Házirét reservoir

The Házirét reservoir or Házirét fishing pond is an artificial standing water body in Pest County, in the northern part of the Solymári valley, on the border of Pilisvörösvár and Csobánka, about 200 metres east of the northernmost point of the Solymár administrative area. The majority of it lies in the Pilisvörösvár area, only its northern shore is in Csobánka territory. The pond was created by flooding at the confluence of the Határ-réti ditch and the Házi-réti stream; swimming is prohibited, but it is very popular as a fishing water.

Access

The fishing pond can be most easily approached from the Route 10, where one should turn off the road near the kilometre‑marker 15 and head north on a generally passable dirt road even with an ordinary city car. After about 6–700 metres on this route one reaches a large, free‑use parking area next to the pond’s entrance, from which only a few steps remain to the pond’s southeastern tip.

By public transport the pond can be reached from two directions: either with the Pilis bus lines (800, 801, 805, 810, 820) departing from the Volánbusz Árpád Bridge terminus, getting off at the Solymári junction (Auchan store) stop and then walking about 500 metres along the road toward Pilisvörösvár, then turning onto the aforementioned dirt road to reach the pond.

The other option is to take the BKV bus 218 to the Pilisborosjenő, Téglagyári Square stop [on holidays to the outer terminus] and then follow the Malom dűlő, which runs parallel to the Határ-réti stream, for about 2–2.5 kilometres to reach the reservoir.

Parameters

The pond’s water surface fluctuates between 24.6 and 26 hectares, depending on water‑level changes; its circumference is about 7.2 kilometres. The bottom is varied, with sudden deep and shallow sections, riddled with fissures; near the shore there are both hard‑bottomed and muddy areas. The water depth near the inflowing streams barely exceeds 1 metre, the central part has an average depth of around 2 metres, while near the dam the depth approaches 3.5 metres.

The reservoir is maintained by the Háziréti Fishing Clubs Association registered in Pilisvörösvár, which was created jointly by seven fishing clubs (Rozmaring HE, Landoló HE, Hőtechnika HE, 43-as Építők HE, Szakipari HE, PEMŰ HE, Munkatherápia HE). On the southern shore there is a fish house and a buffet, and observation cameras also operate in the area. Swimming is prohibited throughout the lake.

History

At this location, a map produced as a result of Hungary's first military survey (1780–1784) already shows a lake that appears artificial, with a dam on its east‑south‑east side, depicted as open water, and on its northern shore a building is indicated, next to the abbreviation “w.h.” referring to an inn. The map of the second military survey shows open water, does not indicate permanent water coverage at this spot, but marks it as a water‑flow area, and additionally displays the term “Vörösvárer Teich,” which means the lake of Vörösvár, and also roughly at the former (and later) Völgyzár dam location a band drawn with several smaller lines, presumably indicating the dam. The term “Vörösvárer T.” is also visible on the third military survey map, and along the courses of the two intersecting streams narrow strips of open water extending for a few hundred meters can be seen. The outlines of the lake can be extracted from aerial photographs taken in 1966 and 1967 – the earlier one shows a terrain shape resembling a dam remnant – but the area appears on both to be largely covered with vegetation, with only a very small open water surface.

The present reservoir was jointly established by several capital city and Pest County enterprises still before the regime change. From the 1990s several founding enterprises ceased to exist, so the construction community's gesture, the Rozmaring Producer Cooperative, and its legal successor took most of the joint ownership into private hands. As a result, lengthy litigation developed among the parties, during which the court named as owners the Rozmaring asset manager, the Pilisvörösvár municipality and the private company that had meanwhile purchased the land of the work therapy institute. The series of prolonged lawsuits, however, did not end with this; at the same time the association operating the lake was also sued by the former owners over its fishing rights.

Fish

The most common fish caught in the lake are carp, catfish, balin, pike, zander, amur, bream, silver crucian carp, and crucian carp. In the area at least five times fish weighing more than 40 kg catfish have been caught (the lake record according to the summer 2016 condition was 69.20 kg), and at least twenty times carp weighing more than 20 kg (the lake record in 2016 was 23.20 kg). Carp over 5 kg, amur over 7 kg and pike over 70 cm are protected; they must be released as soon as possible after capture and photographing.

Other organisms

The shores are a mix of the shrub habitats and agricultural areas typical of the surroundings, whose animal fauna intermixes with species preferring wet habitats. The lake’s dragonfly fauna is rich.

Economic utilization

Fishing is constantly possible on the reservoir every day of the year, in compliance with national and local fishing rules, regulations and catch quotas. Each angler may fish with up to 2 rods, each rod with a maximum of 3 hooks; fishing can be done from the shore, from piers and from boats provided by the associations, and the use of remote‑controlled feeding boats is also permitted. However, ice fishing is not possible due to warm water sources and inflows. Fishing from a floating platform is also prohibited, and spin fishing is forbidden over the entire lake area. About a five‑kilometre stretch is available for shore fishing, which corresponds to roughly 400 fishing spots; there is no reservation system, so anyone may use any fishing spot or pier in order of arrival. Water code: 13-0037-1-1.