Storm Bert to the rescue for Newbury Angling Association

The dreadful winds and rain of the last few days provided misery to most and kept all but the hardiest of anglers indoors, but at least some of the town’s fish were appreciative.

The preceding weeks of dull, dry and still weather meant problems to many of the country's fisheries.

Unbroken periods of such moribund conditions can mean that natural breakdown of pond weed happens quickly, robbing the water of oxygen essential for fish.

As a result, many clubs have suffered fish deaths in recent weeks, but this has been avoided at Newbury Angling Association.

When their daily checks revealed oxygen levels particularly low in Pallett’s Pool, one of the club’s nine lakes, the Fishery Management team went into action, introducing gas-powered ‘splasher units’ to boost oxygen levels.

The lake had to be closed to fishing to prevent further stress for the fish, and over the course of two weeks of action, the dissolved oxygen rose to a level which was no longer life threatening to the lake’s large population of bream, pike, roach and big carp.

This meant constant vigilance in measuring the levels several times each day, regularly replacing the gas canisters and observing fish behaviour.

The process was not made any easier by the propane canisters freezing in the recent chilly nights which stopped the units from working.

However, the strong winds and rains of last weekend will have introduced large amounts of ‘free’ natural oxygen.

This is important, as the club has paid over £800 in gas bills to keep the lake’s residents healthy.

Close monitoring will continue to be made by Fishery Manager Paul Futcher and his team.

Special thanks are particularly due to Jake Prictor, Chris Fox, ‘Smokey’ Robinson, Adam Collins and NAA chairman, Dougie Hull for their hard work and vigilance.

Newbury Angling Association welcomes new members. For details visit newburyangling.org.uk or Thatcham Angling Centre, Sagecroft Road, Thatcham.