe and controlled environment. This activity includes using angling as a diversionary tool to help in the reduction of crime and anti-social behaviour in and around the city, and at the same time providing opportunities in the sport for young and old. Another aim is to see angling going into more schools and to advise on this the partnership has called upon the services of Les Webber, from Junior Coarse Angling [UK], who has already succeeded in getting angling onto some of the region's school curriculums.

Source: Southern Angler - September 2005.

More chances for people to fish and a boost to the local economy, are just two of the benefits the Environment Agency plans to make by 2012, the Agency's Board will hear today [Wednesday]. Reporting to its Board today on how to improve fish stocks and provide a better environment for wildlife and people, the Environment Agency says that the proposals in Delivering Fisheries for our nations - a fisheries strategy provide an overview of how the Agency will deliver for fisheries over the next 6 years.

Fish are recognised as a good indicator of a clean environment and are part of the lifeblood of our natural environment. People view the very existence of healthy fish stocks in our rivers and anglers fishing on the banks as one of the best indicators of clean rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Fish stocks in England and Wales are encouraging, with numbers increasing in many of our rivers. There are, however, areas of concern and pressures and challenges facing fisheries in the future include;

Climate change - if temperatures, sea level rise and rainfall patterns change, life cycles and migration behaviour may be adversely affected which could be devastating for species which are already rare such as shad.
Siltation - Silted up stream gravels mean there are fewer spawning areas for those fish that prefer fast flowing waters, such as barbel and dace.
Loss of fly life - over the last 15 years there has been a fall in the number of river flies resulting in less food for fish, birds and mammals with detrimental effects for fisheries businesses as anglers depend on good numbers of these for their fishing.

Environment Agency Chief Executive Barbara Young said:
"Fish are a key indicator of the health of our rivers and more rivers now have healthy fish populations. The Water Framework Directive provides the necessary legislation to tackle problems and make the most of opportunities in water and wetland habitats. As we carry out the Water Framework Directive we will do even more to tackle the issues that have had a bad effect on our fisheries, such as diffuse pollution."

Salmon and freshwater fisheries make important contributions to local economies. The government’s recent review showed that it is the economic and social role of fisheries that distinguishes the Environment Agency’s fisheries duty from its more general duty to contribute to the conservation of other types of wildlife.

Barbara Young continued:
"Some 3.9 million people have fished in inland waters in the last two years and as many people again are interested in taking up the sport. Nearly four million anglers spend some £3 billion a year on the sport. This provides important economic and social benefits to rural and urban communities. Fishing appeals to all ages and does not discriminate against gender, race or athletic ability. We continually want to find better ways to work with others to be efficient and effective, to make the best use of resources available. We will regularly benchmark how we work and what we do to make sure we provide a service of the highest quality when compared to similar organisations in other countries."

The Board of the Environment Agency meets around six times a year in public at different locations around England and Wales. Board meetings are open to the public to observe. Each meeting begins with an open session where members of the public can put questions to Board members and directors. Details of all Environment Agency Board meetings can be found on the Agency’s website where the full agenda and papers for the 21 September meeting can also be found.

Source: The Environment Agency - September 2005. Contact: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

The Environment Agency has prosecuted a construction plant company based in Partridge Green for polluting a tributary of the River Adur on two occasions. M J McCabe and Sons Ltd of Star Road Industrial Estate, Partridge Green, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to both offences at Horsham Magistrates Court on Monday 19 September 2005. The company was fined £1,700 and was ordered to pay costs of £1,300.

The Court heard that on 23 August 2004, Environment Agency officers had cause to visit a small watercourse that flows into a tributary of the River Adur at the rear of M J McCabe and Sons site. There they found discoloured cloudy water flowing from the back corner of the yard directly into the watercourse. Environment Agency Officers identified the source of the water to be the jet washing of construction vehicles parked in the yard. Samples taken indicated that the water discharging into the stream had contaminated the watercourse.

The officers spoke with the site manager about the matter and afterwards two letters were sent to M J McCabe and Sons Ltd that explained what had been found and inviting them to attend an interview with the Environment Agency to explain the incident. However, no response was received. On 25 February 2005 Environment Agency officers again visited the area and found that the water in the ditch near the yard was again discoloured and had oily film in places. On visiting the yard itself the officers witnessed a transit type vehicle being jet-washed. Again the officers visited the site manager and in his company they followed the soapy run-off from the jet-washing where they saw it escape from the site boundary into the watercourse. The site manager confirmed that the company had received a warning letter following the last incident and that the warning letter was posted on a board in his office.

On 13 April 2005, Chris McCabe, a director of the defendant company, was interviewed by the Environment Agency and he admitted that his vehicles were seen being washed down and that such action had not been a one-off occurrence.

