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Displaying items by tag: fisheries
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| BRASENOSE 1 | |
| 15 Oct | Ben Buchanan had two smaller fish and a 16lb mirror during an over night session using pop-ups. |
| BRASENOSE 2 | |
| 15 Oct | Nine year old Jordan Davis landed an 18lb 10oz mirror whilst fishing with Jake and Greg Taylor who also got amongst the fish with Jake landing 12 fish to upper doubles using hemp and Baitworks chopped boilies and Greg five up to 14lb. Pete Booth from Derbyshire had a number of fish during a 48 hour session with the biggest two weighing 14lb 09oz and 17lb 08oz. |
| GENERAL | |
| 15 Oct | **NEWS UPDATE** Our apologies for the lack of news and photos over the last couple of weeks but we've been having a few system problems - The PC has now been replaced and "touch wood" everything is now back as it should be!! Due to this the following news is made up of catch reports from the last two weeks. |
| 15 Oct | ****Important Info**** This is just a reminder that from Thursday the 1st of October we will revert to our Winter Locking Times. As of this date and until spring next year all fishery gates will be locked at 6PM and will be opened by 8AM. |
| 15 Oct | *****PIKE MATCH***** The Next Linear Pike Match will be held on Sun 22nd November – The lake will be closed all day. Below is a list of the remaining pike matches to be held this year - Please contact Basil Hopkins for further details on 01993 704880 or 07773210590. ST. JOHNS POOL Pike Match Sunday 13th December 2009 - LAKE CLOSED Pike Match Sunday 7th February 2010 - LAKE CLOSED HARDWICK LAKE Pike Match Sunday 22nd November 2009 - LAKE CLOSED Pike Match Sunday 17th January 2010 - LAKE CLOSED MANOR FARM LAKE Linear Junior Pike Match 14th November 2009 - LAKE CLOSED Pike Match (FINAL) Sunday 28th February 2010 - LAKE CLOSED |
| 15 Oct | ****Junior Pike Match**** We still have a few places remaining for the annual junior pike match to held on Manor Farm Lake on Sat 14th November. All juniors must be 16 or under and accompanied by an adult. Top specimen anglers Martin Bowler, Tim Norman and Terry Lampard will be there all day to give help, advice and award the trophies. For further details or to book please contact Basil Hopkins on 01993 704880 or 07773210590. |
| GUY LAKES | |
| 15 Oct | ****Stocking Info and Dates**** Over the next two weeks we will complete this years stocking on the syndicate. We have 70 fish ready to move from one of our own stock lakes ranging from 6lb to 15lb and 80 C4's (average size 9lb each) being delivered by from VS Fisheries. On top of these fish we have already stocked 148 carp into the syndicate over the last three months ranging from 5lb to 31lb from our own stock lakes. If any current member would like to see the remaining fish being stocked into Unity and Yeoman's Lakes then please feel free to come along. If you can’t make it then don’t worry as we will be placing photos of all these fish up on the Linear Web Site at some point in December. **Our own stock fish will go into Unity Lake from 11am Tuesday 20th October** **Fish from VS Fisheries should arrive between 10 & 11am Saturday 24th October** |
| 15 Oct | Whilst fishing Yeoman's Lake Darrell Smith landed a 20lb mirror along with a 34lb 02oz common during a four day session. On Unity Lake Simon Hughes had a 32lb 08oz mirror and then about ten days later landed the lakes big common at 41lb 11oz, Simon's new PB. Guy Lakes Bailiff Jason Rudge has had a number of fish during his last few sessions and have included mirrors of 27lb, 27lb 09oz, 24lb, 27lb 04oz, 27lb 12oz and the lakes biggest mirror "Moonscale" at 38lb 01oz. Jason has also landed a 27lb 07oz ghostie and a 31lb 11oz common during this time. |
| HARDWICK LAKE | |
| 15 Oct | Ryan McGill landed mirrors of 15lb 08oz and 30lb exactly using Richworth KG-1 and pineapple boilies. And Richard Mellor from Crewe had the "Big Tail Common" his new PB common using two pieces of fake corn fished on their own. |
