09.08.16

Embryo Angling has had a busy start to 2016!

Embryo has been having a great year so far, both at its own venues and also other waters where it has been carrying out work.

Embryo Angling Habitats was set up by Korda boss Danny Fairbrass to buy and lease its own fisheries, which could then be protected from predation and run for the benefit of local anglers, offering affordable fishing. Additionally Embryo also helps clubs and other fisheries to be able to fence and protect their waters, even in cases where they wouldn’t normally be able to afford to do so.

The company has been busy so far this year carrying out work at its Stanton, Cawcutts and South Ings syndicates, as well as its jobs elsewhere, and here we take a look at exactly what Embryo has been up to so far in 2016.

Stuart Daborn, who is in charge of installing otter fencing for Embryo, explained: “We are at Stanton, in Oxfordshire, at the moment and are halfway through fencing that, and it should be finished sometime next week. It will make a big difference there as there has been a resident otter around for years and we have some lovely carp in the lake – I caught one just over 30lb recently, known as Three Scales, and it was four foot long! It isn’t the easiest water to catch from but the rewards are worth it when you do get one.

“We’ve also been doing paid jobs – which come in at cost price – for clubs and other fisheries and should have managed to do ten of these by the end of the year, some of them have been big jobs, plus we’ve been working on our own Embryo fisheries as well. The aim for 2017 is to complete 15 to 20 jobs.

“For these paid jobs we’ve been managing to keep costs substantially lower than other contractors, usually in excess of 50% less, and we’ve already done half-a-dozen of these projects.

“On several of the lakes it will have made a big difference already, as the Snake Pit in Essex, one of the Sussex waters, Gingerbread Lake in Cambridgeshire, and Andy’s Lake in the Cotswolds, were already being actively predated on by otters.”

The syndicate waters have also been having a great year, with the fencing and stocking policies beginning to come to fruition, and everything looking very rosy for the future.

Colin Jagger, who runs the South Ings syndicate, near Hull, revealed: “We’ve had a couple of work parties this year that were well attended and nearly all the members made it along to our social barbecue, which was great to see. We are now nearly full, although there are still one or two mid-week places left.

“Since we did the cut-through between two of the lakes most of the work has just been tidying up, and the lakes are now looking really nice. They are also fishing very well, and Pit Three has produced seven different 20lb-plus fish so far, which were the commons which went in from the Lea Valley.

“Pit One, which was joined to Pit Two, is also now producing fish that are touching 20lb which only went in back in December, and the venue record now stands at just under 25lb, with fish of that size from both lakes, and I would expect our first thirty to come out within the next couple of years.

“It will get really interesting in a couple of years time as well when the VS Fisheries stock, which mainly went in at around 9-10lb in January last year, start to hit 20lb as that could mean there will be around 180 mirrors of that size, as well as the commons which are already achieving those weights.”

Over in Oxfordshire, the Stanton gravel pit has been coming on in leaps and bounds since Embryo acquired it, and its future now looks far brighter.

Peter Lay commented: “The fishing was really good during the winter and spring, and they have spawned heavily several times now. That is great news that they’ve dropped it all, and we haven’t lost any fish during spawning either.

“The older fish in the lake seem to have peaked at around 36-37lb, but there are others coming through and being caught at over 30lb even after spawning, and these were fish which were high 20s when we first took the lake on.

“Before Embryo had the water they used to get hammered, but with less pressure we’ve noticed that they are feeding far more, plus the quality of the bait going in these days is far better and a lot more of that is boilies rather than particles, which has definitely helped the growth rates as well. The weed is also growing well and hat means there is a lot of natural food around.

“Now that the fencing of the venue is pretty much completed, we will be starting work on the swims which need doing,’ he added.

Embryo’s Cawcutts Lake, in Cambridgeshire, has also been having a great year so far, as David Buck explained: “Since we stocked it with 270 fish, including some lovely scaly ones and linears, and they’re growing really well. Plus there are 25 originals still left – including a new one which came out the other day that no one had ever seen before!

“A lot of the fish went in between 8lb and 12lb, plus there were a fair few from 15lb to 25lb, and one of the commons that went in at 17lb came out recently at 21lb.

“It’s fishing very well now and they are back on the bait again, having spent most of June and July eating naturals in the weed. The otter fencing is up so we don’t have to worry about that any more, as there have been sighting on a local nature reserve plus the River Cam,” he added.

For more information about how to join the Embryo syndicate waters, or the predator fencing service, call: 01268 285987.

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