25th April 2025 - Stonar Lake closure for work parties

Stonar Lake - Closed between Mon 12th May - Friday 16th May

If you can help on any of these days then please meet at 08:30 Jock's Shed

24th April 2025 - New gates at Trenley Meadow

The new security gates have been fitted at the entrance to the Trenley Meadow.
A massive thank you to Earnie Millard, Andy Wilton, Ashley Ward and John Glazier.

10th April 2025 - Pump & Birch Lakes closures for restoration

Pump House Lake - Closed between Mon 14th April - Sunday 20th April

Birch Lake - Closed between Monday 21st April - Sunday 27th April

If you can help then please meet in pump house lake car park 8:30am on above dates.

4th April 2025 - Bramble Lake Rejuvenation

Work is continuing on bramble lake from the bailiffs as well as volunteers. They have made great progress with the swim rebuilds and marginal snag clearance.

The lake received its initial stock of crucian carp. A total of 130 x 3" to 8" fish are now settling into their new home.

We are aiming for the lake to open June 16 2025.

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4th April 2025 - Pump Lake

​A total of 180lb of common carp have now been removed fro Pump Lake to help reduce biomass and increase the health and growth of the remaining stock.

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7th March 2025 - Fordwich Rejuvenation

​Over the past 5 weeks FGS Pilcher (specialist contractor for rural works) has been working on Fordwich Lake. This work has been funded by Natural England as a habitat enhancement project. The aim, to reduce the encroaching goat and crack willow trees that limited healthy habitat growth and contributed to poor health of the lake. The scale of this job cannot be overstated, a truly remarkable team of very capable people was required to execute this work.

You will also see that Stour and Trenley Lakes have now become one body of water by the means of three channels. The decision was made to go through with this as a way of helping to stabilise the water quality of the lakes. Another reason for the lakes to be joined was due to excessive bankside erosion from our beaver population. Left to their own devices this joining of the lakes was only a matter of time, and we believe it was better to do it on our terms rather than leave it to the beavers.

As with all these things, there is still a very long road ahead to the rejuvenation of the complex.

A massive thank you to all involved in making this happen.

This video is just a quick cut, the final version of this video presentation is coming during the closed season and is going to be great.

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Thank you to Nick Baker for the great footage.

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7th March 2025 - Bramble Lake Rejuvenation

Great progress was made over the past couple of weeks on Bramble Lake at Littlebourne. The lake was drained, and the entire stock of carp was removed. With marginal snags being cleared and encroaching reeds being reduced.

The aim is to restore Bramble Lake to a mixed stock float fishing lake containing, Tench, crucian carp, Rudd and Perch. There is a long way to go, with many jobs to do.

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An incredible effort by all involved with special thanks to the following:

Jon Glazier, Jon Weir, Andy Wilton, Alan Farra, Mick Wilson, Colin Hurst, Roger Stanger, Michael Grier, Mike Field, Ben Harris, Ashley Ward and Aaron Cook. Apologies if any names have been missed.

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​​5th March 2025 - Path shut between Stour and Trenley lakes

Due to works being carried out between Stour and Trenley lakes the path will be shut for the remainder of this season (until June 2025). More information to follow in the next couple of days.

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6th February 2025 - Birch Lake (Littlebourne) Reopening

As from 08:00 Saturday 8th February Birch Lake will be open.

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3rd February 2025 - Bramble Lake (Littlebourne) Closed

Rejuvenation work has started on Birch Lake to transform it into a tench and crucian water.

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Hydrated lime has been applied to help alleviate with any parasites and help with the water and silt quality. Further works will shortly be carried out, including a huge carp removal.

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12th November 2024 - Birch Lake Closed

Due to low oxygen levels Birch Lake is shut until further notice.

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7th October 2024 - Stour Lake Reopened

After close assessment Stour Lake is reopened.
 