| 15 Oct | *****Winter Ticket***** This year the "Hardwick Winter Ticket" will once again be available priced at £170. The ticket which will be limited to 30 anglers will run from Nov 1st until the end of Feb 2010 and will allow fishing on Hardwick Lake and Smiths Pool only. Anyone interested in joining needs to send their name & address along with a passport sized photo and cheque for £170 to (Linear Fisheries Oxford, Accounts Dept, Enslow, Kidlington, Oxon, OX5 3AY). A laminated ticket will then be posted back to you which you will need before you can start fishing. Alternatively tickets can be purchased on the bank (Mon - Fri only). They will not be available from our weekend staff. Please Note: Hardwick Lake and Smiths Pool will be closed to all anglers (including winter ticket holders) on Sunday 22nd Nov and Sun 17th Jan for two of the Linear Open Pike Matches. **Look at the "2009 Hardwick Gallery Page" to see a selection of the fish caught this year** |
| HUNTS CORNER LAKE | |
| 15 Oct | During a four night session Kristian (Paddy) Oflaherty landed mirrors of 10lb, 13lb, 28lb and 31lb 05oz using A1 baits squid and necter boilies. Alan Layton from Great Missenden in Bucks used Nashbait scopex squid red boilies to tempt mirrors of 22lb and the lakes largest resident at 39lb 04oz. Roland Pacey broke his PB twice when he landed mirrors of 16lb 03oz and 24lb 06oz. |
| MANOR FARM LAKE | |
| 15 Oct | Andy Croxford had a 17lb common along with a 27lb mirror using boilies at about 80 yards range. Stuart Bowles had four doubles along with mirrors of 21lb, 26lb and a new PB weighing 38lb - All Stuart's fish fell to Mainline Cell boilies over pellet. James Ward from Thame had a 23lb 02oz mirror using scopex squid liver plus boilies. John Player had a 12lb 04oz pike from the swims near the fishery office. |
| OXLEASE LAKE | |
| 15 Oct | Linear Bailiff Ivor Peachey had mirrors of 24lb 12oz and 21lb using particles and pellets. Clive Turner from Didcot Angling had three doubles using various hookbaits. Ian Fletcher had a new 26lb PB mirror using Richworth KG-1 hookbaits and stringers. Mik Cork from Oxford landed a 29lb mirror during a 48 hour session using M2 boilies at 70 yards range. Karl Brown from Manchester had mirrors of 24lb 02oz and 27lb 05oz. fishing with Karl was Matt Brown who had mirrors of 18lb and 33lb 02oz on Mainline Pulse boilies. Also from down from Manchester was Matthew Jenkner who had mirrors of 20lb, 19lb 02oz and a new PB at 31lb using pulse boilies. |
| ST JOHNS LAKE | |
| 15 Oct | Jake Wilkerson had a 22lb 04oz common using mixed particles and Sticky Baits bloodworm dumbells. Dean "Pob" Fellows had a 31lb 08oz common using Mainline NRG boilies. And a couple of weeks before Matt Brown and Matthew Jenkner fished Oxlease they had a few out of St. Johns with Matt landing four fish up to 26lb 12oz and Matthew landing a 20lb 02oz mirror which at the time was his new PB. |
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our fishery reports. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a fishery or catch report of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
Here is the latest fishing report for Nineoaks Fishery near Aberaeron, Ceredigion in West-Wales.
Trout Fishing:- Although July and August, as everywhere has been, were slow and difficult months good fish were still being occasionally caught (see Trout above). Since then as we moved in to September, buzzers, nymphs and Damsels have been the best flies to use. Sinking lines with Orange Buzzers fished really slowly have produced some excellent bags. Fishing still continues to be slow and is expected to improve greatly as we move into cooler times with breezes producing some surface ripples.
Coarse Fishing:-
Local angler, Jason from New Quay caught the above superb 12lb Common on the last cast of the evening. Meanwhile James Chisholm, Penrhiwgaled Arms, New Quay caught another lovely 10lb 'ish Grass Carp after stalking the fish for a while on floating bread. Good fish have been coming out regularly nearly every day as shown by the lovely Mirror of about 10lb from the Main Lake.
Plenty of quality 1lb+ Roach have been caught from the House Pool and the Main Lake and both lakes have produced some superb Roach sport on a variety of baits, including luncheon meat (and not always small cubes), small black slug, pellet, paste and Bread.
The cool, damp mornings have produced plenty of black slug on the banks of the lakes and what a superb natural bait it makes fished on a #10 Barbless Hook. Plenty of good Carp have been caught using this free bait along with floating baits such as pre-soaked dog biscuits and bread. Using a dog biscuit on a short ledger as a "pop-up" has also produced some excellent sport. Biggest fish has been a 19lb Mirror with several 12-15lb'es being caught too.
