LYDNEY'S Boating Lake, devastated by a disease which killed hundreds of fish three years ago, has made a remarkable recovery. In a recent all-night session one angler landed 19 carp, all weighing over 10lbs.

"It's quite a success story. When we lost the fish things looked grim. But we have restocked and the big fish that remained have all thrived. Now the Lake is fishing really well," said club secretary Malcolm Skelton.

The loss of so many big carp was not confined to Lydney.

"There were outbreaks of the disease all over the country. There was a period of very hot weather followed by very cold weather and many carp died. It was put down to Spring Carp Death Syndrome," explained Malcolm.

The club lost around 400 carp weighing over 10lbs but a core of as many as 100 giant fish survived. With restocking the fish have all thrived.

The club record, a carp of 24lbs 9ozs, was captured by Mike Mazur four years ago. This summer Mark Bristow, of Lydney, has landed a fish weighing 22lbs 8ozs.

"It is a good indication that things are getting back to normal and we have seen the return of some of the dedicated carp anglers who visited Lydney from many miles away," said Malcolm.

The loss of so many fine fish hit the club's membership and many youngsters were lost to the sport.

"Fortunately they are now returning. Last year we had 135 junior members and we could well have even more this year. We do our best to encourage the youngsters and they have a weekly competition at which there are prizes for everyone who enters," said Malcolm.

Last week the young members had the opportunity to get some tips from the very top. The club arranged for Brian Jackson, chief coach for the region for the National Federation of Anglers, to visit the Lake and offer advice and tuition to youngsters

.

"Afterwards there was a competition and everyone who entered caught fish," said Malcolm.

And there are soon going to be even more fish on offer.

"We are awaiting the necessary paperwork to arrive before stocking the Lake with 5,000 more rudd," said Malcolm.