A few fish despite the ICE! - 17 01 2010

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The next few months will see major stocking taking place on all the lakes at Bury Hill. The Old Lake will receive some large tench as well as a good number of skimmers, whilst Milton Lake will see most of the carp removed which will be replaced with tench as well as quality roach, rudd, perch and skimmers, all of which will come from Temple Lake. Bonds Lake will also see a further stocking of small carp from Milton as well as a few roach and skimmers.

With ice still sitting over most of the water it will come as no surprise that water temperatures are barely 2 degree’s today, although increasing whilst oxygen levels remain around 60%. Outlook for the week ahead is much warmer, although there is a small chance of snow on Wednesday, which will quickly turn to rain.

The last few weeks have obviously been very tough weeks with wall-to-wall ice on all lakes, although we have managed to keep a dozen or so swims open for fishing on the Old Lake with the help of the boathouse aerators. With temperatures at minus something, the few anglers who did have a go during the cold spell were surprised to find the fish feeding with quite a few anglers catching pike whilst those general fishing managed the odd bream and hybrid fishing small 20 hooks and single red maggot.

Today (Sunday 17^th) we have most of the front bank open with holes starting to appear in both Bonds and Milton Lakes. With temperatures set to rise to double figures over the next few days, expect more water to open up and the fishing to improve as the fish respond to the increasing water temperatures. So if you fancy getting out it is definitely worth a go!

Although restricted to just the front bank swims on the Old Lake, anglers did make the most of the ice-free water catching quite a few pike to double figures. With both the deep water and middle section swims producing a few fish, ledgered baits tight to the ice seemed to be the best tactics with both sea and freshwater baits catching, although small sections of bait did seem to work better than larger baits with single hook rigs working best.

Although no huge fish reported during the freeze, Steve Mills managed two pike during his session weighing 11lb 8oz and 5lb. Steve ledgered a whole sprat from deep water peg 24.

Richard Taylor from Croydon had a good session catching two fish despite minus temperatures. Fishing peg 24, Richard ledgered small section of smelt on a single hook rig catching pike weighing 10lb 6oz and 7lb 3oz.

Martin Holly was another angler to brave the conditions catching a 7lb fish from peg 21 during a short afternoon session. Ledgering a small roach dead bait, Martin cast his baits tight to the ice where he saw fish topping.

Another angler to catch in appalling conditions was Rob Goldsmith who travelled down from Belvedere. Fishing peg 20, Rob free lined a Joey Mackerel tail catching a 6lb’er.

The following reports were prior to the freeze up!

Clearly tougher conditions this week which made for harder fishing, although saying that a couple of hardy soles targeting the bream did manage a few fish from the side bank whilst last weeks match on the front bank saw 6 bream for 20lb winning the day.

With a small groundbait feeder or cage feeder being the best method, small baits such as maggot and soft pellet appear to be the best bait.

Culvers held their latest club match on the Old Lake's Front Bank and with the water temperatures dropping all the time after recent frosts, bites were hard to come by. Lee Seymour was drawn on peg 14 which is situated roughly in the middle of the front bank and with a medium cage feeder combined with hair rigged soft pellets, found six bream at long distance to put 20lbs 6oz on the scales for a nice win. From then on the weights dipped with Paul Irwin taking second place with 4lbs 10oz from peg 11 again on a small groundbait feeder at distance. Third spot went to Len Chapman who adopted similar tactics from peg 18 with 3lbs 12oz.

Not surprisingly, a very quite week for the carpers. With winter conditions now in full swing, accurate feeding and small baits are definitely the way to go with boilies accounting for most of the fish. As is normal at this time of year, the island margins are always worth a try.

Whilst there are plenty of signs of fish moving up on Temple, no anglers were on the water this week.

Despite the icy conditions, a couple of hardy anglers fished Bonds midweek catching a few mid sized carp. Whilst most methods will catch a fish or two, a small maggot feeder seems to be the best method with mini boilies and pellet also catching.

Our best winter water for general species, Milton fished well this week with some reasonable catches of roach and perch reported despite the wintery conditions which Milton’s huge stock of roach and perch thrive on.

With the odd tench and even the very odd crucian still showing, float and pole tactics continue to be the best method with both the pole line and margins producing bags to 20lb. Bait wise, things are now a lot finer with single red maggot and caster generally being the best baits, although pellet and even corn are still catching.