Some skimmers are showing in the Mail Lake and plenty of slabs in the House Pool with the biggest being around 4lb. Most Tench have been caught from the House Pool and the odd one from Main. The Novices Pool has consistently produced some great fishing, not huge fish, but plenty of fish all day mainly on sweetcorn and luncheon meat from the margins.
Night Anglers have had consistent sport with most landing 2-3 dozen of good carp and taking their rods out of the water about 1am 'ish in order to get some sleep!
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our fishery reports. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a fishery or catch report of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
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BRASENOSE 1 |
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Russell Bygrave had mirrors of 10lb 05oz, 13lb 02oz, 14lb, 12lb 14oz and 22lb 07oz using Nash boilies tipped with plastic corn at 40 yards range. |
GENERAL |
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*****PIKE MATCH***** |
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****Important Info**** |
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****Important Info**** |
GUY LAKES |
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There are currently vacancies on the three Guy Lakes which all can be fished on the same permit. Membership is yearly and runs from the date of joining. |
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Fishing Yeoman's Lake George Cooke had mirrors of 16lb and 26lb 12oz. |
HARDWICK LAKE |
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*****Winter Ticket***** |
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Stephen Gee from Preston had a PB 33lb 09oz linear mirror using boilies fished at 30 yards range. |
HUNTS CORNER LAKE |
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Scott Phillips from Aylesbury had a 22lb mirror during a 24 hour session using Cell boilies and maize. |
MANOR FARM LAKE |
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Terry Collins had a number of fish using Tails Up pro fish boilies fished over a bed of hemp, his catch included mirrors of 25lb, 30lb 04oz and 33lb. |
OXLEASE LAKE |
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Linear Bailiff Jon Mudd had three doubles and a 28lb 08oz mirror. |
ST JOHNS LAKE |
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David Stephens from Manchester set a new PB when he landed "The Starburst" at 40lb 04oz using Richworth KG-1 boilies fished in the margins. |
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our fishery reports. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a fishery or catch report of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
Angling is one of the first sports to be recognised by Sport England as making good use of the opportunity to work with County Sports Partnerships (CSP) to increase participation. Sport England has given the Angling Development Board (ADB) the green light to work with all 49 County Sports Partnerships and access their core services for angling.
The ADB will initially focus on 24 CSPs during 2009 and 2010 throughout England to gain their support to:
- develop angling clubs and fisheries
- train and develop angling coaches
- establish programmes to increase participation in angling, particularly amongst young people and under-represented groups
- improve local knowledge and information sharing
- develop local networks and relationships to deliver the community benefits from angling
Sport England is investing £10 million per year to ensure CSPs provide a minimum and consistent level of support to deliver their national sports strategies. The ADB has made good use of this offer through its eight recently appointed Regional Development Officers.
As part of this process the ADB has already started forming County Angling Action Groups to bring together angling clubs, fisheries, coaches, volunteers, schools and community groups to identify local needs. The ADB is working with CSPs to form County Angling Action Groups and access core services. Already nine Groups have been formed and a further 15 are in development.
Jackie Sheldon, ADB Senior Development Manager said “This is an exciting time for the development of angling. Being one of the first sports to gain the green light by Sport England to work with the CSP network indicates that the ADB has made significant progress in just two years. It has demonstrated the potential for angling to deliver on national, regional and local benefits through the development of angling. This includes increased resources, recognition and support for angling at a local level. We are encouraging angling clubs, fisheries, coaches and volunteers to get involved in the County Angling Action Groups to take advantage of these opportunities.
David Moore, Chair of the ADB, said ‘We have been working towards this recognition for two years and we appreciate the support which Sport England, the Environment Agency and British Waterways have all given us to make this breakthrough for angling’’.
