tench to over 10lbs.There are undoubtedly very large perch and roach in
there and reports on the angling “grapevine” suggest a very big pike of over
30lb has been caught this winter.
I have fished the lake myself in the past, in the early 1990’s Arthur Crouch
was the Bailiff, he used to let me fish for a mere £1 a day and I caught many
Tench up to a weight of 5lb 10oz. One day sticks out in my mind when I
hooked a big fish and played it in for nearly 3/4 of an hour before it broke
my 5lb breaking strain line, this fish was no Tench in fact I’m 100% sure it
was one of the pits resident carp, I was using breadflake on the bottom in
the area known as “crane hill”, I never even saw the fish as it eventually
snapped me up!
The fishing these days is controlled by Letchworth Garden City Angling
Association, information is available from their website-www.lgcaa.co.uk or
from “Mainly Tackle” on Arlesey High Street.
The potential of the pit as a specimen fish water is virtually untapped, there
could well be record nudging perch or roach swimming in the depths. If it
wasn’t such a rubbish tip, I believe more anglers would fish it.
Walking around the pit recently I was astounded to see that a lot more of
the bushes on the west side and also in the south west corner have been cut
down. What is the point of this? I have a suspicion that the resident sailing
club are responsible, to allow more wind on the water which is nonsense!
anyone visiting the pit on a windy day would see how rough the waters are.
In my opinion the lakeside is being vandalised.
I have never seen so much litter by the side of a lake in all my years of
walking around and fishing the place, the mess is unbelievable, this is due
to unwelcome summer visitors treating the place like a rubbish tip, they have
barbecues, parties and generally wreck the place, its disgusting! There are
literally thousands of beer cans scattered all over the place along with food
containers, disposable barbecues etc, etc.
I wonder if anything will ever be done to clean the place up? The lake
is a place of natural beauty but it is totally ruined by the rubbish littered
everywhere. I recently thought about buying a permit and fishing the place
again but after walking around I decided against it.The bailiffs of the fishing
club are up against it, how do you ask dozens of people who are likely to be
drinking or partying to leave? They’d end up in the drink!
Maybe turning the place into a country park would be the answer? Having
somebody actually running the water perhaps would alleviate some of the
problems? It was the subject of a consultation, to turn the area into a Leisure
facility, after three children were drowned in 2001 but this was not pursued.
If the lake was bordered by a housing estate or even an industrial
development I believe things maybe different. This is something that may
have to happen to ‘save’ the place. Some of you reading this piece may think
it wrong to do such a thing around the Blue Lagoon but I can’t see
an alternative.
There are huge clay and gravel pits throughout the country, I’d bet none of
them are in the same state as the Blue Lagoon.
Image: Steve Maddox
The ‘crane’ is salvaged from the Blue Lagoon in
1977. The picture was supplied by Ray Hooley who
took it to his yard in Lincolnshire. It is now at the
Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum near Keswick.
These days the Lagoon is surrounded by rubbish and the area around parts of it
is being cleared of growth presumably to let more wind flow across the water.
to advertise telephone: 01462 834265 or go to the website: www.onthebuttonarlesey.co.uk
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April 2013
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