Hoe to go about stocking a lake.

damagegt

Could anyone give me some info on where I could find out about stocking a lake.The lake is about 200 yards long by about 100 across.Id prefer to stock it with trout if I could.I assume id have to get water and plant life samples.Is there legal issues with stocking a private lake?

coolwings

Talk to the IFI staff at the Southern Regional Fishery Boards office in your area.

Dan o kelly

how old is the lake ? and are there any streams running out of it?

damagegt

Well the castle beside the lake has been there since around 1300 and i assume is was built there due to the lake.There is no steams and is spring feed.

Dan o kelly

alright it`s just that if you had a stream running out of it you might have had trouble with stocking rainbows if that was your plan. also if you stock brown`s you will have to obey the close season. but with just rainbows you can remain open all year. as mentioned above talk to your local FB their normally more then happy to sell trout to you.

Don Juan DeMagoo

Lough Sheelin gets on average thirty thousand trout put into it every two years due to the past pollution caused by the piggeries in the region.

I would check with your local Regional Fishery Board, as a previous poster suggested or you could be clever, find out when and where your local lakes get restocked. Then chat to the lorry driver, you might get ten or so if he is sound. I know people who got a few of them for a small lake.

Best of luck

damagegt

I just sent an email to the IFI there so ill see what they say tomorrow.it would just be private for a few of us until we get it all up and running so we wont need a huge amount of fish at the start.I tried talking to my local lake owner and he was a bit cagey about telling me anything.

Don Juan DeMagoo

damagegt wrote: »

I just sent an email to the IFI there so ill see what they say tomorrow.it would just be private for a few of us until we get it all up and running so we wont need a huge amount of fish at the start.I tried talking to my local lake owner and he was a bit cagey about telling me anything.

He is probably more worried over possible paper work, the amount of paperwork can be distressing to say the least..... try and figure if it is that.

It might be a bit late for restocking this year?
Also you may want to figure out is the lake infested with pike. The trout should be mature enough when you get them, however they will need to be a good size to fend for themselves....... Finally if you do get them in the lake whatever else happens, do not feed them as that will play havoc with the lakes eco system, there should be enough there to feed them.

And on a final note above all else....... Do not tell anyone that you have restocked a lake with trout, the locals do love a bit of trout for Christmas

gary29428

"also if you stock brown`s you will have to obey the close season."


Don't think this is accurate, I have fished several put and take fisheries in the last few months all of which contain brown's.

coolwings

gary29428 wrote: »

"also if you stock brown`s you will have to obey the close season."


Don't think this is accurate, I have fished several put and take fisheries in the last few months all of which contain brown's.

I think that the key to being allowed fish during the closed season months is "no natural spawning population", as in a place where they are all restocked periodically.

ironbluedun

Don Juan DeMagoo wrote: »

Lough Sheelin gets on average thirty thousand trout put into it every two years due to the past pollution caused by the piggeries in the region.

Where are you getting those figures from??? in truth it is far far less than that amount you have stated.

The pollution is not 'past' it is still there.

Compton

coolwings wrote: »

I think that the key to being allowed fish during the closed season months is "no natural spawning population", as in a place where they are all restocked periodically.

Im pretty sure for the brown trout rule, there has to be a certain quanitity of browns in the lake compared to rainbow, so if there is 90:10 rainbows to browns, it can be fished all year.

Don Juan DeMagoo

ironbluedun wrote: »

Where are you getting those figures from??? in truth it is far far less than that amount you have stated.

I met the lorry driver who was delivering his second load of trout to Lough Sheelin a couple of months ago...... That is what he quoted..... Was I misinformed by the person delivering that said quantity of trout every two years to that lake???

Everyone is aware the pollution is still there, but the active pollution has stopped or being curtailed by constant strict inspections, it is the residual effects of that pollution that are the main problem. Hence the reason they restock the lake every two years.

If i have been misinformed please enlighten me.

ironbluedun

Don Juan DeMagoo wrote: »

I met the lorry driver who was delivering his second load of trout to Lough Sheelin a couple of months ago...... That is what he quoted..... Was I misinformed by the person delivering that said quantity of trout every two years to that lake???

Everyone is aware the pollution is still there, but the active pollution has stopped or being curtailed by constant strict inspections, it is the residual effects of that pollution that are the main problem. Hence the reason they restock the lake every two years.

If i have been misinformed please enlighten me.

I would not be as pompous as to try and enlighten anyone; it’s free here for all to comment liberally. This is not really the place for this debate but I understand that the figure is closer to 5000 stockies dumped in during 2010.
Last stocking was carried out in August for the youth day. Most of those stockies will be eaten by pike or cormorants over this winter and it is a complete waste of money putting them into a lough like Sheelin. A small put and take fishery yes but a big limestone lough no, it makes no sense except in the case of an attempt to artificially boost catch returns in turn creating more revenue for the fishery board. This must be the rational behind this policy as 90% of experienced Sheelin trout anglers do not want to see those things in the lough at all.