Anyone wishing to get involved in the County Angling Action Groups should contact their Regional Angling Development Officer whose contact can be found on the ADB website:
www.anglingtrust.net
Or telephone the Angling Development Board Office on 0115 9815972
Further information regarding the work of the ADB can be obtained from Jackie Sheldon, Senior Development Manager, Angling Development Board at Jackie.sheldon@anglingdevelopmentboard.org.uk
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our news articles. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a news article of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
The Angling Trust has announced a prize draw for new members signing up in the next month. Every adult member who joins the Angling Trust between 1.00pm on Friday 14th August and 5.00 pm on Friday the 18th of September will be entered into a prize draw to win £1,000 of tackle vouchers from the 2009 Daiwa Catalogue. The Fishing Magic and Fish and Fly leading angling web sites have already agreed to promote this prize draw to their full database of members and to give this membership drive their full support
Following the recent announcement of restructuring, the Angling Trust Board met yesterday to review the new business plan for the remainder of 2009 and to develop plans to increase the rate of recruitment of individual members to the Trust. The Directors approved the revised plan, which involves cutting costs to ensure that the Trust does not end the year in deficit. The organisation was launched with very limited capital funding and therefore it can only operate with the funds which it receives in subscriptions, donations, fundraising and sponsorship.
The Trust will continue to campaign on anglers’ rights issues, fight for the protection and restoration of marine and freshwater fisheries, increase participation in angling, run national and international angling competitions and through its legal arm Fish Legal take action against polluters and others who damage fishing. Fish Legal is currently fighting 78 legal cases throughout the UK and is supporting hundreds of its member angling clubs and fisheries with free legal advice. The more members the Angling Trust and Fish Legal gets, the more it will be able to do.
Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd said: “we hope that the incentive of being in a draw to win £1,000 of tackle will help recruit all those anglers who have been meaning to join up for some time, but haven’t yet got round to it. The Angling Trust will be what anglers make it; we need much more support if we are to protect and promote angling in the future. We are very grateful to Daiwa, Fishing Magic and Fish and Fly for their support of our recruitment drive.”
Daiwa Marketing Director Robin Morley said: “Daiwa UK is very keen to do everything we can to make the Angling Trust a success and we have supported the organisation in many ways this year with prizes for raffles and sponsorship of the recent newsletter. We believe that the Angling Trust is vital for anglers and for all angling, including the trade.”
The Board welcomed the recent support of leading figures in angling, for the Angling Trust, the united body to represent all anglers. It goes without saying we will be arranging a meeting with them to hear their ideas - the more support we receive from senior figures in the sport, the better it will be for all anglers.
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our news articles. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a news article of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
Part One
A year ago two fishermen & I embarked on a quest into the unknown!
Our mission, to winkle a few large carp & some of the resident Cats out of Manor Farm fisheries in Headcorn, Kent.
With very little knowledge of the complex consisting of a match lake with a few carp up to the 20lb mark, a specimen carp lake with carp to the low thirties & specimen carp/catfish Lake with fish up to 40lb we unloaded two cars & one trailer crammed full of tackle & bait.
Day One
After several walks around the Carp/Catfish Lake I decided upon a narrow swim adjacent to the island. With only about 40 metres casting distance to the island accurate baiting was easy for the three rods. The island was fringed with overhanging trees, a scattering of duckweed & reed beds, sexy & carpy or what?
Down to my right I had a lovely looking overhanging willow tree & with the marker rod I found the depth dropped considerable, a likely place to find a cat!
Wheel barrowing a week loads of tackle, bait, food, clothes & of course beer up to the swim in sunny midsummer conditions was torture, I really struggled to replace the loss of liquid in my body with lager quick enough!
Not only being a fully fledged tackle tart, any excuse getting my kit off & strip down to shorts is a must!
Three hopefully areas were explored & plotted with the marker rod, an extra area was selected just in case.
Marc Tip: I like to have an alternative fishing spot primed to drop a bait onto just in case one of the other spots fails to produce or just dries up.
I decided on different approaches to each fishing spot, one would just have a pva stocking of goodies attached to the hook link, the second spot would have spodded particles, pellets & boilies over it, forming a dining table of about 2 metres square, the third of which I was dropping under the willow tree was dedicated to Mr Catfish. A bucket consisting of stinking pellets, mixed fishy boilies, tins of tuna, lambs liver & a generous amount of fish oil was mixed into balls around the size of a tennis ball; six were deposited loosely around the willow tree.
In the heat of the sun, sweat of my labours & lager influenced state I was in, the smell from the bucket was unreal, nearly chuck up city.
I decided to rest the swim to enable me to get the bivvy up, sleeping quarters sorted & a general tidy up of the tackle around the swim.
Bearing in mind I arrived at my chosen swim at eleven am & by 4pm not a baited rig had touched the water yet! I believe quiet, careful preparation is vital in any type of fishing you do, whether it be for a day, 24 hours or a week, a stealthy approach pays off every time!
