THE LAKE that died is back with a boom.
A year after 400 massive carp fell foul to a mystery disease, anglers are once again hooking monsters from Lydney's Recreation Ground lake.
"We're just delighted. This is the time of year the carp start to feed and they are starting to show in big numbers," said Lydney Angling Club official Malcolm Skelton.
"It's a happy ending for us. After the carp kill last year our membership fell by half and we were really struggling. Perhaps now we will grow again," he said.
The massive carp kill came out of the blue last year.
Day after day club officials reported more and more of the giant fish in trouble and dying. Such were the numbers that a special pit had to be dug to take the remains.
The fish loss devastated the club.
"The lake had become well known as a top venue for carp fishing and anglers came from as far away as Swansea and Birmingham. When the news filtered out that we had lost so many big fish the number of anglers dropped off dramatically," said Mr Skelton.
"We rely on day ticket sales for a lot of our income. Add to that the fact that the fish loss cost us half our members you can understand the fix we were in."
In financial terms the loss of the carp was estimated at £40,000.
"We obviously couldn't afford that sort of money but we did spend £5,000 to buy 40 big carp weighing from 6lbs to 14lbs.
"And obviously there have been a lot more survivors from the old stock. Now the season is going with a swing. The best fish so far has weighed in at over 24lbs and there have been a lot of 20lbs," he said.
"Things were getting critical but this is good news and now we know we will survive," he said.