It also contradicts a first hand report I have read on another forum about dead and dying fish, locked bins stinking of dead fish and the stench of death all over the complex, on wed the 10th of August? The same report also makes a brief mention of rumours of a fish kill being refuted by the CS 10 days prior to his visit. Clearly Horseshoe was suffering considerable fatalities before his arrival on the 10th of August.

A cynical man would perhaps suggest that the CS are only admitting a problem existed from the date irrefutable reports appeared in the public domain.

UPDATE
Posted 30 August 2011

No change. EA will be here on Thursday to take some fish away. Fish deaths are now down to approximately one a day. EA still unconcerned as to any disease. They have repeated that it could be that we will never know the reason why we've had this blip.

We would encourage you to only refer to this website for updates.

My comment....."fish deaths approximately one a day, EA still unconcerned as to any disease", so one a day or more than one death a day to get an approx. is entirely natural is it? If I was losing a fish a day on any of my lakes I would be an extremely worried man! My guess is they will find gill damage on any disorientated fish and thus evidence of SCMS, following the stocking.....

UPDATE
Posted 2 September 2011

Army Carp Championships at Horseshoe

We, The Carp Society, in conjunction with the Army event Organiser, have taken the only responsible course of action and made a difficult decision to cancel the event.

The fish that were collected from Horseshoe yesterday (Thursday 1 September) have just been delivered to the CEFAS laboratory in Weymouth. Today, Friday, at 3pm we received a call from the CEFAS officer saying that they would rather we let them complete their analysis before we allow any further fishing to take place. They further inform us that we will not see any results from their analysis until Wednesday afternoon.
Clearly this is a disappointment to both the Army carp anglers and to The Society.

As always both organisations have chosen to put the fish and fishery ahead of any self-interest.

David Mannall, Commercial Director & Warrant Officer Tim Gray, Army Event Organiser

I was very disappointed to see fish stocked from off site at Horseshoe Lake. When I was Fisheries Manager with The Carp Society I dug spawning ponds, a dubish pond & half acre growing on pond. I also achieved Fish Farm status for The Carp Society from the EA. Over the last 3 years before I retired I bred hundreds of carp from Horseshoe stock. Sadly after I retired there was no movement in regards to breeding fish from Horseshoe. The 4" fish I bred from stock went into the lagoon & growing on pond, and as far as I know they are still there - unless they were sold.

You had the vision and drive to see what was needed for the future of Horseshoe...

So Carp Society what happened to those fish?

I also owe you a personal apology for doubting the wisdom of your stocking of Farriers at the time with all those little commons.....you made the place..

Thanks for the compliments Paul, nobody has ever thanked me for what I did for the Carp Society but when I took over as Fisheries Manager I let everyone know that no carp would leave Horseshoe & no carp would enter. I was determined to breed the stock myself for future years knowing the original fish then were approaching old age.
As regards Farriers, I took an awful lot of stick when I introduced those commons to Carp Lake Daiwa. There were 500 fish approximately that I got from a farmers pond (at a cost of £150); had them tested by the EA, who informed me after the tests were made that the fish could reach 60lbs or more. Unfortunately, as they were only averaging under 1lb when stocked, the Cormorants were a major problem at the time. Today some of the commons are coming out at over 50lb. You would have thought somebody would have picked the phone up & said 'You were right Brian, and we were wrong'.
As a CS life member the gate No's of both Horseshoe & Farriers are not readily available to me.
I am not looking for compliments for what I did but to be able to walk around Horseshoe & Farriers any time I wanted to would be nice as I secured Daiwa & Langholme for the CS.

From the CS website......

UPDATE
Posted 8 September 2011

Horseshoe will reopen on Wednesday 14 September at 9am.

CEFAS have concluded their PCR for KHV, which is a very exhaustive virology test, and the results are confirmed as negative. This clearly is a relief for us, and for you, the anglers.

As you know we are determined to find out the root cause of the fish deaths in mid August. The EA will continue to test for bacteria and parasites, and will work closely with CEFAS on our behalf.

With further testing ongoing, as a precaution we are going to instigate a regime of disinfecting equipment on entry and exit to the site. Dips will be in place for Wednesday morning and all anglers MUST use them. Failure to do so will be viewed as a rule infringement.

David Mannall
Commercial Director

hi Brian, you were probably the best thing about the CS. good on you for all you done, fella. i reeled in and came to help [with my mates from liverpool] when you first netted the ponds by the mounds to remove the fry and move them to the bigger stock pond at the end of the trout bank. it is a real shame that the CS and horseshoe lost its way over the years.
re; Daiwa... i thought those stock fish came from the isle at shrewsbury, from the PA. i was on the netting team on the day! they are still waiting for the tench that were agreed as a swap... oops!

Hi Mate, thanks for the support for the work I did at Horseshoe, yes I put everything in place so that we could breed from our own stock.
Regarding the Diawa stocking, the fish - mostly commons, came from a retiring farmer's pond on the border of Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire. I am happy to say that those fish are now banking at over 50lb.
It would be good to talk to you some more, would you like to send me your email address?

...any fish caught from Horseshoe since it reopened?