The following applies to the Royalty fishery only and is issued by South west lakes trust:
Due to the current prolonged spell of hot weather, fishing at the Royalty Fishery will be reviewed on a weekly basis until it is deemed that the water temperature is satisfactory for the review to be ceased. A decision will be made at 9am on a Wednesday morning which will determine if fishing will take place for the following seven days. If a suspension is deemed to be required, it will come in to force from 7.30am on the Thursday. The factors that will influence this decision will be the 9amwater temperature on the day combined with the weather forecast for the next seven days. If the 9am temperature is above 24oc at the Knapp Mill temperature gauge and the forecast suggests the water temperature will remain at or above this for the upcoming week then all fishing will be ceased until a decision is made on the following Wednesday, with the suspension to be continued or terminated on the Thursday.
Once a decision has been made each week the SWLT comm’s team, RDAA and Christchurch Angling Centre will be informed so customers can be notified on the Wednesday in preparation for the Thursday. If the fishery is to suspend fishing, the gates will remain closed and no access will be permitted to the fishery until fishing is made available again. Any anglers who have purchased tickets in advance will be entitled to a full refund.
The closure will only apply to the Royalty Fishery and does not affect fishing on the Bridge Pool, Waterloo Pool and Lower Stour and Harbour fisheries.
If I do have to send the email notifying of a suspension, I will include a statement that you can use on FB pages and forums (and over the counter Tom) to inform anglers. We will also email all customers who have used our online service with the same statement.