May 2023 News

Frylands ponds update

It just goes to show what you can do when you have the right equipment. 30 years of silt and rubbish removed in one day by one man and his digger. It did help that it was a 5 tonne machine with a long reach bucket of some six metres (nearly 20 feet in old money) and after he had finished there were eight very large piles of silt as we showed in last month’s news. However, last week six very able volunteers turned up and between us we managed to level and landscape the spoil from the ponds. It was hard and messy work but very much worth the effort.

I can assure you it is a lot better than when we started out and nature will soon take over and all that will be left will be a couple of grassy mounds! There is another large pile at the far end of the pond with all the rest hidden amongst the undergrowth.

On behalf of the club I would like to pass on thanks to the six volunteers including Jan who had only joined earlier in the week. It isn’t always as messy as that !.

We are delighted with the outcome as the depth of both ponds has substantially increased with at least 3 feet in front of most of the swims in the main lake. The digger was able to get around to the back of the main pond and the far bay which was only about twelve inches deep, now has a few holes of three foot or so. The icing on the cake was a visit from Damon of the Environment agency who was impressed with what we had done to the small pond. As it contains no carp it will be an ideal stock pond for crucian carp and will be coming back in the autumn to test the water and if all is ok we have been promised a load of crucian carp. This will enable us to establish a pure bred crucian stock pond. A good result all round.

Decoy lake

I heard from a very reliable source that he caught a 20lb plus carp recently so well done to the angler concerned. Unfortunately he is not a techy person so doesn’t have any photos to share with us. 

Being a keen gardener myself I couldn’t help but share with you this photo of the bluebells at Decoy, sent to me by one of our members. We are aware that there is a fallen tree on the far side of the lake so will be going down soon to remove it plus carry out any other maintenance.

We have also carried out a bit of “pruning” to the overhanging trees in pegs 31, 35 and 36. Hopefully this will make it a bit easier.

George Cragg

We have had another report of a 3lb plus bream from George Cragg so there is either one very stupid fish in there or somebody has transferred more than one from Badgers wood. Either way, if you catch a bream from George Cragg could you very carefully return it to Badgers Wood to join the rest of the shoal.

Badgers Wood

We had a very successful charity event on 11 May when 12 students from schools in Burgess Hill schools came along for a day’s fishing. We let the Sussex Branch of the Masonic Trout and Salmon Fishing Association have the use of Badgers for the day and they very kindly provided food, drinks and all the support that the students needed. Most of the students caught fish with the best being a nice tench caught just off the island. It sounds like they had a great day and we hope to hold a similar event next year.

100 Club

A bit of a catch up. April was won by Bryan Brunton and May by Richard Jackson