Strange fish in crookes valley pond

[Chris_B_1983]

From what I have been told, if you go to the Ponderosa over the road from Crookes Valley and look at the embankment. That gives you the water depth of the dam. Im not sure how true that is, but its widely considered to be around 60ft deep. Again, speculation really I suppose.

 

So what of these other unusual species in Crookes then Chris? Pm me if you wish to avoid ridicule :-)

 

Mikey, you are probably about right there.

I plumbed it with the largest ESP marker float and a 3oz lead, which generally is very accurate if used correctly, and I managed to get 50ft from the Pavillion platform.

 

I tried the depth finder on the baitboat, but couldn't get an accurate reading, possibly due to the shape of the lake bed. Silt deposits also cause problems for the sonar.

[mikeyc88]

Chris, that's the most common depth i've heard. I've never marked it up myself (maybe a job over the winter) but 50 ft rings true.

 

And Sheff13, I was writing in regards to Chris' previous comment on his opinions of what is in the dam being 'labelled a fraud'.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean about erroneous comments?? Without getting into an in-forum bickering match (leave that to the keyboard warriers *cough*). Got no reason for speculating, passing on rumours etc. So whats your reason for having a pop??

[graham101@ta]

There's no proof that there is cat fish , pike or zander in there ! Pike sure but cat fish being in there is just an old wifes tale

 

ive seen a catfish in there many years ago in fact it was caught on some broken line and fast on some branch that was in there i manage to get it out and took the hook out and let it go

[sheff 13]

Not having a pop as you say mikey love I was only asking out of curiosity as I said.

My comment regarding erroneous statement is self explanatory

[Bettinson200]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_Valley_Park

[biggsy]

I can recall a story that police divers were training in the pond and one came face to face with a 'large Catfish', it was suspected that the University introduced some in to the pond after they had finished doing work with them back in the 70's, it was thought to have been one of these that scared the copper shi.... er half to death :D

 

Old wives tale??

 

 

Biggsy

[simes303]

The depth of Crookes Lake...

After being told it was 50, 60, 100 feet deep etc, me and a friend went out in a boat with a marked plumbline. Apart from the area with the small island it's the same all round. After the shallow part around the edge, it shelves off at about 45 degrees to exactly nine metres. We covered the whole lake. Its pretty much perfectly flat. The plumbline stopped at EXACTLY nine metres wherever we went.

Hope that helps. Simon.

[Chris_B_1983]

Simes303, interesting to hear about your plumbing of the depth.

 

I agree with most of your topography of the lake bed, but are you certain you covered it all?

 

My own plumbing of it showed a deeper pocket, running roughly North to South South West. The pocket is probably 8 to 10 meters wide at the SSW end, and maybe 15 meters wide at the N end, which is where you should be seeing around the 50 feet mark.

 

Of course, I am happy to be corrected on this, you clearly know what you are doing, and my own research was done only from the bank using a long range marker rod, coupled with a decent casting reel, but I did spend a full day doing it. Will try and scan my hand drawn map in for you to look at.

 

One possible explanation is that at that distance, undertow created a large bow in my line, making depth appear greater than it actually is. I suppose the same phenomenon could have led to inaccurate mapping of the deeper pocket as well.

 

Whilst on the subject, has anyone fished it recently?

[simes303]

Hi Chris,

Yes I'm pretty sure we covered it all. We had a printed map of the lake, enlarged from Google Earth, and used GPS to determine where we were on the lake. We spent at least 3 hours plumbing with a kilogram lead weight on our rope marked off in meters. It was amazing how consistent the depth was after the initial slope. It came to precisely the same mark on the rope every time, to within a couple of centimetres.

We did notice that the bottom sloped down slightly less steeply in the corner with the inlet, below the pub, presumably because of the silt washed in there.

How much deeper did you think the channel you mentioned was?

Si.

[Chris_B_1983]

To be honest, I got 48ft in the deeper channel, and had a 1ft drop between lead and float with a running bead to keep everything free, so should be 49ft. However, I accept that if you were in a boat right above each mark you plumbed, then your result is more accurate!

 

Have you fished it?