New stockie lake?

SeaFields

I am a big fan of stockie lakes. They take the pressure of natural trout stocks in a locality and provide a good, safe day out for everyone. Indeed we often when out years ago with up to ten kids all armed with a box of worms and a bubble float exploring every nook and cranny of the lake. They also provide a good local amenity in a rural area. Lough Fada on the Kenmare-Sneem road is my favorite one for pure scenery and peace while fishing.

Heres the thing. There's a lake which a have fished a few times outside the Cahersiveen area in Kerry. I have been told by the farmer whose land borders it that the brown trout are long gone out of it. And my returns out of it testify to that. Think I have gotten one trout in a dozen attempts.

I think this place would make a great stockie lake. Bank access isn't that great but nothing that couldn't be sorted with a saw and strimmer. There's a small pier there already for boats. It would also make a very useful amenity for an area where there is little else.

Anyone ever approached the fisheries board and proposed a lake be turned into a community fishery? How do ye think it would be received? Do they make a profit from these community fisheries? Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed. Thanks

Zzippy

SeaFields wrote: »

I am a big fan of stockie lakes. They take the pressure of natural trout stocks in a locality and provide a good, safe day out for everyone. Indeed we often when out years ago with up to ten kids all armed with a box of worms and a bubble float exploring every nook and cranny of the lake. They also provide a good local amenity in a rural area. Lough Fada on the Kenmare-Sneem road is my favorite one for pure scenery and peace while fishing.

Heres the thing. There's a lake which a have fished a few times outside the Cahersiveen area in Kerry. I have been told by the farmer whose land borders it that the brown trout are long gone out of it. And my returns out of it testify to that. Think I have gotten one trout in a dozen attempts.

I think this place would make a great stockie lake. Bank access isn't that great but nothing that couldn't be sorted with a saw and strimmer. There's a small pier there already for boats. It would also make a very useful amenity for an area where there is little else.

Anyone ever approached the fisheries board and proposed a lake be turned into a community fishery? How do ye think it would be received? Do they make a profit from these community fisheries? Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed. Thanks

I think first of all you would need to ascertain who owns the fishing rights. That can be very difficult to do, and may need specialist expertise in property research, as there may be documents in Land Registry and other archives that need to be interpreted.
Assuming the fishing rights rest with the landowner (farmer), you would need to come to an arrangement with him regarding access, development, management and unforeseen events. This would probably have to be a legal agreement, so let the lawyers worry about it. Indemnifying him against liability for injury claims would be pretty important.
Setting up the community fishery would probably best be done through setting up an angling club, where members contribute their membership fees to a common fund, to be spent on management and development of the fishery, including stocking of fish. Public liability insurance would be necessary.
The other part is getting the agreement of the fishery board. If the lake does not have a native stock of trout, or is not part of a river system with migratory fish, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. You will probably need to install barriers to ensure no stocked fish can escape, but thats in your interest anyway.
Anyway, first port of call is as above, find out who owns the fishing rights and go from there.

SeaFields

Thanks Zzippy but i fear you have taken me up wrong. It would be wonderful if we all had the time and money ourselves to take a small lake and turn it into a fishery but I don't (I can't speak for the rest of ye )

The point I was making was that I would like to approach the SWRFB and suggest to them that this lake could be turned into one of their managed community fisheries.

I believe they have the resources to do so and as the conservation of the wild stocks is in their remit, then I would be interested in their reply. Perhaps I would be the first person to suggest to them to undertake such a venture. And as their funding is likely to become an issue in the next few years, having a number of profitable fisheries is in their best interest. I think I will write a letter tonight and send it off and see what happens.

Oh and if I win the Euromillions on friday I will build a big fishery full of hard fighting brownies and ye are all welcome to fish it!

Salvelinus

How about you approach the fishery board? You don't need a lake full of brutes, a couple hundred (depending on size of lake) stocked in october would give you some hard fighting fish next season. the worse they can say is no. Also the reason there may be a poor stock already could be pollution or poor food supply, so would it make a viable fishery?

Zzippy

SeaFields wrote: »

Thanks Zzippy but i fear you have taken me up wrong. It would be wonderful if we all had the time and money ourselves to take a small lake and turn it into a fishery but I don't (I can't speak for the rest of ye )

The point I was making was that I would like to approach the SWRFB and suggest to them that this lake could be turned into one of their managed community fisheries.

I believe they have the resources to do so and as the conservation of the wild stocks is in their remit, then I would be interested in their reply. Perhaps I would be the first person to suggest to them to undertake such a venture. And as their funding is likely to become an issue in the next few years, having a number of profitable fisheries is in their best interest. I think I will write a letter tonight and send it off and see what happens.

Oh and if I win the Euromillions on friday I will build a big fishery full of hard fighting brownies and ye are all welcome to fish it!

Oops, took you up wrong. I'd be very doubtful if any of the fishery boards would have the resources to do this in the next few years, budgets have been slashed and priority now is on maintaining staff numbers to carry out existing tasks, without taking on more. I'd also say the landowner, if he owns the fishing rights, might be more inclined to deal generously with a local community or club than with a State agency - a lot of people see State agencies as a limitless source of money and get dollar signs in their eyes when they are involved!

Sfinn

Seaflields, personally I'm not really a big fan of sockies! However, they do serve their purpose. What i would be interested is where did the native stock go to? Were they poached, killed through pollution etc,

Maybe it should be returned to its original state, if possible. How are the spawning streams. In Scotland anglers go mad for these small brownie lakes. I myself spend Saturday fishing a spot over three miles from the nearest road, it was amazing. Free rising fish, 8 to a pound, no pollution, just natural and no human interference. Unfortunately no sea trout, although it did once, until the fish farm invasion, but that's a different story.

Fishing rights and title searches can be costly, especially if they are not registered. If they are not registered you will need to troll through old Land Commission documents, and even CDB papers to establish title, and then work forward from there.

Insurance for anglers, is an easy one to get round, this could be through the likes of TAFI, if you were to establish and angling club. They even have insurance for water development. However, you would also need public liability.

Anyways it always good to see someone been proactive. Best of luck.;)

Finally fishing is a non profit business. Basically what you make you put back. Between time, resources, blood and tears, and finally the positive enjoyment, your left with nothing. Sorry to put a dampener on things.