Few fish despite freeze up! - 4 01 2009

FISHERY REPORTS
WEEK ENDING SUNDAY, 4th January 2009
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR
May I and all the staff at Bury Hill take this opportunity to wish all our customers a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

PREDATOR & TENCH STOCKING
It is now confirmed, starting around the 19th January, we will be stocking a large number of pike to upper doubles and tench to around 5lb. Whilst the pike will be stocked into the Old Lake, the tench will be split between the Old Lake and Milton Lake.
 
NEW LARGER TACKLE & BAIT SHOP NOW OPEN
Open 7 days a week, 363 days a year, when you need it!
Check out Bury Hill’s tackle and bait shop here and our Christmas specials:
http://www.buryhillfisheries.co.uk/fishing-tackle.phtml
Also our online shop here:
http://www.buryhilltackleandbait.co.uk/

WATER TEMPERATURES
In brief, a bloody cold week with all lakes iced over in part. Today water temperatures were just 3 degrees, whilst oxygen levels were 31%.

 
THIS WEEKS FISHING!
A tough week generally with all lakes suffering from ice which is becoming increasingly harder to break. Saying that, the few hardened anglers who have ventured out over the Christmas week have caught a few fish with the Old Lake seeing the odd zander and pike caught as well as a few bream.
However Bonds and Milton Lakes provided the best sport for the general angler with both lakes fishing reasonably well for the conditions with anglers on both lakes catching a few fish.
Anyone planning a visit this week might be advised to call the shop first to check on the ice!
The fishing updates below are last weeks reports which will make more sense than trying to write about the icy conditions this week.




 
OLD BURY HILL LAKE – PREDATOR FISHING
As predicted the Predator fishing is improving a with a number of double figure zander caught and quite a few pike.
Tactics remain much the same as in previous weeks with float and ledgered baits both working although a lot of the fish are coming to ledgered dead baits with small roach and trout both fishing well although smaller sea baits such as smelt and mackerel tails are also catching. Generally smaller baits will always work better at this time of year and for the best chance of a fish or two fish a single hook rig, treble or single size 8 or 6 and a head section of a small roach, trout, smelt or sprat lip hooked. Another good tactic, which is working, well for those finicky bites is hair rigging your deadbaits by using very small pieces of roach, mackerel and smelt. Indeed Paul Parish applied just these tactics midweek and caught 7 fish, see catch report below.
Ian Welch recently featured Zander fishing at Bury Hill, see link below.
http://www.buryhillfisheries.co.uk/press/
This weeks catches
5 years after catching his first Zander on a predator day with Eric Bailey, Simon Dodd’s finally caught his second big Zander, a 10lbs 1oz specimen which fell to float fished whole sardine. Simon fished the top end of the lake and caught the fish at just after 3pm as the light was coming off the water.

Martin Holly from Thames Ditton had a great day just before Christmas catching 4 zander, the best a heafty double weighing 10lb 2oz. Martin fished a whole roach on a simple ledger set up from peg 16. Rob Tribe also caught a fish of a lifetime and a new PB, a 10lb zander, which fell to a mackerel section hair rigged on a light ledger from peg 34.
 
Another couple of anglers to bag up were Andy Wiles and his mate Ed. Over a couple of trips the pair bagged a number of zander and pike topped by a new PB zed weighing 8lb 8oz which Andy caught using a 2 SSG link ledger running on a large bore swivel with a size 4 single hook. Baits were small fish head and tail sections flicked no more than 20 yards out.

Predator season ticket holder Paul Parish made the trip to Bury Hill from Luton last Thursday and was rewarded with seven Zander from peg 17 on the front bank. With the water nicely coloured and a fairly mild day Paul's biggest Zed weighed just over 7lbs and all of his fish fell to small pieces of hair rigged Joey mackerel. Paul made a conscious effort of striking early from his bite alarm bleeps as the fish were in a finicky mood.
Two days earlier on front bank peg 8 Richard Dunne from Crawley landed a pike of 12lbs and a Zander of 8lbs on float ledger tactics. His pike was caught four to five rod lengths out on a whole natural sprat but his Zed came close in on a small roach and single hook approach.