A quick natter & lager with my companions, of whom were only fishing days during the week’s trip & I was ready for the first cast.
Lines clipped to the required markers, baits in place, lines left slack to enable sinking, bobbins attached I was sorted as the sun set slowly over the island trees & stunning Kent countryside.
Life really doesn’t get much better than this?
Lager & cigarette in hand, listening to the birds sing, occasional fish flop out of the water & a very unusual noise?
Unusual wasn’t strictly true, I recognised it as a frogs call but it was so loud, so near & very repetitive!
Curiosity got the better of me & I just had to investigate more! I couldn’t see, locate a frog of any description around the bank side within the swim? The occasional rustle in nearby reeds & grass but that was it, not a Kermit in sight? I was starting to wonder if my ears were playing tricks on me or one of my colleagues was having a joke.
After a hot, exhausting, rare summers day in southern England I decided to hit the sack as the last rays of sunlight burnt away. Sleep wasn’t exactly easy with a good dose of sunburn, over tiredness & Kermit’s chorus echoing out!
I am not sure if my surroundings went totally quiet or I passed out? Probably the later because the next thing I remember was the delkim screaming at me, the middle rod was lurching to my left as a fish sped off down the lake, kiting hard to gain more line towards the island snags. My 3 ½ tc rod soon had the angry fish subdued & looking sorry for its self in the bottom of the landing net. Not a massive carp but 15lb of hard fighting common carp was very welcomed.
A few pictures later, rod back in position & little trickle of loose feed over the bait I was all set again.
Time for a beer, lager at just gone mid night?
Yeah too right, im on holiday, celebrating my first fish from an unknown venue, do I need to say more?
An hour quickly passed as a sat on my spod bucket taking in the atmosphere, savouring the memory of my first carp from Manor, hoping for many more during my weeks stay.
Two fifteen am & the right hand rod nestled under the willow is off, talk about clutch stripping, line ripping; what ever was on the end wasn’t happy. Lifting the rod & engaging the bait runner I really didn’t know what to expect? The rod hooped over, line still poured from spool, this had to be my first catfish?
Ten minutes in & I am still not making much head way with this fish!
As you maybe aware I have successfully landed some very respectable carp from France & here in the UK but none have compared to this! I am really concerned about tackle, from the rods, reels right down to hook! The 18lb bs fluorocarbon main line is absolutely singing through the early morning breeze, rod butt resting upon my thigh to take some of the strain from my aching forearm & shoulder when suddenly I have won! The fish has giving up after some twenty five minutes & ready for the waiting landing net, this is when the fun really started!
I have never caught a cat fish in my career so this was all new to me & in total darkness.
With the cats head up against the spreader block the headlight torch picked out two foot of tail overhanging the draw string,
“Dam, that isn’t going in there” echoed across the night sky.
Plan B? & it had to be a quick plan too!
With eighty percent of the fish in the net, raise the net & slacken off at the same time hoping the fish will slide in, went thru my head?
“Woohoo, I love it when a plan comes together”
At this point proceedings became a bit blurred! I remember calling my colleagues on the walkie & saying “Bob I have got one, its massive, what do I do with it next”?
I don’t remember if Bob & Gary came to assist or not?
I do remember lifting four & half foot of fish on to the mat, looking at it in amazement, nervously extracting the hook from it’s a massive mouth, sliding its bulky length into the weigh sling expecting thirty pounds plus as the scales swung round to a mere eighteen pounds, totally amazed again, I checked & rechecked the scales! Eighteen pound eight ounces from two different sets of scales. Self portrait photographs safely taken & my first catfish disappeared back into the depths of Manor Farm fisheries.
Marc Tip: Cat fish will test your tackle to the utter most limits & beyond, so be prepared!
Re-positioning the rod as quickly as possible & a few unhealthy scoops of the delightful ground bait dropped under the bush I was back in the doss bag gagging for some decent shut eye.
Day Two
After a restless but fruitful first night I began to unload Bob’s gear from the trailer behind me, gentle placing his equipment in his desired swim I noticed a row or should I say large stream of bubbles travelling up the lake, followed by another & another. These aint no carp feeding patterns unless they are huge! I thought to myself.
I watched the activity for an hour or two noting the positions, times, weather & temperature conditions. When all had ceased out with the marker rod to have a feel around! What ever the culprits were (Catfish) seem to be following a small channel that ran directly thru the middle of my swim down to the deep end of the lake, what a find.
