Category: Fishery news

In the New Year, we got the sad news that the man who ran Orton Water as a syndicate coarse fishery for the last 15 years, Kevin Bird, has passed away.

Kevin had been a gas engineer in his working life but, as a keen fisherman, began managing fisheries near his home in near St Neots when he retired. He took over Orton Water and began a programme of building stagings and managing the fishery. He was joined a few years ago by former angling journalist, Mark Williams, and latterly was joint lessee of the fishery with Robert Lovel, who continues to run it.

“Kevin really was a one-off,” said Mark. “Not only was he a real character, he was very hard working, trailing his little aluminium workboat up the lake from Little Paxton regularly to create another little project. He had a heart of gold, and everyone associated with the fishery will miss him.”

The fishery will now be managed by Robert Lovell.

The Environment Agency is to be surveying the lake, mainly for its eDNA and planktonic life but also to assess stocks using a 3D scanning sonar.

The work will start in April, with monthly simple water sampling. Later, the EA will be using a boat for additional sampling and, of course, to take a good look at the bigger fish and fish stocks in the lake. Anyone who has seen the amazing results of a 3D scan will know how excited we are about this work.

Continue reading “EA study to include The Orton Water”

We are pursuing a very light stocking policy on the lake, which already holds a reasonable stock of rudd, perch, pike, tench and bream.

Continue reading “Recent fish stocked into The Orton Water”

Liam Parmley caught this cracking perch, while Mark Williams lost a huge one at the net, having horsed it in believing it to be a small pike.
The perch Mark and Rob found were in the north-east corner of the fishery, and while we had smaller fish, the big ones evaded us. Worth a go with drop-shotting or lure fishing methods.

Hi. I’m Mark Williams, and I’ve joined Kevin Bird this year to see if we can develop the fishing and the angling facilities at Orton Water, which as you will know, has had very little angling pressure for some time.

At present, the few swims along the west bank are the only ones available to bank fishing, and this situation is permanent. However, the boat fishing and fishing from the island is an area we will be trying to resolve.

At one time, there was a wooden footbridge to the island, but when it became dangerous to use, it was removed. Nene Park, which owns the water, is unwilling to consider any steel structure, and the cost and practicality of building a wooden bridge is currently beyond our means.

That leaves us all with two options; to bring a boat and launch it, or to create another way of reaching the island. At present, we are investigating a communal ‘ferry’ system with a boat we own which can be brought back to the bank to access the island. It’s a technical challenge, but we have some great people in the syndicate….

On the island, there is a substantial amount of clearance to do this summer, and a very suspect shed which, personally, I’d like to remove to make way for a watertight angling hut of some kind.

Members have always been allowed to moor a boat at the island, in limited numbers, and we currently have several, some of which are owned by Kevin but need refurbishment, and one which appears to have been abandoned, and it, in any case, too large for the lake in my opinion. In he absence of someone to claim it, we are considering having it removed.

With a boat (no canoes, RIBs or inflatables of any kind) members can fish the entire lake but also access the spinney swims. These, too, need a little work but are mostly fishable, with effort.

So this first summer, Orton Water (Which I’ve rechristened The Orton Water Fishery because it sounds posher!) looks like it will take up all of my spare time.