OLD BURY HILL LAKE – GENERAL & BOAT FISHING
As water temperatures increase, so did the fishing with most anglers bagging a few bream and skimmers with one angler even catching a nice 6lb tench. The mid and deep water pegs along the front bank again proved to be the best areas with the deeper water pegs either side of the boathouse definitely worth a go! Both float, pole and feeder tactics are working whilst bait wise smaller baits such as maggot, caster, worm, corn, soft pellet, meat and mini boilies are all catching.
This weeks catches
Bury Hill newcomers Fred Crown and Tony Buttersworth from Ealing turned up on a cold frosty day last week with part of the lake iced up, however they managed to find two pegs free of ice along the long bank and landed eight bream between them with the biggest fish around 4lbs. All of their fish fell to red maggots and small pieces of worm on a mini ground bait feeder, which consisted of Lake 3000 and fine brown crumb, cast two thirds of the way to the island.

OLD BURY HILL & TEMPLE LAKE - CARP
A couple of our specimen carp season ticket holders braved the cold nights last week on the Old Lake and were rewarded with a couple of mid doubles each which were caught on KG1 14mm frozen boilies which is no doubt one of the best baits to use on the lake at this time of the year. The usual tactics of casting out single baits to an island feature or the odd gravel bar in open water produced their bites and will continue to be the areas to hit for some action. Bait wise, much the same as previous weeks with most good baits working but certainly Icelandic Red, Fusion, KG1 and Cell, white and yellow pop ups are also worth a go at this time of year over a few pva bagged pellet.
Temple Lake continues to be hard going but with less pressure on the lake at this time of the season and a turn in the weather could very well see some of the big specimens decide to have a bit of feed, it could well be rewarding for those prepared to have a go over the Christmas period.
This weeks catches
Regular Ollie Roberts braved a chilly Christmas night catching a 17lb 12oz mirror which fell to double KG1 14mm boilies fished 30mts out from peg 24.
Although a few weeks ago, Steve Double caught a stonking 30lb common from the Old Lake back in early December from peg 75. Steve fished an Active 8 boilie to the island margins.
Please Note!
Temple Lake can only be fished by Specimen Carp Members, with membership numbers strictly limited to anglers with some experience of catching bigger fish. Membership includes Old Bury Hill Lake and Temple Lake our new specimen carp lake. Following recent stockings, Temple currently holds just under a 100 fish to upper thirties, which now includes 30 known thirties, the average size is over 28lb. To date there has been a waiting list to join, however there is a small number of places available for 2008 which will be available on a first come first served basis, anyone interested should contact David or Jane on 01306 877540, or download an application form from our website.
To view the latest carp catches and pictures click the following link:
http://www.buryhillfisheries.co.uk/carp-catches/
 
BONDS LAKE
Single pieces of corn hair rigged to a size 16 hook over hardly or no feed at all is the way to go for some good action at this time of the season. Last week saw more fish coming out to the milder conditions with baits presented on the shelf or tight to the island. Fishing with dead red maggots also accounted for some good fish on the tip and a small loaded waggler cast over to the island scores well.
This weeks catches…
Peg 8 on Bonds is always good for a few nice carp and when Trevor Scott from Redhill cast a single grain of corn over to the point of the island using a small cage feeder filled with damp micro pellets he managed to tempt six carp up to 8lbs during the day. Trevor had to wait in between bites but was well rewarded for his patience.
Bonds peg 12 also came up trumps for Andrew Smith from Coulsdon who landed a new PB mirror carp of 9lbs 7oz by using a bunch of red maggots cast tight over to the island. Andrew used a 1oz bomb so he could reach the island ledge and fished a long tail so his bait would sit nicely on the shelf and catch the five fish he ended up with on a very cold winters day.

MILTON LAKE
For those of you who love to catch a big perch or two, now is the time to get on Milton. The big stripeys go over three pounds plus with single red maggot and small hooks over a offering of chopped up worms irrestible to these big mouthed predators. Some quality roach have also started to show up in numbers with fishing close in the best tactic with small floats ideal for delicate presentation.
This weeks catches…
Ray Moore from Chipstead followed some good advice from our on site tackle shop when he fished Milton last week. Fishing peg 20 Ray landed 3 nice perch up to 2lbs plus some quality roach and a bonus crucian on just a single red maggot over a bit of chopped worm.