Catches take off as warm weather continues! - 25 10 2009

FISHERY REPORTS

PREDATOR FISHING NOW IN FULL SWING!

The fishery currently opens around 7.00am. Current closing time is approximately 5.00pm. Boats in by 4.15pm sharp.

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The next few weeks and months will see some major stocking changes taking place on all lakes at Bury Hill which starts in the next few weeks with 500/600 huge tench to 8lb+ being stocked into the Old Lake along with 100 pike to upper doubles.

As we head towards Christmas and the New Year, both Bonds Lake and Milton Lake will also see some major stocking changes taking place with a selection of silver fish and skimmers being added to Bonds Lake whilst Milton will see most of the carp removed which will be replaced by small tench, quality roach, rudd and perch as well as some skimmers. The Old Lake will also see skimmers stocked.

Not a bad week weather wise with temperatures generally up on average sitting around the mid teens. Whilst the weekend saw some heavy rain Friday night, this in fact boosted oxygen levels which in turn will have a positive affect on the fishing.

Today water temperatures were 12.6 degree’s whilst oxygen levels crept up to 65%.

Outlook for the week ahead is excellent, generally dry with the odd chance of a shower early week but with temperatures creeping up further to unseasonal highs of 18/19 degree’s. So expect some excellent sport and make the most of it while you can.

Another very good week for all species with all lakes generally fishing very well as temperatures stay in the mid teens. On the predator front, good numbers of zander to 14lb 2oz have been reported this week along with a few pike to 15lb. The carp fishing on both the Old Lake and Temple Lake has also been excellent with a run of thirties to 35lb reported on Temple whilst the Old Lake also threw up a couple of big fish which included a 31lb common with anglers reporting multi bag action.

The general fishing also continued well with plenty of bream showing on the Old Lake along with a quite a few trench from the long bank. Bonds and Milton Lakes also fished well with mixed bags of tench, crucian and silver fish to 60lb reported on Milton whilst Bonds saw some pretty good action from the carp with bags to 90lb reported which included multi bags with fish to 12lb reported.

With the predator fishing now settling down, we are seeing a typical start to the predator season with zander dominating the catches whilst temperatures remain un-seasonally high. In fact the week saw half a dozen doubles reported topped by a cracking 14lb 2oz fish, which was part of a 10 fish haul. Whilst a few pike showed in the week, these tended to be the smaller fish, which is again normal with the bigger fish generally not showing until we have seen a few good hard frosts.

Whilst fish have been caught from all areas, the shallow and mid water areas appear to be the areas to target with fish being caught on a variety of both freshwater and sea baits, although small roach dead baits do seem to be favorite right now. Whilst small roach and trout both caught well the pike and larger zander did fall to smaller sea baits such as smelt and mackerel strip and tails, so it is always best to keep an open mind.

Regarding methods, ledger seems to be the way to go although a lot of fish have also been taken on float fished baits, particularly by boat anglers who have also enjoyed some great sport from the jungle area.

Mike Dicks led the field this week with a cracking 10 fish haul which included a stonking 14lb 2oz zed. A new PB for Mike, Mike fished peg 46 along the long bank catching his fish on small strips of mackerel which he ledgered to the mid water.

Another angler to bag a double was Paul Cockfield who caught a 12lb 10oz zed as he was packing up. Fishing a homemade double hook trace with a small size 12 treble and size 10 double, Paul caught his fish on a small roach dead bait and was the largest of the three fish he caught on the day.

Peter Clever also managed a double during his session, this time a 10lb 4oz zed that was the best of a 6 fish bag. Fishing the early pegs along the front bank, Peter caught on small roach dead baits.

R Evans from Surbiton also caught a cracking double, this time a 10lb 2oz zed which he caught on a small roach dead bait.

