Getting To The Bottom Of Silt

Getting To The Bottom Of Silt

- Dr Ian Welch

Q: Can you explain the advantages of liming a silty estate lake, and does it prevent weed growth? David Taylor, via email.

A: Ian Welch says...

Silt is a ‘coverall’ description used by anglers to describe any soft substrate, but it is, in fact, a complex and important material, comprising inorganic particles, such as sand and clay, together with organic particles derived from soil and plant material.

Important? Well, the deposition of fertile organic silt by some of the world’s biggest river systems laid the foundation for agriculture and the basis of early civilisations!

Stillwater silt

As far as our lakes are concerned, silt is best described as a loose, spongy, particulate mass. And over the course of time, all stillwater fisheries accumulate organic and inorganic silt from a variety of diverse sources, most notably from falling leaves, decaying vegetation and land run-off.

The excrement of wildfowl and, of course, anglers’ bait and ground bait may also be causal in some locations.