Environment Officer Julian Ridge said:
"The effects of vehicle wash water, containing oils, detergents and silts can be devastating to aquatic life. This case will act as a deterrent for any companies that carry out on-site vehicle washing and will emphasise the importance of putting the correct systems in place to prevent pollution of this nature occurring."

Source: The Environment Agency - September 2005. Contact: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Want to know where to fish this week. Well Fish South East can tell you. The following is a round up of coarse fishing venues [all featured on Fish South East] that are fishing well at the moment and how to catch at each venue. Click on the link for more details of each fishery.

The River Kennet - Aldermaston [Berkshire]
Despite the low water, the Kennet is still producing the odd quality barbel. Recent catches from the lawn swims have included an 11lb 9oz fish that fell to legered meat and a 10lb 1oz fish caught using boilies. The weirs remain consistent for barbel and chub using meat and pellet, whilst smaller baits are attracting the many small trout present. Tench have been taken in the top river along with roach, perch and bream using bread, worm or maggot.
Lake John [Essex]
Carp to 30lb have almost become the norm this summer form the excellent Top Lake. One of the most recent was a 33lb fish which fell to a hair-rigged pellet with a pva bag of pellet feed. In matches, 50lb of skimmers, bream, roach and crucians have fallen to meat and pellet on the pole or feeder.
Rayne Lodge [Essex]
Floating bait on all three lakes is still scoring with bags to 40lb made up of fish from 1-14lb. Any peg on the three lakes is capable of producing mixed bags to 100lb using corn and pellets fished in the margins. Legered baits fished to the island on Middle Lake are also taking bags to 80lb+.
Verulam Angling Club [Hertfordshire]
Frogmore Lake is in cracking form for carp with the occasional double figure fish as well as bream and skimmers. Polefished pellet and corn is the best approach. The club is presently in the process of taking over the gravel pits previously run by the LAA. Moor Hill Pits contain some very big fish with a 15lb bream recored recently and one of the pits is home to a 41lb leather carp, believed to be the second largest in the country.
Elphicks Fisheries [Kent]
Prarie Lake continues to produce some excellent sport. Floatfished maggot or worm is working well. Groundbait or loose feed heavily as Prarie Lake responds well to good beds of bait. On Sandwich lake bream, chub, roach, rudd and dace are being taken with natural baits working well. Use small hooks on light rigs and feed little and often to keep the fish in your swim. There is also some great tench fishing at present.
Willinghurst Fishery [Surrey].
Legered corn and pellet in open water or waggler fished in the margins is producing carp bags to 100lb almost anywhere on the Old and New Bottom Lakes. On the Top Lake, try the method feeder with pellet or corn down the spit. Its been producing bags of mainly carp from 50-100lb. On Horseshoe Lake, polefished paste fished up in the water or corn in the margins works well for carp and F1s. The method feeder is working well on Cherry Tree Lake cast to the island whilst polefished maggot and corn is taking 20-30lb silver fish bags.

Source: Angling Times - September 2005

The Environment Agency is stepping up enforcement action on fisheries that stock alien species and threaten native fish populations in Sussex. The Environment Agency’s Sussex Fisheries enforcement teams, supported by the National Fish Movement Enforcement team, have been visiting fisheries in the county to make sure owners are complying with important legislation that helps prevent the escape of alien species into the wild. Once in the wild, alien species put our native fish at risk by competing with them for food and habitat and by spreading disease.

Fish movements into and within the UK are therefore strictly controlled. Under the Import of Live Fish Act 1980 (ILFA), it is illegal for fisheries to keep certain non-native fish and requires them to have a licence for others. Licences will only be issued if fish can’t escape into the wild and waters must be outside of a floodplain with no inlet or outlet. Marc Thain, Environment Agency Fisheries Technical Officer, said: “It’s very difficult, sometimes impossible, to control the spread of non-native species once living in the wild so it’s important that we do everything we can to make sure they are not introduced in the first place. “In the last five years there has been growing interest from anglers to catch Wels Catfish and this has increased the stocking of this alien fish into angling waters. These predatory fish are not native to our waters and, in this country, are capable of achieving huge weights in excess of around 25kg. If these predatory fish escape into a wild, unenclosed environment they could cause significant damage to our native fish stocks.” As a result of Environment Agency visits to Sussex fisheries, one has already begun removing all non-native fish from three of its waters.

Falkenvil Fishery near Hailsham now has a licence to keep Wels Catfish and Grasscarp in one of its suitably enclosed lakes but has removed two Wels Catfish and one Sturgeon that had been caught by anglers in the unsuitable waters at the fishery. These fish are to be relocated by the Environment Agency to suitable licensed lakes and aquaria. The Environment Agency is advising all fisheries that are holding non-native species on the measures they must take to allow them to legally keep the fish. If these are not carried out, the Environment Agency will be taking enforcement action to ensure the fish are removed from all inappropriate sites.

