Locke Park

[mac]

Today Middlesbrough Angling Club had a meeting with Redcar & Cleveland Council with reference to Locke Park. I went armed with all your suggestions and comments that I asked you for in a previous post ( Thanks for that ). I also had ideas from other interested groups and users of Locke Park. I have to say the Council were very enthusiastic about getting the park back to a respectable fishery. Various topics were discussed including maintenance of the lake, silting problems, aerators, rubbish, quality of the water and re-stocking the lake. We realise that re-stocking will probably be the cormorant’s next meal but we have to start somewhere. The thinking is to get kids interested in fishing and maybe in the future ask for volunteers to help teach some groups of under privileged kids to fish and hopefully give them an interest and not turn to crime, to this end the fish would be mixed ( Roach, Bream, Tench and Carp ) probably be 4 to 6 inches because this would give us a greater quantity for the money available and we really need the kids to catch rather than sit there and blank and then probably not come back. We are going to look for funding for the fish and also approach the EA to see if they have any fish available. Another thought is should we have a designated part of the lake for fishing to try and ease any conflict between other park users and anglers. If this is possible would you have any ideas on which area of the lake this might be? Another idea was to sell packets of grain from the café, that is now present in the park, to try and dissuade people from chucking loaves of bread in the lake for the ducks. Some advice needed here as something tells me unprepared grain can be harmful to fish because it swells in their gut and can kill them, is this right? The meeting was very productive with both sides going away to get more information and draw up a plan of action. Nothing has been agreed or set in stone so ideas and suggestions are still welcome. Thanks

[jordan]

sounds like good newe to me geoff, i for 1 would be more than willing to help the kids out and get them catching fish if the council will go ahead with any plans made, ive had the idea of splitting the lake in to 2 sections for a long time, it would cost tens of thousands if they were to stock the full lake with fish so if it was up to me, id split it where the bridges are on the two channels and leave the boathouse end for the kids and ducks which is where the ducks spend most of their time anyway and have the waterfall end up to the bridges on the channels for the fishing, plenty of lovely looking pegs down that end plus its about a foot deeper than the boathouse end of the lake, id love to get involved and get the place back to how it was years ago, but i honestly believe that splitting it in two seperate sections, 1 for the kids and ducks and 1 for the fishing is the best way to go, id be more than happy again to keep an eye on the place only living down the road and would put plenty of time in to get it looking a feeling like a fishery, keep us posted anyway geoff, who was it from the council you had a meeting with by the way, its just im working for the council now so i might be able to push it a bit more if i know whos dealing with it.

[ronny]

Unprepared particles such as grains/seed etc can deffo kill fish and cause problems, probs be best not to go down that route..

As for cormorants, there only really an issue in winter, so could ropes not be placed over the lake? But if my facts are correct ducks/cormorants are scared of hawks, so could some large plastic hawks be placed around the lake to try?

Also some small fish haven islands might be a good idea?

[Les.]

Now I'm living in Redcar, getting Locke park up to scratch would certainly be of interest to me, so give me a shout and I'll help anyway I can

[jordan]

i dont think your ever gona be able to stop people feeding the ducks with bread in the park like and to be honest, i dont think its a major issue, people only feed them round the landing stage and the boathouse anyway, the vast majority of the times ive fished the park its been down the waterfall end and ive never seen anyone feeding em down there do you know why, coz theres never any ducks down there, you get the odd swan come through thats about it, perfect part of the lake to use for fishing if you ask me. the council do a good job of keeping the place litter free i think, i know theres at least 1 lad who litter picks it every day so it would be kept clean and tidy, the islands could be good for the place aswell like ronny mentioned, but if i was going to spend the money id get another airator down the waterfall end of the lake and spend the money whats avalable on more stocking.

[mac]

Thanks Les, Ronny, Thanks for the info on the grain/seeds i have now passed this on to the council.

Jordan, Sorry , not being a Redcar lad i am assuming if there were to be a designated fishig area, your choice would be from the bridges on the channels up over towards the road bridge and where the outflow is to the Stell, have i got that right ? Also when the council say a designated fishing area they do not mean a physical seperation of the the two areas, i think it would be something like a set of fixed markers or floats across the water and one side would be for fishing and the other maybe in the future for some other kind of lake recreation . Thanks for your input guys.

[ronny]

The problem your gonna have if u seperate it is the fish will most likely go to where the duck feeders throw bread

Have u not thought of doing what Albert park does and have one bank for anglers the other for the feeders? Seems to work well there and people are happy, the boats there are a pain but back leads sort that out

[jordan]

Oct 31, 2013 8:11:54 GMT mac said:

Thanks Les, Ronny, Thanks for the info on the grain/seeds i have now passed this on to the council.

Jordan, Sorry , not being a Redcar lad i am assuming if there were to be a designated fishig area, your choice would be from the bridges on the channels up over towards the road bridge and where the outflow is to the Stell, have i got that right ? Also when the council say a designated fishing area they do not mean a physical seperation of the the two areas, i think it would be something like a set of fixed markers or floats across the water and one side would be for fishing and the other maybe in the future for some other kind of lake recreation . Thanks for your input guys.

thats what i meant mate yeh, bridges on the channels up to the road bridge, waterfall - outflow to the stell, its gona take a hell of alot of fish to get it fishing well to be honest geoff, its a big lake at 4 acres and theres no roach left in the place, very few perch, never see the ide that got put in anymore, theres a few skimmers and a few bream and say 50% of the carp that were put in in 2011, quality fish they are now tho with the majority been around the 4lb mark with a few going 5lb+, there is still a few 10lb+ fish in there so there is still some of the origional stock left, cormorants wont be able to touch them really, gona need 10,000 fish at least to get it anywhere near how it was before.