There have been a few surprises at the Ponds this summer. First after a few years of not seeing any big crucians they have once again put in an appearance in angler catches, and in numbers too.

Perhaps the small fish we stocked a year or more ago have spurred them on, and there are plenty of those being caught too on all ponds, or perhaps our strategy of supplementary feeding has helped. Certainly other species seem to be benefitting from this latter activity!
The other surprise is the absence of carp in the Bridge pond. No-one is catching many, with the exception of Fred O’nion who had five the other evening, but anglers have reported seeing them sunning themselves. Of course they’re no longer the small 8ozs jobs they used to be; now they’re 3, 4, or 5lbs, so we’d be interested to hear if anyone does catch some.
Strangely reports of anglers catching anything carp wise have been few and far between, probably resulting from the fact that there has been little angler activity on the Carp Pond. Pete Lawrence did however manage five one night and away from the Carp Pond 15 years old Josh Luty landed an 11lbs fish, which had not been caught before, from the Gt. Pond giving some idea of the potential that Pond holds. It begs the question however ‘Where are the carpers?’