LORD Bath complex of lakes at Longleat have benefited from a close season reshuffle of the fish stocks by New Forest carp specialists Heather Fisheries and in addition £12,000 of new stock has been added.

Longleat's specimen carp lake, the Top Lake, suffered from a major weed problem last summer which resulted from the lake being shut down by mid August. The weed problem arose from the water going clear so it was decided to increase the stocks by 50 per cent to try and put some colour back into the water which will inhibit the weed growth.

Over 50 summer carp at 10lb to 11lb were purchased from Heather Fisheries, while the next job was to drain the Middle and Bottom Lakes and move any doubles up to the Top Lake.

Incredibly no less than 130 doubles to 19lb were found to be in residence in the Middle and Bottom Lakes and these were added to the 50 new stockies which, along with the resident Top Lake fish, brought the number of fish to over 500 between 10lb and 30lb. All the carp from the Bottom Lake were taken up to the Middle and Bottom Lakes then restocked with 1000 1lb to 1lb 8oz carp and the transformation was complete.

Since the fishery reopened on the March 1 all the lakes have been in top form despite the cold. On the Top Lake Phil Bourne of Ringwood landed 16 fish including one of 21lb 4oz and 23lb 8oz in a 48-hour session on pellet over pva bags of pellet, while Paul Reynolds (Ringwood) took 14 fish to 21lb 9oz.

Best fish recorded has been a 26lb 14oz mirror to Dave Target, while anglers have been averaging up to six fish in a session. On the Middle Lake, Barry Jones (Warminster took 13 carp to 8lb and 11 bream to 4lb in a 100lb bag taken on the method feeder. Clive Titmus fished the Bottom Lake to land 41 of the new carp for 60lb on pole and corn over pellet.

TAPPENDEN ON FORM

Graham Tappenden had a good week winning the third round of the Christchurch Angling Club's series on Hordle Lake taking a massive 103lb 14oz of carp from Tench Lake on the long pole and corn with carp to 10lb. A long gap to second with Lee Woodhouse taking 62lb of carp from between the island on Bob's Lake on the method feeder, with Paul Sear third on 59lb 9oz from Bob's Lake. Others: 4th Trevor Gunner 49lb 15oz, 5th Martin Mancey 47lb 14oz, 6th Nigel Fitzgerald 44lb 14oz.

The Teams of Four match on Witherington Farm saw a three way tie for points with Eastleigh Mosella, Carbotech and Poingdestres all on 32 points. Marc Illingworth (Eastleigh) came home a clear winner with 83lb 5oz from Graham Tappenden (Eastleigh Mosella) with 71lb 12oz, in third spot Dave Hambidge (Dynamite Baits) 70lb 3oz and fourth Steve Pomery (Poingdestres) 60lb. League to date: Eastleigh Mosella 153 points, Witherington Select 152, Cormorants 146, with two matches remaining.

The Kings Toyota Midweek Open on Witherington, fished over Barnmoor, Sellwood and Cottages Lakes, saw Clive Egerton on Cottage Lake winning with 94lb 12oz of carp on the waggler and banded pellet from Ray Haywood in second on Sellwood Lake for 90lb also on the waggler and pellet. Third was organiser Gary Naylor on Barnmoor Lake with 87lb 12oz which included a cracking 19lb 12oz carp on the pole, corn and pellet, 4th Paul Sear on Selwood Lake with 56lb 8oz, 5th Mick Small on Cottage Lake 53lb 12oz, 6th Dave Hambidge also on Cottage Lake with 45lb 8oz. There was also a silver fish pool with Bob Drew winning with 30lb of skimmers from peg 2 on Sellwood Lake.

Cormorants held a match on Bashley Match Lake at the weekend with Clive Egerton, another angler on a winning streak, taking the honours with 75lb 9oz of carp to 1lb on the pole maggot and corn, from Willie Skipp in second with 62lb 6oz, 3rd Steve Rochester on 53lb 5oz. Others: Dave Hambidge 51lb 10oz, Graham Maton 51lb 9oz and John Banks 48lb 1oz.

Two open were held at Greenridge Farm over the weekend. The Saturday Open went to Dwayne Seed, fishing peg 15 on Canal 2 for 54lb 1oz of carp to 8lb using corn in the deep water. Second was Mick Duran on peg 16 Canal 2 with 36lb 1oz, Andy Potter in third place on peg 18 Canal 2 with 32lb. Others: John Cowie 28lb 8oz, Andy Hayden 20lb and Colin Marshall 15lb 4oz.

In the Sunday Open Marc Illingworth ran out a clear winner when taking a massive 82lb 5oz of carp on the corn and pole from peg 21 on Canal 3 with carp to 6lb, from John Clark in a remote second place with 36lb 8oz from peg 16 on Canal 2 and Andy Hayden third with 33lb from peg 2 on Canal 1. Others: Alan Hillman 31lb 3oz, Harry Salkeld 28lb 1oz and Andy Palmer 27lb 8oz.