Just missing out on a double figure zed was Mike Jones who caught three fish to 9lb 8oz and a 12lb 6oz pike. Mike caught all his fish on ledgered mackerel tails from peg 33. Although no large fish, Darren Webb and Richard Bates from Harlow, Essex managed 7 fish between them with all the fish being taken on small sections of roach ledgered to the margins. The pair fished pegs 30 and 31. Jerry Bolus from Epsom managed 6 fish during his day topped by a 10lb 1oz pike. Fishing peg 51, Jerry caught on small dead baits which he ledgered to the open water.

As temperatures remain high, it is no surprise, to see the bream fishing continue with bags to 70lb still being reported from both the front and long banks. Indeed, reasonable numbers of tench are also continuing to show from the long bank which shows just high water temperatures are for the time of year.

The ‘In Method’ continues to be a small feeder or cage feeder with hair rigged or lassoed 8mm or 10mm pellet on a size 14 or 12 barbless hook, although maggot and caster with worm are also starting to catch fish. It is also important to remember to ping out a few pellets around your feeder little and often as this does make a very big difference to the catches.

Pole and float tactics are also catching whilst boat anglers also continued to find some excellent sport from the open water and jungle with bream again making up the target species with a few late season tench and the odd carp also showing.

Steve Williams had a super day mid week catching 16 bream to 6lb and 3 bonus tench all around the 5lb mark for close to 100lb bag. Fishing peg 36, Steve fished a small cage feeder packed with ground bait and small pellet with hair rigged 8mm pellets on the hair.

The first frost of the winter has made the bream start to shoal up already and when Ken Parmetter from the Spread Eagle Club, Epsom walked up to his peg, number 2, on his first visit to the fishery, he was met with a nice surprise, a big shoal of bream! Ken’s double soft pellet and ground bait cage feeder approach was consistently snapped up by a hungry shoal of bream up to 4lbs plus which gave him a winning weight of 62lbs 12oz. Ken easily won the match picking up £60 in the process.

Jed White also won the Bury Hill mid-week open with 26lb bream, fishing peg 10 in the middle of the bank, Jed fished a small feeder catching on worm and maggot. Tony Hill came a close second fishing similar tactics with 25lb taken from peg 5.

With Temple’s 100^th thirty already banked, this week saw another run of big fish caught with four more thirties banked along with numerous twenties. With fish coming from all areas around the lake, the best fish of the week was a pristine 32lb 6oz common caught by Ray Harding. Whilst corn in various forms is still accounting for plenty of fish, there is definitely a move back to boilies with a number of fish this week being caught on various baits, which include Icelandic Red.

Whilst Temple is currently seeing a run of BIG fish, the Old Lake has also seen its fair share of biggies with another cracking thirty reported this week from the Old Lake, this time a 31lb common. With anglers reporting some good multi-bags, anglers have been reporting catches of up to 10 fish with a good spread of bigger fish to mid twenties included. With tactics and baits pretty much unchanged, Icelandic Red boilies are fishing well as are KG1, Activ 8, Maple 8 and Cell. Whilst most good quality baits are catching, it is also worth trying pop ups and popped up corn.

Below is a picture of James Hiscock's 35lb 8oz mirrro caught last week.

Following the capture of a 31lb 12oz common last week, Ray Harding returned to Temple this week catching another pristine common weighing 32lb 6oz. Ray fished peg 4 catching his fish from the margins on Icelandic Red boilies which he tipped with corn.

Another angler to bag a thirty on Temple this week was Andrew Kelly who caught a lovely 32lb mirror. Fishing swim 8, Andrew caught the big mirror, which equalled his PB on a homemade boilie.

Bagging a brace of thirties this week, Temple Regular Rob O'Neill caught mirrors weighing 31lb 4oz and 31lb within minutes of each other. Rob had both of his fish on popped up corn from close to the island from swim 4.

Temple regular Rob Savage also scored another thirty catching a cracking mirror, which weighed 30lb 8oz. Fishing road bank swim peg 4, Rob caught on corn which he fished over pellet.