I can’t totally agree with your point that 'active pollution has stopped or being curtailed by strict inspections' as phosphate levels are still very high, and if you look at the lough bed you will see the problems.

Apologies for going off topic a bit;). But look at the IFI website they have prices for buying stockie rainbows and browns on there.

Don Juan DeMagoo

ironbluedun wrote: »

I can’t totally agree with your point that 'active pollution has stopped or being curtailed by strict inspections' as phosphate levels are still very high, and if you look at the lough bed you will see the problems.

Yep it is impossible not to notice it...

I would have to accept you are right there as there are a high number of big farms around over fertilizing causing yet more increases in phosphate levels in the lough.

Are the estuaries into the lough not regularly monitored though? When I was a young fella fishing around sheelin the local farmers had these special wells for taking samples put in their land in a bid to cut over fertilization/slurry, did that not have an effect on the phosphate levels?

Sorry OP for going off on a tangent;) just interested in the state of my childhood lough.

aidanf

ironbluedun wrote: »

... This must be the rational behind this policy as 90% of experienced Sheelin trout anglers do not want to see those things in the lough at all....

IronBlueDun, I'm curious about this point. Why is it that local anglers are against adding of stockies? Does it have an effect on the development of the wild trout in the lough?

I'd have thought that adding them wouldn't have much effect on food competition as their numbers would be relatively small compared with the numbers of coarse fish and other wild trout the trout would be competing with. And aren't stockies sterile to avoid breeding with wild fish?

Also why do they need to stock? I read somewhere recently that Sheelin was one of the most productive trout lakes in Ireland with a large head of wild trout. Is this info out of date? Has the lake been struggling in recent years?

ironbluedun

aidanf wrote: »

IronBlueDun, I'm curious about this point. Why is it that local anglers are against adding of stockies? Does it have an effect on the development of the wild trout in the lough?

I'd have thought that adding them wouldn't have much effect on food competition as their numbers would be relatively small compared with the numbers of coarse fish and other wild trout the trout would be competing with. And aren't stockies sterile to avoid breeding with wild fish?

Also why do they need to stock? I read somewhere recently that Sheelin was one of the most productive trout lakes in Ireland with a large head of wild trout. Is this info out of date? Has the lake been struggling in recent years?

Aidanf I must point out that I am referring to adult stocked fish 1-2lbs range and not unfed fry.
And its not just local anglers who don’t like them!
The main reasons as to why anglers don’t like them in large wild fisheries is,
They are deformed un-natural looking fish.
They are reared in a man made environment and there is nothing wild about them.
They don’t spawn and therefore offer nothing for the future.
They lack the wily attributes of wild trout.
They are easy to catch and offer poor fight.
There is little challenge in catching them, and little satisfaction gained.
Lacking any knowledge of a wild environment many of them do not survive too long.
I don’t kill or eat any trout but I presume that as these things are fed artificially with pellets I assume they do not taste anything like wild trout.

Putting those things into a large wild limestone lough is a waste of money. Better to spend funds on spawning stream rehabilitation and pollution control. If it’s a lough that has poor natural spawning facilities, lough Owel for example, then better to stock with unfed brood stock fry.

I have nothing against stocked ‘put and take’ fisheries they offer an option for those who like that and fair play. But everything has its place and stocked trout are alien to a large wild limestone lough. Nothing that anyone will say will convince me otherwise.
If there are any trout anglers who fish Corrib, Mask, Carra, Conn, Sheelin, Arrow, Derg, Ree, Ennell or Erne who don’t agree I would be interested to hear their views.

Funny thing is they don't NEED to put these things into Sheelin. Following many years of spawning stream works carried out by the Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association the population of small wild trout is recovering. But water quality is still poor and a constant problem.

ironbluedun

Don Juan DeMagoo wrote: »

Are the estuaries into the lough not regularly monitored though? When I was a young fella fishing around sheelin the local farmers had these special wells for taking samples put in their land in a bid to cut over fertilization/slurry, did that not have an effect on the phosphate levels?

I am not sure about that I am only a humble angler! Several organisations do test water quality and issue results which can be found on the net. As for wells on the land I know nothing about that maybe the EPA, IFI or some of the universities carry out such studies. All I know is that phosphate levels are still high.

