I just bought 2 Private Fishing Lakes... (and it went VERY Wrong!) 😯

I bought 2 fishing lakes in the middle of nowhere, without even seeing them first. I NEVER expected to find this! Join me as we walk to these two unknown reservoirs deep in the hills for the first time, have a good look around and try to catch some fish! I'm in the process of starting a fishing club, and finding waters for the members is the first stage. This is a big experiment, let's see how it goes!

We also show some unseen footage of a pike fishing trip I went on on England's biggest lake, where we catch some absolutely cracking fish from a boat so stick around for that!

Subscribe to the channel and follow along with the Adventure Fishing club journey, plenty of exciting videos planned over the next few months including trout fishing, perch fishing, pike fishing, salmon fishing and more! Drop a like too if you can, and leave a comment below! As always, thanks for watching and hopefully i'll see you here for the next one!

Rod: Rigged and Ready + Adventure Fishing X5 EXPLORER

Reel: Rigged and Ready RR1000

Braid: Rigged and Ready Infinite 10lb

Leader: Rigged and Ready Infinite Fluoro

Net: Rigged and Ready compact net

[DjDolHaus]

Fishery owner here. Looks like you dodged a bullet with that one but if you're going to start to acquire venues then you'll need to get yourself some basic water quality test kits. API do some good ones for around £50 that will cover more or less what you need to be aware of. Test strips are ok but I've never found them to be all that accurate so would definitely recommend the solution dropper based tests, it's not rocket science as you just put the prescribed amount of drops in with the prescribed amount of water and compare the colour of the solution to the provide chart.

pH - ideally within 1 point of neutral (7) but anything between 5-9 will be ok. If it's more acidic (lower than 7) then it'll be relatively stable but not very productive due to a lack of alkaline metals such as calcium which are a vital resource for invertebrate and microbial life, if it's more alkali (higher than 7) then it'll be more productive but prone to problematic events such as algae blooms.

KH/GH - this indicates the calcium content of the water and its buffering capability against pH change. If it's low then you're lacking calcium which will limit the productivity and it may be prone to swings in pH after rain or during prolonged low oxygen conditions (summer heatwaves) which stress the fish and can cause them to switch off, this will also limit productivity as stressed fish don't grow and will be more prone to disease/death. This can be adjusted with the addition of siltex or ag lime.

Ammonia - lethal in low concentrations. You'll observe a small spike in late autumn when the algae switch off as the temp drops but this should otherwise be zero. If the water is on the acidic side then you can safely withstand a higher Ammonia level because most of it will be the far less dangerous Ammonium (test kits don't differentiate). If the water is more alkaline then ammonia can be a real threat.

Nitrate/Nitrites - These are the result of organic material such as plants/silt breaking down. This is the primary food source of algae and plants so the higher it is, the more algae blooms you're going to get and the more vigorously the weed is going to grow. An amount of weed/algae is good for a lake but it can quickly get out of hand and affect fishing through oxygen swings (produces during the day/consumes at night), algae blooms can quite easily kill a lake in a matter of days if they get out of hand because it all dies after consuming the available food and this causes a massive deoxygenation event. A trace is fine but anything higher suggests trouble.

Phosphor - Another food source for algae and plants but if you find more than a trace then this suggests you're getting runoff from farm fertiliser or mining operations which is a really bad situation which can lead to the kind of algae blooms that will kill everything. The first big rain after the smell of manure fills the countryside is the best time to check. Runoff is becoming more of a problem as the climate changes because it's raining when it should be dry and dry when it should be raining.

Copper/lead - Walk away if this shows up as it's extremely detrimental to life in very low concentrations. Bigger fish can survive a low concentration but it will massively harm the development of eggs and fry which means you'll never achieve a sustainable balance. Typically only the result of illegal dumping/mining runoff.


I know they're expensive but you really do need to invest in an oxygen meter sooner rather than later. Spending £500 quid now is better than turning up one day to find all your fish belly up and having to spend £10k to restock. AJS Fisheries provide the cheapest reliable unit on the market as far as I'm aware, it's a bit slow but it does the job.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions

[EffortlessIt]

Don't worry about content, it will come when you are out enjoying yourself fishing! Never try and force it. Do it when you want to and you are enthused. Cheers.

[oldishjack]

Absolutely bonkers, a freezing windswept barren wilderness in the middle of nowhere, good luck with that !

[laytonrim]

Love your channel, sorry about the Reservoir! And good luck on doing the fishing Club! Hopefully we fans can enjoy it at some point!❤

[alanwilliamson]

Now, this sounds interesting. I love how you're taking a new direction with fishing club ect . All the best in the adventure 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 cant wait to see more 🙌

[BuddieNE]

Have never been interested in fishing but your videos are great to watch and have inspired me to start up! 🙂 keep the videos coming a really enjoy them 🎉

[karlrichards]

Good job you bumped into that walker, dodged a bullet there I think. Good luck with the new club.

[DesiqnChaos]

best fishing channel on youtube! definitely keep us updated with the club, 4 new memebers waiting to join!!

[davidpreston]

You're probably lucky to have dodged those moorland reservoirs. The problem is that the peaty land (hence the brown, tea coloured water in that little stream) leads to very acidic water. Some Pennine reservoirs I had some dealings with some years back were assessed by a very well-known fisheries scientist and he described the water as 'about as acidic as lemon juice'. This leads to very little aquatic invertebrate life and consequently very poor conditions for fish growth. Top that off with 'your' reservoirs being completely de-watered, and you would have had more chance of catching in a fire bucket.

[paulisherwood]

Hello George, that stretch of the canal is literally on my doorstep, I won’t mention its name on here, and I often fish it for bream and tench etc and have fished for pike and perch before, even your mate Harry posted a perch video on that stretch just past the area of the boat yard with the life boat, I would be keen to chat to you about the club membership details and also which stretch of river you have as well.

[hobbitfrdo]

Always love your adventure and love you ideas. Keep up your channel 👏

[neilyorks]

Hiya George, great to hear your feeling better, crikey that's a lucky escape mate, it shows that making sure you surveyed the lakes or should I say lake paid off, the seller would certainly have known the condition, those Pike looked very healthy hopefully their around for my annual trip in the last two weeks of June, good luck with the club, 🎣

[johnloxley]

Now then, buddy. Cracking video as always and hope you and the family are well. Will be definitely interested in joining your fishing club my friend. Hopefully get chance to meet you at some point. Been a subscriber for a long time now and been watching all your videos. Looking forward to being part of the club gang and all the best to you, my friend. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Lots of strange bugs going around at the moment. My kids have been off with one thing or another. Even my grandkids have been suffering with it. I think with the changing weather as well that doesn’t help. Hopefully the weather will start picking up a bit. All the best to you and the family, my friend. 👍😉🎣

[cheza]

Good luck with your projects!!! I'm pleased that you found out in time about them lakes.
Me & my fiance would be interested in joining your club.
😎🎣🐟

[coastallurefishing]

Good video. That rod looks good, be ideal for me walking distances after wrasse.

[davidhaygarth]

Never seen this situation coming. Glad you found out in time. Local knowledge is vital. Gave me a laugh though.

[leem]

That guys needs to be your first honorary member for saving you just in time!

[TheJonnyzeus]

I note on the web that they have both been surveyed for works. They are important wildlife sites (birds). They are feeder reservoirs for the trans-pennine canal. No mention of one being drained. A lucky escape.

[Radchenister]

I didn’t see those in the bargain bucket in the reservoir section. Hope you kept the receipt. 😂

[anthonycarter]

Wish u well buddy 🙏 some very interesting plans u have on the go