Source: The Environment Agency - September 2005. Contact: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

The Environment Agency has prosecuted Southern Water for failing to remedy a failure at the Allington Pumping Station after sewage leaked into the River Medway. Southern Water pleaded guilty to the offence at Sittingbourne Magistrates Court on Friday 9 September 2005. The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,034.

Allington Pumping Station helps pump sewage from one part of the system to another on its way to treatment. Southern Water has a consent to discharge sewage from this works in the event of an emergency, power failure, mechanical breakdown of the pumps or a blockage of the system provided it is remedied as soon as possible.

On 17 July 2004 an Environment Officer received a report that sewage was entering the River Medway from an outfall just downstream of Allington Lock. The officer attended and saw sewage discharging into the River Medway. The river itself was discoloured, there was some sewage debris present and a strong odour. The Southern Water employee present did not have the technical expertise to stop the discharge so it continued for almost five and a half hours until a generating pump failed and finally stopped it. An electrician identified the problem that appeared to be a circuit breaker that was in the ‘off’ position needed to be switched back to ‘on’.

The day after the incident an Environment Officer walked down the Medway and saw a large amount of sewage debris on the bed of the river including sanitary towels, condoms and brown slime. A biological survey of the watercourse did identify some casualties among shrimp populations and other water species.

Environment Officer, Stacey Setterfield, said after the hearing: “This was a problem that could easily have been resolved but Southern Water failed to respond within reasonable time. Had someone been on site who knew how to operate the equipment the discharge of sewage could have been stopped much sooner. Southern Water must take its environmental responsibilities seriously - an incident like this can have catastrophic effects on the local environment.” During investigations an Environment Officer took samples of the sewage discharge. This showed that it had an ammonia level of 36.5mg/l and a Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) level of 381mg/l. Ammonia will kill fish at about 6mg/l so the level was six times a fatal dose. BOD is a measure of the amount of oxygen taken up by bacteria living in the effluent once it enters a watercourse and at high levels aquatic life can suffocate. Raw sewage has a BOD level of 300-400mg/l so the discharge here was of raw sewage.

In mitigation, Southern Water stated that the fault was as a result of an electrical storm that had tripped the fuse. The company accepted that it could have done better in the undue delay but explained that an electrician needed to check the switch and no stand-by electrician was available. The Magistrates accepted that a natural event had caused the failure and took into account Southern Water’s co-operation and its mitigation.

Source: The Environment Agency - September 2005. Contact: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Want to know where to fish this week. Well Fish South East can tell you. The following is a round up of coarse fishing venues [all featured on Fish South East] that are fishing well at the moment and how to catch at each venue. Click on the link for more details of each fishery.

The River Kennet - Aldermaston [Berkshire]
Sport continues to be good with chees being a popular bait. However, a 17lb 4oz barbel was recently caught using luncheon meat. Another cracking barbel of 17lb 12oz was caught at the Old Mill, Aldermaston using a single grain of corn. There are also tench [to 5lb] and roach [to 2lb] showing.
Farlows Lake [Buckinghamshire]
Open-ended feeder with caster or chopped worm and coloured broundbait will take 35-50lb nets of skimmers and bream wity the odd tench to 6lb on the match lake. On the mian lake carp to 27lb+ have been falling to boilies on the Factory Bank and the Road Bank. The M25 bank remains the best spot for tench to 6lb and small carp - flavoured meat and mini boilies fished tight to the reeds work well.
Rayne Lodge [Essex]
The Top Lake is producing 50-100lb bags of carp to 8lb and tench to 5lb using soft pellets, corn or small pieces of meat in the margins. Try the Middle Lake for 40-80lb bags of carp to 12lb and tench to 4lb in the margins to corn, paste and meat feeding pellets constantly. Floating baits work well for carp to 14lb in the evenings.
Bury Hill Fishery [Surrey]
A recent match on the Old Lake was won from peg 12 with 150lb bag of bream to 7lb 3oz using a feeder filled with groundbait, corn and chooped worm, with corn and worm on the hook. Try also targetting the bream with strong waggler tackle and 11mm pellets over a bed of pellets, corn and meat. The tench have also been showing well. On Bond Lake, peg one produced a near 200lb bag of carp to 9lb using soft pellets over a bed of pellets in the margins. Milton Lake is also in good form with tench, crucians and roach to just under 2lb falling to corn and meat over pellet.
Willinghurst Fishery [Surrey]
Peg 8 on the New Bottom Lake and peg 2 on the Old Bottom Lake have produced 40-80lb bags of carp on the method feeder and pellet. On the Top Lake, any peg off the back spit will produce 30-100lb bags of carp and the odd tench. Try pegs 1 or 2 on Horseshoe Lake with 35-85lb bags of F1s and the odd better carp to 10lb using leger or waggler tactics with corn over pellet.

