MANY modern stillwater fisheries seem happy to stuff their venues to the gills with small carp.

It is refreshing, therefore, to find a fishery that bucks the trend.

In 1996 Richard Smith decided to create a mixed coarse fishery and touring caravan park, called Lakeside at Bielby, near Pocklington. His objective was to create a venue where each and every fish had the potential to grow to its optimum size.

His vision was that both day ticket anglers and caravanners could enjoy the countryside views and abundant wildlife while bagging up on high quality fish.

To this end Richard called in the Environment Agency and asked them for fishery management advice. A fishery management programme was developed which over the years has evolved with both Smith and the Environment Agency working closely together. The end result is a superb venue that regularly produces large catches of high quality, healthy fish.

As part of the programme it becomes necessary from time to time to crop a percentage of the fish. The reason behind this is that a well managed water will contain happy and healthy fish. This means they will reproduce.

Eventually this will lead to there being too many fish present in the water, placing too high a demand on the available food and oxygen.

The build-up of fish waste can have an effect on water quality. All these things impact on the fish and if they are not happy they stop breeding, stop feeding, and angling catches decline.

Recently Lakeside was netted and a small percentage of a cross section of fish species were removed. The result being that the Lakeside ecosystem has been maintained.

The fish are feeding readily and reported catches are fantastic considering we are in the middle of winter.

There is more good news for the still water fan this week. York Amalgamation have announced that Redhouse Lagoon, and the adjacent river frontage, will remain under their control until the end of the year.

If the rivers are more your thing then make the most of this weekend. There are no matches booked on any York waters so the choice is yours.

Updated: 11:18 Friday, January 27, 2006