Strange fish in crookes valley pond

[simes303 10]

The depth of Crookes Lake...

After being told it was 50, 60, 100 feet deep etc, me and a friend went out in a boat with a marked plumbline. Apart from the area with the small island it's the same all round. After the shallow part around the edge, it shelves off at about 45 degrees to exactly nine metres. We covered the whole lake. Its pretty much perfectly flat. The plumbline stopped at EXACTLY nine metres wherever we went.

Hope that helps. Simon.

[Chris_B_1983 10]

Simes303, interesting to hear about your plumbing of the depth.

 

I agree with most of your topography of the lake bed, but are you certain you covered it all?

 

My own plumbing of it showed a deeper pocket, running roughly North to South South West. The pocket is probably 8 to 10 meters wide at the SSW end, and maybe 15 meters wide at the N end, which is where you should be seeing around the 50 feet mark.

 

Of course, I am happy to be corrected on this, you clearly know what you are doing, and my own research was done only from the bank using a long range marker rod, coupled with a decent casting reel, but I did spend a full day doing it. Will try and scan my hand drawn map in for you to look at.

 

One possible explanation is that at that distance, undertow created a large bow in my line, making depth appear greater than it actually is. I suppose the same phenomenon could have led to inaccurate mapping of the deeper pocket as well.

 

Whilst on the subject, has anyone fished it recently?

[simes303 10]

Hi Chris,

Yes I'm pretty sure we covered it all. We had a printed map of the lake, enlarged from Google Earth, and used GPS to determine where we were on the lake. We spent at least 3 hours plumbing with a kilogram lead weight on our rope marked off in meters. It was amazing how consistent the depth was after the initial slope. It came to precisely the same mark on the rope every time, to within a couple of centimetres.

We did notice that the bottom sloped down slightly less steeply in the corner with the inlet, below the pub, presumably because of the silt washed in there.

How much deeper did you think the channel you mentioned was?

Si.

[Chris_B_1983 10]

To be honest, I got 48ft in the deeper channel, and had a 1ft drop between lead and float with a running bead to keep everything free, so should be 49ft. However, I accept that if you were in a boat right above each mark you plumbed, then your result is more accurate!

 

Have you fished it?

[simes303 10]

Hi again. Wow, 48 feet is significantly deeper than the 9 metres (pretty much 30 feet) that we measured. I suppose it's possible that we missed a deeper channel, although I thought we were pretty thorough. Does it align with any obvious features on the bank?

 

Yes, I've fished it on and off. Some good roach and perch. I had three days this Summer after the supposedly 3lb+ perch in there but only had a few smaller fish.

Cheers, Si.

[Chris_B_1983 10]

Can't remember exact features on far bank off top of my head, but they'll be marked on my map.

 

I had some good Perch there, but none anything like 3lb.

 

Had some good times there as a kid, learning to fish hemp and tares just where the marginal shelf drops off, and had some really good Roach.

 

Had my first true silver Bream from there as well, on bread intended for the Roach, which I spent a good couple of seasons targeting before moving on to other species.

[Chris_B_1983 10]

Fished the night last night trying to get some of the more 'elusive' residents of the pond, but not much success, other than a nice Bream (maybe 4lb) on lobworms fished just past the drop off on a running rig.

 

A few Perch this morning on tiny spinner.

 

Aiming to get proof of some of the species by Christmas, photos are no problem these days, we all carry a good camera in our phones!

[iamwoody 19]

still no proof ?

[yatesace 10]

Hi I used to fish in Ireland can't remember exact location but it was known for bream coloured half black and white could this be the same thing

[fisherman73 10]

ha ha funny reading this and sounds of it only one that comment knows crooks for fishing i have photos of big eel zander carp as for the pike no pike it was dead at out let few year ago got killed possibly there is one small catfish 10lb ish

[Mr Hinks 10]

Still no proof "YET"

[Chris_B_1983 10]

Can't seem to catch anything unusual at the moment. Was hoping for an albino cat, Zander or a big Eel to be honest.