With plenty of autumn action on Temple it was no surprise to see Temple guru Sean Howard get in on the action landing two fish, a 30lb mirror known as ‘The Thief’ and a 25lb 2oz mirror. With the thirty coming from swim 12 and the other mirror from swim 15, Sean caught on both corn and a new boilie he is experimenting with.

Just missing out on a thirty was Kieran Delia who bagged a very fit 29lb 12oz mirror. Fishing a secret 10mm boilie. Kieran fished swim 12 catching from the island margins. Regular Mark Savage was another angler to catch on Temple this week, this time a 26lb 11oz common which fell to a Scopex boilie fished on a snowman rig, which he caught from, swim 10.

Robin Ellis also managed to bag a 26lb 8oz mirror during his day session catching from swim 14 on corn. Jordan Baker also managed a couple of fish during his session, a 23lb common and 20lb mirror. Jordan fished Cell boilies to the bay from swim 11.

Top man on the Old Lake this week was Gary Hartnoll who caught 4 fish during his visit, which included a stunning 31lb common. Fishing peg 2 along the front bank, Gary fished cell boilies to the far margin.

Philip Wotton from Morden managed a brace of mirrors during his day session weighing 23lb mirror 18lb (pictured). Philip caught on dog biscuit fished to the deep water off peg 24.

Young bailiff Tom Butler was another angler to catch on the Old Lake this week, this time a 22lb 2oz mirror and 15lb 4oz common. Tom fished peg 75 catching on Icelandic Red baits tipped with popped up glugged maize, which he fished over a bed of hemp and pellet close to the island margins.

Brian Nicholls from Mitcham also managed a couple of nice fish during his session, a 21lb 7oz mirror and 16lb 4oz common. Fishing peg 37, Brian caught on Cell baits. Another angler to catch was Joe Moore from Epsom who managed three fish topped by a brace of a7 pounders, a common weighing 17lb 15oz and a Ghost which weighed 17lb 12oz. All of Joe’s fish were caught on Icelandic Red baits.

With water temperatures still sitting above 10 degree’s, Bonds has continued to fish well these past few weeks with some bumper hauls of carp reported again this week with a number of anglers reporting bags to over 100lb.

With all methods working, a small feeder with hair-rigged pellet seems to still be the best method with mini boilies and maggot also catching. In fact if you ask in the tackle shop, you can get a leaflet describing the ‘in’ method on Bonds, which will certainly help to increase your catches.

Roger Beyford from Wembley had a great days sport catching 15 carp to 14lb. Fishing peg 6, Roger fished hair-rigged pellets catching from the island margins.

Matt Fuller, a regular on Bonds also had another good day catching fish to just under 10lb. Fishing peg 6 along the road bank, Matt caught a dozen or so fish with this 9lb 1oz common being the best of the day.

Milton Lake has also responded to the warm water conditions with some incredible catches of roach being reported from all areas along with bags to 100lb of carp, tench and crucian.

With float and pole tactics being the best method, both the pole line and margins are producing with pellet, luncheon meat, maggot and caster all working on the day.

Bury Hill regular Hayden Woods had a good day mid week catching well over a 100lb mixed bag. Fishing peg 5, Hayden fished a pole to both the open water and margins catching carp to 8lb, tench to 5lb, crucian to 2lb and roach to 1lb on 6mm banded pellet and a size 16 hook. Hayden feed hard 6mm pellets little and often throughout the day which he described as ‘awesome’.

Another angler to do well on Milton this week was Kevin Mahony who bagged 18 carp from peg 26. Fishing a pole, Kevin caught on luncheon meat feeding 4mm pellet. Another angler to bag up on the carp was Bill Groom from Slough. Opting to fish an open-end feeder from peg 23, Bill caught carp to 10lb on maggot.

Potters Bar’s recent match was won with 23lb of carp with one luckily angler weighing in 12lb roach. Indeed James Baker had roach to 1lb 14oz from peg 26 which he caught on float fished maggot.