Mrs Down's Diary

About three years ago, John restocked our big pond with carp. We already knew there were rudd and roach. The grass-eating carp went in to try to get rid of the pond weed which a friend had kindly introduced and which had almost totally fouled up the water.

Most of the rainbow trout John had put in for fly fishing had died and we were generally despondent about what fish we could keep.

After taking advice from relevant experts, he chose carp to deal with the problem of the weed. We then sat back and watched with amazement as the carp stirred up the mud on the bottom of the pond, creating such muddy conditions that the weed was unable to thrive and died. That was the good thing.

The bad thing was that the carp didn't stop grubbing up the bottom of the pond once the weed had gone. They kept at it so that the water never really cleared and was useless for restocking with rainbow trout.

By now, John also realised that the pond was seriously overstocked with rudd and roach. Throw in fish food or bread and the surface boiled and bubbled with fish. Plus it was the favourite takeaway venue for a large number of herons.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette March 18