Dear Anglers,

From May 31st 2023 East Delph Lakes will become boilie and carp pellet only fishery. We will also allow the limited use of sweetcorn, worms and maggots. 

I’ve always wanted to keep restrictions on angling to a minimum, so careful thought and research goes into any rule change. My goal is to have fit and healthy carp that grow well, feed with enthusiasm, have a strong immune system and live long lives 

Much work has been done on improving the water quality and the fish are looking great on the back of that. 

However, it’s become increasingly apparent to me the unrestricted use of baits is holding back the fishery and the fishing. By reducing the number of permitted baits, I’m certain the fishing will improve both in the short and long term. 

Short term benefits. Scraping the lake bed from a boat with a net between bookings I’ve become increasingly concerned that particles are often going uneaten. In my view this has an unacceptable impact on newly arrived anglers who might unknowingly fish over that bait. As natural processes break down this uneaten bait there is a negative impact on water quality to consider. 

It’s important to note that catch reports since 2014 consistently show boilies and pellet to be the most effective bait at the fishery. 

Long term benefits. 

Whilst the lakes are rich in natural food like bloodworm or daphnia, there is no escaping the fact that the carp’s diet is heavily supplemented by angler’s bait, they essentially are a ‘captive audience’ eating what is offered by anglers and like any animal the better their diet the healthier they will be. Heathy/happy carp feed more….an ideal scenario for the fish, fishery owner and angler. 

Only allowing the use of boilies/pellets will help improve the diet of the fish, other fisheries adopting this policy have observed an increase in growth rates and general fish health. 

Stocks at East Delph Lakes are in a great place right now, so many carp are a few pounds short of 30lb and a couple edging their way to 40lb. The time has come to give the carp stocks a nudge forwards.

The new rules will read as follows…

1. Only boilies and carp pellets are permitted to be used as bait. Boilies can include shelf life, freezer bait, pop-ups and wafters.

2. Sweetcorn is also permitted, but limited to one 400g tin per angler. Additionally, between 1st November and 15th March limited use of maggots (two pint maximum) and worms (250g maximum) is permitted. Timeframe is 48 hours.

3.  Do not bring non-permitted items as bait onto the fishery. For example…No particles, nuts, bread, live bait, dead fish, lures, non-carp (animal feed) pellets or pet food.

Regards

James

Regards

James