Here’s one report from a few years back.

http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/downloads/sheelin-report.pdf

aidanf

ironbluedun wrote: »

Aidanf I must point out that I am referring to adult stocked fish 1-2lbs range and not unfed fry.
And its not just local anglers who don’t like them!
The main reasons as to why anglers don’t like them in large wild fisheries is,
They are deformed un-natural looking fish.
They are reared in a man made environment and there is nothing wild about them.
They don’t spawn and therefore offer nothing for the future.
They lack the wily attributes of wild trout.
They are easy to catch and offer poor fight.
There is little challenge in catching them, and little satisfaction gained.
Lacking any knowledge of a wild environment many of them do not survive too long.
I don’t kill or eat any trout but I presume that as these things are fed artificially with pellets I assume they do not taste anything like wild trout.

Putting those things into a large wild limestone lough is a waste of money. Better to spend funds on spawning stream rehabilitation and pollution control. If it’s a lough that has poor natural spawning facilities, lough Owel for example, then better to stock with unfed brood stock fry.

I have nothing against stocked ‘put and take’ fisheries they offer an option for those who like that and fair play. But everything has its place and stocked trout are alien to a large wild limestone lough. Nothing that anyone will say will convince me otherwise.
If there are any trout anglers who fish Corrib, Mask, Carra, Conn, Sheelin, Arrow, Derg, Ree, Ennell or Erne who don’t agree I would be interested to hear their views.

Funny thing is they don't NEED to put these things into Sheelin. Following many years of spawning stream works carried out by the Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association the population of small wild trout is recovering. But water quality is still poor and a constant problem.

Thanks ironbluedun. Lots of good points there that I hadn't considered. I've haven't seen or caught stocked adult brown trout.

There is only one lake near me that is stocked with trout and that one is stocked with rainbows. And while the newly stocked fish are easy to catch, there is a population of them that have survived one or more winters. Once they've survived a season they are hard to catch, and good fighters when hooked and as such are highly regarded by those that catch them.

Evac105

Have to agree with Aidan that, while never the equal weight for weight to play, sensible stocking can be a very viable tactic to increase low population lakes and rivers or to introduce larger fish on some smaller fisheries. After the first winter of peace and learning to live wild they can be very naturalised and decent fighters. As time goes on and that they are caught and hopefully released, to become more wary and 'cuter'. All good really, if handled sensible and with an eye to the future.

On the other hand, dumping in thousands of sacrificial trout just before the season opens, without giving the fish time to acclimatise, spread through the system and become feral does kind of annoy me since it seems like such a waste of resources

ironbluedun

aidanf wrote: »

Thanks ironbluedun. Lots of good points there that I hadn't considered. I've haven't seen or caught stocked adult brown trout.

There is only one lake near me that is stocked with trout and that one is stocked with rainbows. And while the newly stocked fish are easy to catch, there is a population of them that have survived one or more winters. Once they've survived a season they are hard to catch, and good fighters when hooked and as such are highly regarded by those that catch them.

Yea i was only referring to brown trout. Rainbows are totally different I agree with you 100% they do survive better and over-winter well. I have fished for them now and again and I have found them great fighters. And it is good sport if the quality of the rainbows is good. But stocked browns are like playing an old sock........

damagegt

Just an update on this ,iv made several attempts to contact my local IFB and no one has got back to me. Iv rang and emailed over seven times with no responce.Anyone have any other ideas on who i could contact?

dollydishmop

Hubby suggests you should contact the IFI fish farms direct.

Check this link out, clear instructions on how to order trout

http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Fish-Farm/fishfarm.html

They don't usually start stocking until the end of Feb, so plenty of time to get the order in and paperwork sorted etc

damagegt

Iv waitind nearly 2 months and heard nothing from anyone at IFB.Thanks for this,its the best bit of info iv got so far.Ill wait till after xmas to contact them again.Ill keep ye all updated on my progress.

Thanks again.

Octopus

damagegt wrote: »

Ill keep ye all updated on my progress.

Just post a map to the lake when you have it stocked and we'll let you know how it's getting on!:D

On another note have you noticed any cormorants around any of the other fisheries in you area?
Have a chat with local owners/anglers to see if there's any around. They will clear out a small lake like yours in no time, they'll smell the fish from miles away when they're stocked.

You can apply for a license to shoot a limited number of them if they are going to be a problem.

damagegt

Octopus wrote: »

Just post a map to the lake when you have it stocked and we'll let you know how it's getting on!:D

On another note have you noticed any cormorants around any of the other fisheries in you area?
Have a chat with local owners/anglers to see if there's any around. They will clear out a small lake like yours in no time, they'll smell the fish from miles away when they're stocked.

You can apply for a license to shoot a limited number of them if they are going to be a problem.

I wont post a map but I will post pictures just to make you jealous .Thats a good point about the cormorants,I do some cliff angling near by and I havent noticed any of them but thats not to say there not there.But i could have problems with gulls and puffins.Hopefully Ill have some more news in the new year.