1st October 2024 - Biomass Reduction on Stonar Lake

As you may remember back in May/June 2024 Stonar lake was shut. This was due to a large percentage of fish being caught had bacterial infections present alongside the carp spawning around the lake. Fish were caught and sent off to the EA labs at Brampton for an emergency health check. The results of the test showed that there was no disease or viral infection present and the fish were given a clean bill of health.
For the past few years it has been bought to the clubs attention during the AGM that the biomass in stoner has hit critical mass, this is predominantly down to the numbers of bream and carp present. The result of this is stunted growth rates of all species due to over competition for food, the bacterial wounds found on a large number of the stock and reduction of natural food for the food chain. We have made the decision to reduce the biomass in the form of bream and smaller carp. The purpose of this project is to improve the general health of the fishery, with increased growth and health of all species and replenish the natural food stocks that reside in this incredibly unique water. An average size of all species has been documented giving us an accurate data set to measure against in the years to follow. We have made contact with one of the countries tier 1 fish breeders and dealers who will purchase the excess stock.

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30th September 2024 - Various Updates

There has been a huge amount of work on Stour Lake this summer & the work is ongoing. The lake will remain shut until dissolved oxygen levels have stabilised following the algal bloom.

Fordwich lake has a Siltex delivery due on October 11th with application to follow once the lake temp has dropped below 12 degrees centigrade. Roach, Carp, tench, bream, eels and perch have been observed in numbers around the lake.

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The river bank between the toilet at Fordwich and the trout pool will remain closed until next season. This will allow the ground to settle and the seed to take. Alterations to swims are also to be made to allow ease of access. 

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30th September 2024 - Pike fishing

The river will be open to pike fishing on 1st October. 

The lakes will be open to pike fishing on 1st November.

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17th September 2024 - Gate entrance to Pump House lake

The gate to Pump House lake has been reinstated and uses your members key.
This must be locked after use.

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9th September 2024 - Riverbank at Fordwich closed

Due to work being carried out the riverbank at Fordwich, between the toilet and the trout pool, will be closed until further notice. All other sections remain open.

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12th August 2024 - No keepnets on Stonar

Until further notice, keepnets cannot be used on Stonar.

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15th July 2024 - Stour Lake Closed

Stour lake is shut until further notice.

This is due to an algal bloom on the lake. We have pumps and aeration running when required to help maintain enough oxygen for the fish. Water quality samples and Dissolved oxygen tests are being carried out daily to ensure the safety of the stock. 

 

5th July 2024 - Stonar Lake Open

The lake was reopened at 8am Friday 5th July.

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2nd July 2024 - Birch Lake Open

The lake was reopened after spawning had finished.

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7th October 2022 - Fordwich Lake Update

We have been fairly busy over the last month, just a brief update on a few of the things we have been up to:
We have de-silted and re-battered one of the stock ponds in readiness for any stock. More work is still required to be done, such as removal of encroaching trees and liming. Many thanks to Steven Heckley for operating the 360.
We have raised the river bank on low points at the rear of Stour Lake and The Trout Pool which will hopefully alleviate some flooding which has been responsible for much of the nitrates and other nasties entering the complex. Many thanks to Keith Heckley for operating the 360.
Fordwich Lake is still being constantly monitored for D02, PH, nitrates, nitrites, phosphates and hardness. The all important ecology is also being monitored by Jon Glaiser; a more suitable person you would be hard pushed to find.
Silt samples have been taken thanks to the diving skills of Stuart Fagg. These have been assessed by AJS and they have given the green light for the suitability of Siltex application.
Arrangement of Siltex (aquatic chalk) for 21st October. This is no mean task and thanks to Ashley for getting his head around the logistics and liaising with AJS. Crossed fingers all will go swimmingly, not just the delivery, but the application too which will be a huge undertaking.
We will very shortly have risk assessments for both the Siltex application and the tree work necessary on Fordwich (thanks Paul Mercer). To start with teams doing tree work will be guided and instructed by Ashley Towner and all teams will have at least one ticketed operator.
We have been in talks with fishery consultants AJS and Ken Crow, with Ken due to visit shortly and give an in-depth report.