Source: Angling Times - September 2005

Overview:
As we head into autumn, a glorious week weather wise with temperatures hitting close to the upper 20’s towards the weekend. Whilst sport did slow a touch following the rain the previous week, sport really picked up mid week as temperatures and oxygen levels levelled out with some really big bags being reported from all lakes. Sport continued well into the weekend and with cooler weather forecast for next week, we fully expect to see sport continue on a high.

Outlook for the week ahead:
turning a little cooler with the odd shower, which is perfect fishing weather. Temperatures should sit around the early twenties for the foreseeable and the outlook for the next few weeks is very good.

Old Bury Lake:
The fishing picked up considerably this week as water temperatures increased following last weeks deluge and by mid week we were seeing some very good bags being caught from all areas. With autumn upon us, it is the bream which will start to make up the bigger bags and this week was not exception with bream being caught from both the front bank and early pegs on the long bank. The lily swims also fished a lot better with some very good tench being caught from the 40’s topped by 9lb 3oz and 9lb specimens.

All methods are working on the day, although the feeder and pole are better suited to the front bank whilst strong float tackle is working best along the long bank. Bait wise, pretty much everything is now catching with caster and worm working particularly well as we head into autumn as well as bigger baits such as corn, small cubes of meat and soft and banded pellet along with paste. The secret at this time of year is not to over feed your swim and feeding little and often will increase your catches. Maggot will also now start to fish better particularly for the roach and rudd which are well up in the water.

Bonds Lake:
As water temperatures increased, Bonds once again responded with bumper catches being taken from most areas with pegs 6 to 9 fishing particularly well. Saying that, all pegs are producing fish with loads of bags to 50lb along with the odd bag to 150lb. As in previous weeks, pellet and paste or soft pellet appears to be the most productive baits, although, corn, meat and maggot are all catching.

Milton Lake:
Milton also responded to the increase in water temperatures producing some excellent bags of tench and crucian along with some good bags of silver fish, which included roach and rudd to 1lb 12oz and perch to 2lb. Both pole and float tactics are working best with most baits working with corn, pellet and paste all catching well on the day, however, caster and maggot are taking the better rudd and roach bags particularly when fished up in the water with worm.

For full details of the past weeks fishing at Bury Hill, visit: Bury Hill Fisheries News

Fish South East has been nominated for and won its first website design award, the Captive Angler Fishing sites with Style Gold Award. The Captive Angler team reviewed the site and evaluated its content and the services that Fish South East provides to anglers world wide. It was deemed worthy of this prestigious award.

Click the image to visit The Captive Angler website to learn more about their awards and to see a list of previous award winners.

Fish South East will shortly be commencning its own awards programme so if you run a fishing website or know of any websites that you think worthy of an award, please let me know via the contact page.

A gravel extraction company which polluted an Essex river with silt was fined £5,000 on 30 August after being prosecuted by the Environment Agency. Brett Lafarge Ltd, who operates a quarry at Marks Warren Farm, Whalebone Lane North, Romford, Essex, admitted to polluting the River Rom with silt on 4 February this year. Havering Magistrates’ Court heard that the Environment Agency received calls from members of the public on 4 February reporting that the river had turned a yellow-brown colour as it spread as far downstream as the outskirts of Romford. Investigating officers from the Environment Agency were able to trace the pollution up the river to Brett Lafarge’s discharge point just north of the town.

The company uses water to wash excavated sand and gravel. This water is then passed through a series of lagoons to allow any floating debris to settle out before it is reused. However when water levels rise at the site, either because of rainfall or increased abstraction, excess water is pumped from the site and discharged into a ditch leading to the River Rom. The pollution occurred after the company had been discharging water to reduce water levels in its lagoons through the night. The pump was switched off at 7.30am shortly before the gravel cleaning process started up, but on this occasion water still continued to pass naturally through the discharge pipe until eventually the silt-laden water from that day’s cleaning reached the intake and was discharged. Samples taken by environment officers revealed that silt levels were 400 times over the company’s discharge consent.

Brett Lafarge has since installed a valve system to prevent water passing through the discharge pipe when the pump is switched off. Investigating officer Toby Wymer said: “The fact that the company had not installed any safety mechanism to prevent silt laden water passing through its discharge pipe shows a lack of awareness for the environment which we would not expect from such an experienced operator as Brett Larfarge. “Silt can be very damaging to a river’s environment as it can suffocate fish while blocking out essential light for underwater vegetation. Once silt settles onto the river’s bed it smothers plants, fish eggs and other river life and can have long-term consequences for the river’s eco-system.” Brett Lafarge Ltd admitted to polluting the ditch and the River Rom and was fined £5,000 under sections 85(1) and 85(6) of the Water Resources Act 1991. The company was also ordered to pay the Environment Agency’s full costs of £1,997.40.

Source: The Environment Agency - September 2005. Contact: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk