Work Party 9/11/2024
The November work-party has been arranged for Saturday 9th November at 09.30, Loughinisland Lake.
Please make all efforts to attend and bring wet gear, life jackets, gloves, decent knife etc.
Refreshments will be available thanks to our resident chef Graham!
All new faces would be greatly appreciated to get some work done at Your club.
Thanking you in anticipation
DDAA Committee
Vote result
Following on from the recent vote, "Do you wish to continue with a 12 month season on the understanding that we will stock both rainbow & brown trout?" the results are as follows;
Yes 55.6%
No 36.6%
No response 7.7%
Members have voted to keep the lake open all year round.
Best Regards
Ryan Green on behalf of the DDAA Committee
Winter Newsletter 2022
All Members,
Please see link below to a copy of the 2022 Newsletter in the library section, for your attention.
Downpatrick & District Anglers Association Limited | Library (ddaaltd.co.uk)
DDAA Committee
URGENT Members Notices
Lake open for trout fishing during winter
Hello folks,
As from today the lake is now open for trout fishing over the winter months. During this time the pike anglers will also be out, so boats will simply be used on a first come basis with no 4hour limit.
Let me say to both pike and trout anglers, this is a trial period so please exercise good manners and common sense and let’s try and avoid any disagreements…in reality there’s more than enough water for all to enjoy.
Best and tight lines
Dave Stewart 8.12.22
Work Party Saturday 5th November 2022 at 10:00am.
Hi everyone,
We will have a work party at 10am on Saturday the 5th November.
There is a lot to do with the old straw bales being brought in so please don’t just “like” this…but turn up on the morning! Wear waterproof clothes and bring gloves and importantly…turn up!
If you don’t normally attend then let’s change that and come along…
See you there!
Chairman Dave Stewart
DDAA Committee
Life Jackets - Compulsory
Hi folks,
I know you’re all responsible and sensible fishermen and women but can I remind you all to wear your life jackets when you’re fishing. Even in nice warm sunny days or rough stormy days, please wear your life jackets.
You’ll begin to see signs in the boathouse that will remind you…
“No life jacket…No fishing”
Thanks everyone
Best
Chairman Dave Stewart
DDAA Committee
Work Party Saturday 23rd.April 2022 at 10:00am.
We are planning a Work Party on the above date, because of the heavy algae bloom this early in the season, to construct additional Straw Bales and site them in the Lough. Also, if we have the time and enough bodies to help, we intend to retrieve a club boat from Magheralagan and bring it back to the Clubhouse.
Please note on the above date there will be no fishing on the lake until the Straw Bales are in situ.
If you are intending to fish on this date you'd be more than welcome to lend a hand with the Straw Bales before wetting a line.
Many thanks,
The Committee.
Trout Management
Monday 18th. April 2022
It’s obvious that the clubs new stocking policy is beginning to prove successful as there have been lots of big fish caught and seen. Careful stocking of the correct size of fish and close monitoring of the catch returns are resulting in some super quality large fish.
There are now new accurate scales in the boathouse and if you kill and keep any fish, you are required to record accurately the weight in the catch return sheets. This is important information to us and it’s for the benefit of all anglers. For any fish you catch and return, the same applies, if you have scales then weigh the fish and record the size for our records. If you’ve no scales, then a good guess is sufficient.
Stocking
There’s so much more to stocking than you probably realise…suppliers are researched to see who has the best fish management and quality fish. You will have noticed that most of our fish have superb tails and fins which enhances your sport!
Firstly, we try and keep the algae under control by the use of straw bales. Water samples are regularly taken and sent away for analysis and records are kept. The levels of dissolved oxygen in the water are also taken and recorded and we avoid stocking fish in hot months with low oxygen levels. Your catch return sheets are recorded and compared with the same months of previous years to see if the fishing has improved or declined and this goes back 20 years or more.
We also choose and order a specific type, size, and quantity of fish. We select certain months to stock the fish and of course it is then quite an undertaking when the fish arrive. Most times we need at least 8 people for this job. (Please let us know if you’d like to help as we are always struggling) Dip samples are taken of the fish when they arrive to check weight, quality and the health of the fish, then they are loaded into plastic bins and transported out onto the lake in the clubs flat bottomed Dory. As they are released, each fish is counted to ensure the totals match what the supplier invoices us for.
Lastly and let me reinforce this, please understand the effort and time that goes into having a lake the size of Loughinisland with a good stock of large fish. We are not a normal “put and take” fishery and we certainly don’t buy in big heavy weight fat farmed trout. Our fish are stocked at just over 2lbs and they take several years to grow naturally to become a big trout and anyone who has caught a fish of 4lbs plus in our lake will certainly know just how hard they fight!
Kill or return
So before you decide to kill a large trout of over 5-6 pounds or even bigger, please remember all the years and effort that has been expended to produce a large quality trout.
It’s not a club ruling, but personally I’d like to see almost all fish over 4-5 pounds returned unharmed. Surely it’s better to just take a photograph and slip it back into the lake…if we did that can you imagine just how good our lake would be in another 3-4 years?
Dave Stewart
Chairman.
