blenhim palace

caelan · Feb 17, 2015

hi
has any one on here been down and fished blenhim palace
over the last few seasons I last went 2 years ago as the fishing was so poor
no bream/tench/roach we use to have bags up to 60/70lb so if any one has been I would be intrested to hear what you caught martin/caelan

barbelboi · Feb 17, 2015

Went with a group of 18 the season before last - I was one of the lucky ones (even though fishing from punt 13) with two tench, most blanked and I would't bother going again. I haven't heard anything good about the place in recent years....

Peter Jacobs · Feb 17, 2015

I was planning to go with the group that Jerry mentioned above, but couldn't make it at the last minute.

From the accounts of the other 18 anglers I am glad I saved my time, petol and bait . . . . . the place is not a patch on its' former self or reputation.

The highlight of the day apparently was one of the electric motors catching fire, and the two gentlemen in that punt discovering that they only had one oar between them . . . . . . . so I wish I had been there to see that . . . . . . .

caelan · Feb 17, 2015

thanks guys
what was the best catches you seen or heard about an what year if you guys can recall martin/caelan

pointngo · Feb 17, 2015

The pike and perch fishing is very poor nowadays. There is still the odd good fish in there but it's easy to blank. I don't know the place enough, in terms of identifying the problems the predators are having, but it wouldn't surprise me if at least part of the problem is lack of food.

Shame as it's a nice place.

peter crabtree · Feb 17, 2015

I was also there that day. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen when the punt drifted by with white smoke billowing out of the aft end.
And it was me who nicked their other oar......
Caught a few skimmers on feeder but generally it was poor.....

smudger172 · Feb 17, 2015

pointngo said:
The pike and perch fishing is very poor nowadays. There is still the odd good fish in there but it's easy to blank. I don't know the place enough, in terms of identifying the problems the predators are having, but it wouldn't surprise me if at least part of the problem is lack of food.

Shame as it's a nice place.

I fished there over the Christmas break and there was a massive and i mean massive shoal of fish up six inches long in the boat house. Also counted 56 cormorants roosting in the trees opposite.

S-Kippy · Feb 17, 2015

Absolutely heaving with crayfish too. A lovely place to fish but don't expect to catch much.

law · Feb 18, 2015

Any ideas why the fishing is so poor now?

Peter Jacobs · Feb 18, 2015

law said:
Any ideas why the fishing is so poor now?

Two clues in the above posts . . . . Crayfish and Cormorants . . . .

One of the two gentlemen stranded in the drifting punt was none other than the previous Editor here on FM, Mr. Graham Marsden . . . . . . . .

S-Kippy · Feb 18, 2015

law said:
Any ideas why the fishing is so poor now?

There were rumours about that the lake had been netted and a lot of the tench removed but that may just be mischief making.

barbelboi · Feb 18, 2015

S-Kippy said:
There were rumours about that the lake had been netted and a lot of the tench removed but that may just be mischief making.

I believe it may have been more than a rumour Skip, our old mate Goatie told me the same thing from, in his words, 'a reliable source' prior to the visit a couple of seasons ago......................

pointngo · Feb 18, 2015

smudger172 said:
I fished there over the Christmas break and there was a massive and i mean massive shoal of fish up six inches long in the boat house. Also counted 56 cormorants roosting in the trees opposite.

The thing is Smudger, that shoal could well represent almost all of the silverfish in the lake. I pike fish lakes where I can see the silvers shoal up for the winter on the echo sounder and 99% of the lake is virtually devoid of fish. Cormorants might have pushed the shoal into the edge.

Not sure why they don't cull that many cormorants. Each one eats 1-2lb of fish per day, so conservatively that is say 60lb total/day, which is 420lb of fish per week.

Nowhere can handle that sort of predation for very long but at least all the sunken snags around the edges might offer some protection. If it's crawling with crays though they'll eat the fish eggs.. so unless something is done from both ends then it isn't going to get better any time soon, if at all.

Bad lake management imho. These sort of things need to be tackled early rather than left too late.

Sounds like Blenheim could chuck up a monster perch or two over the next few years though.

S-Kippy · Feb 18, 2015

barbelboi said:
I believe it may have been more than a rumour Skip, our old mate Goatie told me the same thing from, in his words, 'a reliable source' prior to the visit a couple of seasons ago......................

Just being careful, Jerry. I didn't want to dive in and say exactly what I'd heard because it is only hearsay. That said the tench fishing has collapsed and one explanation is that there are significantly fewer tench in the lake than there once were.Personally I think that's more likely to be attributable to nets than cormorant or crayfish predation but that's pure conjecture on my part. I really dont know.

caelan · Feb 18, 2015

well all these posts all amount to the same fishing there
is bad I cant see it changing but I know I will have to go back
to see it for myself again been going there 20odd years them bream/tench
cant have all been removed can they martin/caelan

pointngo · Feb 18, 2015

spoke to a mate earlier, who knows a lot of lads who've been fishing it the last few years, and a couple of them went down the other week and had one perch all day... it was 3lb+ though.

caelan · Feb 18, 2015

yer same as me all I have herd about are them big perch
they all seem to go 3lb plus not bad that I want them slabbies'
and a few tench they will be around the 6lb plus mark now

binka · Feb 18, 2015

S-Kippy said:
There were rumours about that the lake had been netted and a lot of the tench removed but that may just be mischief making.

Is the lake by any chance owned by the National Trust?

jasonbean1 · Feb 18, 2015

I don't know, but I've lived in oxford for 13 years and my friends that have fished it put the decline down cormorant and cray fish, very few of them fish it now......that's a problem many waters suffer around this way if they are not managed/looked after

caelan · Feb 18, 2015

hi binka
not sure if the trust own it the balifff who meets you at the boat house has never said anything about the trust we all assume it belongs to the late duke
who handed it over to his son Jamie martin/caelan

---------- Post added at 10:43 ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 ----------

hi jasonbean1
that is sad but I cant be sure that them cormmoronts can get them dustbin lids
down or them tench they are way to big in all the years fishing down there
I never seen any crays nor any of my tangling mates an we used to book
all the boats an stay over in the town many many times
martin/caelan

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