AN enormous 41lb catfish was the surprise of the day when fishery manager Mick Toomer netted Lake Meadows to remove roach and bream.

The monster fish was returned to the lake, as were numerous carp to more than 20lb which were also taken in the net.

Fishery manager Toomer has run Lake Meadows, as well as Gloucester Park and Northlands Park since 1993.

The news that his licence to manage the lakes that he has made famous has not been renewed and that he is taking his fish with him, has caused huge reverberations in the angling world.

Toomer’s current agreement finishes at the end of March next year and in November 2007 his request for an extension to his agreement was turned down.

Toomer was told at the time that the council intended to re-tender the lakes’ management licence and that he could tender himself when the documents were available.

But a year later, the tender documents are still not available.

However, in September this year the council wrote to Toomer telling him that if any of his fish remained in the three lakes after March 31, 2009, they would become the council’s property.

“I’ve been put into an impossible position,” said Toomer.

“I cannot re-tender because the council have not started the tendering process and I have been told that if I don’t remove my fish before the end of March they will become the property of the council.

“I have well above £100,000 worth of fish in the three lakes and nobody in their right mind would just hand that sort of money over to the council.

“In any case if the fish stayed and the oxygen problems weren’t sorted out most of them would die anyway.”

While more than half a ton of roach and bream have already been removed from Lake Meadows there is a glimmer of hope that the fish in Northlands and Gloucester Park may stay in the lakes.

In a last minute bid to salvage the situation Toomer has written to council leader Malcolm Buckley offering to re-stock Lake Meadows and continue managing the lake under the current terms, providing that the council make efforts towards addressing the serious silting and oxygen problems in the lakes.

But a letter from Mr Buckley said that there was provision within the existing agreement for it to be extended. It stated that any new agreement would require the contractor taking over the lakes’ management to be responsible for maintaining the waters, including oxygenating them.

The council has also sought advice from a specialist regarding the maintenance of the lakes and is considering its options.