Depths carefully taken & noted I decided upon a plan of attack! Of which I would employ late afternoon.
Marc Tip: I had over looked this channel when mapping the swim out yesterday; despite it only being a metre wide, six to eight inches deeper I had missed it! This is why it’s vital when using the marker to log, note everything from where the lead & float lands right up to the margin.
An hour or so later Bob & Gary joined me; excitedly I began
to narrate my catfish battle with them, accompanied by photographs. Neither Bob nor Gary could believe the length of this fish.
After a brew, few fags the guys started fishing & the lake started filling up rapidly with day ticket anglers, great time to reel in, wonder down to the wash room for spruce up.
Bearing in mind I had only been gone thirty to forty five minutes, the lake was packed, really packed, non fishing swims now had anglers fighting to wet a line, my margin rod was now unusable as an angler had set up on my door step. With this much activity I opted to only fish with two rods, so a hopeful bait was cast to the channel I had been watching earlier. My new neighbour watched shaking his head & smiling as I let the line sink & drop some spod mix over the top.
Bob wondered up the bank around ten o’clock, “Busy init Bro”? I could only reply with a “Hhhhmmmm”.
We sat there chatting tactics, bait placements etc when one of my rods burst into life, a short tussle later & a carp of around 12lb was safely in the net.
This activity continued right up until late afternoon, literally loads of carp around the ten pound stamp were coming out, I don’t think anyone failed to catch!
I started to prepare for the coming nights fishing as the day anglers started to pack up & disappear leaving just Bob, Gary & myself to enjoy the lakes beauty once again.
With the sun setting, birds settling for the night, Bob & Gary safely back at their apartment, leaving myself & one other angler on the lake (Nathan). Things had returned back to tranquillity of the night past.
Before setting the rods for the night, I took a wonder around the lake via the toilets. I paused for a good half hour chatting to Nathan, picking his brains for any information, tactics he could give about the lakes & their inhabitants?
Safely back to my bivvy, settled for the night & thought it was a good idea to catch a few hours sleep hoping for some action during the night. As I dosed I wondered if I was to be woken by a catfish or a really lumpy carp in the early hours. I still had my plan of attack at daylight! Presuming the culprits that travelled up the channel would return tomorrow?
All these things bounced around within my head as I listened to the recently started rain fall on top of the bivvy.
Marc Tip: It is always a good idea to politely ask other anglers for any information, background knowledge they know of the venue.
Day Three
The night passed uneventful but come first light the bubbles started at the far end of the channel, I quickly repositioned two rods, one baited for carp the other baited with four 25mm halibut pellets for cats. I dropped half a dozen spods of the smelly bucket mixture around the pellets & patiently watched as the bubbles came closer & closer.
To my amazement it was the carp rod that ripped off first but it was no carp pulling my arm from its socket, a cat had picked up a single 14mm KG1 boilie & was now tearing down the lake at a ridiculous speed! Being as cautious as I could I played & wore out the 16lb cat on a size 8 korda hook attached to 12lb braided hook link.
After photographing, weighing & returning the fish I carefully inspected the hook link, as I expected it was shredded with at least half of its fibres torn in half!
Marc Tip: After many years of fishing I always replace the hook & hook link after every fish with the exception if I am pasty bashing.
Before I could the rod back in position the halibut pellet rod was lurching angrily to the right, spool spilling off line as another cat sped off down the lake, my arm hadn’t recovered from the last battle & I was into another straight away!
“Jeez, these fish can fight” I thought to myself, its unbelievable how they fight!
This cat again tipped the scales round to a healthy 16lb; one thing I did notice was just how much the fish differ between each other! Every catfish’s skin had a totally individual mottled pattern upon it. Has to be the perfect camouflage?
By the time Bob & Gary had turned up for their daily fish I had banked three cats within around an hour, with a fantastic 22lb being the biggest. With this sort of action & excitement at 6am in the morning I was enjoying a can of lager, mug of black coffee & bacon frying in the bivvies porch. “Life, what a life” I muttered to myself!
I had all most one hundred percent decided to move lakes today but I was now in two minds after my recent successes. Weighing the options up I decided upon a good look around the specimen carp lake as no real big carp were showing on the lake I was fishing.
