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Angling: Polo Pond fish numbers leave the boffins baffled
Leeds Angling Club members, with the help of the Environment Agency, net fish at Polo Pond to transfer them to other sites.
You may have seen the item in this newspaper recently about the Leeds-owned fishery at Kippax, known as the Polo Pond due to its circular shape.
The club have had a couple of surveys carried out on this water in the past year and the results were astonishing.
scientists in charge of the project came to the conclusion that there were too many fish in the water and a couple of test nettings confirmed this fact.
the population of roach, bream and carp surprised the people who carried out the tests.
In the recent survey just a couple of sweeps of the trawl net produced 35 carp between five and 25 pounds plus thousands of the other species – the proof of which is confirmed by photographs taken at the time and which accompanied the article.
Some of the fish were removed to give the others more space and these were transferred to either the Leeds- owned fishery at Church Fenton, known as Sandwath Lake or to the Aire & Calder Canal at Woodlesford to replenish their stocks.
I must admit that I, along with many others, are baffled by these results for I collect all the match results from this venue and for years the average winning weight on club matches was around four pounds.
The best I ever heard was from the 2011 Delegates contest won by Leeds president Stan Jeffreys with a 25 catch of bream taken on the pellet.
The people from the Environment Agency were also mystified by the poor returns from the club contests and thought that match anglers on such a fish-filled lake should have been averaging between 10 and 15 pounds each.
Why this comparatively small lake should be so full remains a mystery for if the fish are breeding so well just what are they feeding on?
obviously not anglers’ baits so maybe the place is full of bloodworm.
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I have another thought, possibly the fish are just feeding at night which would account for the poor returns or maybe they are feeding on their own waste for this stuff will be extremely rich in nutrients and the fish will thrive on it.
● Shimano is one of the biggest fishing tackle manufacturers in the country, if not the world and employ many well-known anglers to both design and promote their products.
So it came as a big surprise to the angling world when last year one of their best-known names, Steve Ringer, announced that he would be leaving the firm after only a couple of years.
it then transpired that he had signed with rival company Daiwa.
Shock number two came last week when long-serving consultant, five- times world champion Alan Scotthorne, released a statement that he, too, would be leaving the firm after 15 years.
no reasons for leaving have been given by either angler and first reactions may suggest more lucrative contracts, but this is only guesswork.
Should Scotthorne seek a new sponsor there would be no problem for there would be a queue a mile long to acquire his services.
We await the outcome with interest.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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