The specimen carp lake only being around 3 acres had some lovely features, over hanging trees, marginal shelves & a gravel bar stretching across one very secluded swim. I watched & watched looking for the slightest sign of a carp when I was rewarded with some bull rushes twitching to & fro several times, as I got closer a huge common carp rolled in front of the reeds followed by a mirror of equal proportions. I all most ran back to my current swim! Excited about what I had seen & the prospect of hooking into one of the beasts I had seen earlier.
As quiet as possible I set up the three rods, carefully thinking what sort of bait, loose feed to introduce into the new swim? With activity still constant around the reed stems I gentle lowered 2 grains of glugged natural maize popped up with the plastic version as close as I dare to the reeds. Before I could get the line sunk, rod onto the delkim I was receiving liners, things looked really promising as I crouched close to the rod.
I was in two minds whether or not to bait the area, would this spook the carp off, make them search for food?
I decided to give it thirty minutes before taking any actions & went about setting up, casting out the other 2 rods. One was cast to a likely patrol route along side another reed bed, the other just off a gravel patch I had found on the first cast near to the point of the swim. I constantly watched the other rod as the line picked up & then dropped down again; it had to go soon as clouds of debris rose to the surface just inches from where I had lowered my hook bait.
Marc Tip: When carp are this active I prefer to fish slackish lines as possible & do not get the marker rod out!
My wait was over as the delkim bleeped a few times & the fish kited fast to my right into open water, I was on the rod in a flash, feeling the steady, heavy plod of a sizable fish searching for haven. After a few hair raising moments of the line pinging across the carps dorsal fin & could now see the carp just beneath the surface. Safely netted & photographed the mirror carp certainly looked a mid twenty, the scales settled at 24lb 4oz, “Result” I thought to myself.
Bob soon joined me to take a look at this stunning fish & helped me celebrate with a can of lager in the afternoon sun.
Three days still to go, what else would Manor farm fisheries have in store for me?
Author: Marc Gough
Following one the coldest starts to the year anyone can remember, the past few weeks have seen a steady flow of thirties reported from both the Old Lake and Temple Lake with yet another Temple thirty reported this weekend.
Indeed, it will come as no surprise that Temple regular Sean Howard had another cracking session on Temple lake this weekend catching 4 fish to 33lb 11oz. Fishing peg 13, Sean fished a single grain of glugged corn to the both the bank and island margins catching a stunning mirror weighing 33lb 11oz as well as a 27lb common, and two smaller Temple residents, the Parrot at 19lb 12oz and a small common at 18lb 8oz which must be about the smallest fish in the lake! This great winters catch follows Sean's brace of thirties two weeks ago when Sean caught ‘The Ghost’ weighing 37lb and Italian 2 weighing 31lb 6oz. This superb brace was caught from peg 14 when Sean fished a small section (corn size) of a sweet cream pop up singularly to the open water to both his left and right rods with no additional feed around his bait. Sean’s first fish, ‘The Ghost’ weighing 37lb was caught at around mid afternoon Saturday from just in front of peg 15. This is the second time Sean has caught ‘The Ghost’ having last caught her in April last year when she weighed 35lb 9oz. Sean’s second thirty of his session came mid morning Sunday when his popped up bait was taken just in front of the island to Sean’s right resulting in Italian 2 being landed at a new record weight of 31lb 6oz. Both fish were in stunning condition and without doubt would have been a fair bit heavier if it were not for the freezing conditions over the past couple of months
Robin Ellis was another angler to bag a Temple thirty last week, this time a plump 31lb mirror. Fishing a very similar method to that of Sean Howard, Robin fished small pieces of chopped up white pop up to the open water in front of peg 10 with no loose feed catching his first Temple fish of the year around mid afternoon. Carrying tag number 141609, this stunning fish, which is also at a record weight was last caught in May 2008 weighing just over 30lb, but at the time was full of spawn. Returning two days later and fishing similar tactics and baits, Robin, also caught one of Temple’s prettiest fish, ‘Raspberry’ weighing 27lb.Kicking off the Temple action earlier this month was Bury Hill regular Mark Savage who despite freezing conditions managed to bag not only a new PB but also Temple’s first fish of the year, a stonking 36lb 2oz mirror known as Italian 1. Mark fished peg 4, fishing a number of different methods and baits before settling on a light running rig and a balanced Questbait RahJa Spice boilie tipped with a fake corn which had been glugged for 3 months in a trick glug. Fishing a size 10 long shank blow back, Mark decided to try something different by using a 12” of Korda super natural hook length which he pinned down. With tag number 138134, the big ‘Italian’ is a new PB for Mark beating his previous fish, Temple’s Ghost which Mark caught last year.
Not to be outdone, the Old Lake has also seen some good fish reported these past few weeks with Bury Hill regular, Gavin Campbell catching 'Shoulders' at 31lb 4oz. Fishing peg 24, Gavin fished a single piece of popped up corn on a sinking snowman rig over a bed of crushed hemp and particle mix just short of the right hand margin into approximately 6' of water. With water temperatures just above 3 degree's, Gavin not surprisingly had no runs and was about to pack up at 4.20pm when his right hand rod tore off. As the big mirror kited in front of the boat house, all hell broke loose when Bury Hill's best known lady passed in front of the aerators prompting her to make a very strong run up the long bank taking 100m or so of line before Gavin could turn her, eventually landing his prize at 16.40 just as it was getting dark. Gavin's end rig was a size 8 curved shank hook tied to a super natural hook link with 2oz dung lead fished with a 6 feet lead core which he fished as a helicopter set up. Gavin used a Terry Hearn Mark 2 12' 9" 3 1/4 tc rod with a Daiwa SS3000 reel loaded with 10 lb Nash Bullet line.Source: Bury Hill Fisheries
Fish Legal has won £1,500 damages on behalf of one of its Welsh member clubs after a chemical cocktail polluted the River Sirhowy.
On 27th April 2007, just weeks into the start of the open season, John Otter, Secretary of the Islwyn & District Angling Club in Gwent was called by an alarmed member of the club who had spotted the discolouration in the river. Stretches of the River Sirhowy owned by the club at Blackwood were running white and thousands of fish were killed.
The merger of six angling and conservation bodies creating the Angling Trust, the new voice of angling, was completed to plan on Monday, January 5 2009.
“It is an organisation angling has needed for many years,” said Stephen Marsh-Smith, the first chairman of the Trust. “It represents more than a million regular coarse, game and sea anglers in England. Angling contributes £3.5 billion to the economy and supports 37,000 jobs.”
Embodying all the assets and staff of the legacy organisations, the trust will be publicly launched at 10 am next Wednesday, January 14 at the Fishmongers’ Hall, London Bridge.
Among the guests will be Martin Salter MP, the government’s spokesman for angling and shooting.
“Dr. Marsh-Smith said nearly 2,500 individual anglers and clubs had already signed-up to the trust which would “run a forthright campaign to conserve marine and freshwater fisheries, promote and protect all recreational angling against commercial overfishing, habitat destruction, poaching and disease.
“We also plan to develop coaching and education for new and experienced anglers, increase participation in national and international competitions and tackle the growing problem of the predators which attack our fisheries.
“It is an ambitious programme but we believe anglers will support us and we are encouraged by the supportive messages we have already received,” Dr. Marsh-Smith added.
Individual membership is £20 a year which includes public liability insurance, newsletters and magazines. Members will be enrolled in Fish for Free (www.fishforfree.net) an innovative loyalty programme which generates credits for fishing equipment, permits and the freshwater rod licence. Clubs will be able to join Fish Legal which provides advice and takes action against polluters.
Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust said: “Now that we have a single body for all anglers with a comprehensive benefits, we look forward to their support and to working for and with them. We will only be able to do that if we have the mandate and the resources to do so.”
The Angling Trust’s web site www.anglingtrust.net is now live and will be developed further over the next few weeks. Anglers can sign up on-line, by telephone or by post.
Source: Angling Trust
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The Environment Agency is inviting local anglers and fisheries to one of three free fisheries workshops to be held along the River Severn over the next few weeks.
There are 50 places available at each workshop on a first come first served basis. The workshops will take place between 10.00am and 16.30pm at:
- Welshpool on Saturday 31 January 2009
- Tewkesbury on Saturday 7 February 2009
- Bewdley on Saturday 14 March 2009
A number of speakers will give presentations on:
- Access / Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
- Severn River Trust
- Get Hooked on Fishing (GHOF), Young Anglers’ Project (YAP) and Coaching Events
- Funding Opportunities
Fisheries representatives and local anglers who would like to attend one of the workshops should contact Joan Allen via 08708 506 506 for an application form. Confirmation of each place, along with map and agenda, will be sent by post.
Source: Environment Agency Fishing News
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