Fishing picks up as first signs of spring arrive! - 7 03 2010

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This winters huge stocking program is now almost complete. Old Bury Hill Lake has seen some cracking tench stocked from Temple Lake as well as a good number of bream and skimmers. In turn, following the recent dredging, Milton Lake has seen most of the carp removed which we have replaced with 500 small tench, 300 crucian and simply loads of quality roach, rudd, some gigantic perch as well as a few bream and skimmers. Bonds Lake has also seen a further stocking of small carp from Milton as well as a few roach, rudd and skimmers.

A much better week weather wise with blue skies and sun, yes sun and dare I say it, with a hint of spring in the air which will not only help the fishing, but also give everyone a much needed “good feel” factor.

However, with blue skies comes frost and this weekend saw a couple of heavy overnighters which saw some cat ice around the lakes, but nothing serious. Although water temperatures had increased in the week, they were back at around 5 degree’s this morning whilst oxygen levels remained high around 75%.

Outlook for the week ahead is again good with some sun forecast and temperatures hovering around 6/7 degree’s.

Following the heavy rain at the end of February, this week saw a complete change around with plenty of sun and temperatures soaring to a heady 10 degree’s on the odd day, so spring is finally on its way! As such the fishing responded on all the lakes with the Old Lake and Milton Lake in particular seeing some terrific pleasure catches.

As we head into the last week of the predator season (fishing stops on March 14^th) the cold winter has meant that the zander have been slow to show in recent weeks although with water temperatures on the increase, I do expect to see a few fish out this week. However the pike fishing has been brilliant with good numbers of small fish showing as well as a couple of near twenties, the best hitting the scales at 19lb 8oz.

The general fishing on the Old Lake has also seen an increase in catches this week with bream and skimmers making up the majority of the weights, although the odd tench is also showing along with a few roach, rudd and perch.

The hint of spring has also seen a few more carp anglers on the bank, and although the fishing remains tough, the week has seen a few fish caught.

With the dredging now finished on Milton and following the new stocking of crucian, tench, roach, rudd and bream, the fishing has been simply brilliant this week with anglers reporting mix bags to 50lb, which for winter fishing is simply superb.

Dredging work continues on Bonds and this lake remains out of action for one more week, but the signs are looking good for some terrific fishing following this work.

As we head into the last week of the predator season, all the signs are looking good for some bumper catches. Whilst the cold bright weather is still holding the zander fishing back, expect a few fish to show this week as temperatures continue to increase albeit slowly. However it is the pike that continue to show in any numbers with plenty of fish being caught from both the bank and boat, which includes the odd bigger fish to just under 20lb. Indeed, this week traditionally always throws up a few biggies!

Whilst everyone assumes that the deeper water is the key area at this time of year, the fish are now well spread and with spawning now taking place have been gathering in the shallows, meaning that the top end of the long bank and the jungle are definitely worth a go as was evident on the Haiti day!

No real changes to baits and methods with both sea and freshwater baits catching equally well, although smaller baits continue to work best and particularly when fished with single hooks and light ledger or float rigs.

The largest pike of the week weighing 19lb 10oz was caught by Paul Cottrell who was taking part in the last of the seasons Big Fish Predator Days. 8 people attended the day which was great success with 6 pike being caught with many more missed runs. All the fish were caught on ledgered Mackerel baits from pegs 37 to 51.

Victor Korotunas fished peg 17 on the front bank catching two pike weighing 15lb 4oz and 8lb and two zander, which weighed 7lb 8oz and 6lb. Victor ledgered small roach and smelt deadbaits to the open water.

Another angler to do well this week was Clive Murray, fishing small sections of roach and sprat on a light ledger set up, Clive caught 3 pike weighing 18lb 10z, 14lb 3oz and 9lb. Clive fished peg 32 along the long bank.

As detailed on our news pages, last weekends Haiti Angling Predator Day saw 28 fish caught, which included 24 pike and 4 zander. Whilst boat anglers fishing the jungle bagged the most fish, the overall winner was Andrej Trzcinski was drawn on the island bank catching both the largest pike, a cracking 14lb 6oz specimen and the largest zander which he shared with C Granato which weighed 7lb 10oz. In total Andrej’s two fish weighed 22lb. Second place went to a bank angler, Gary Philips who caught two pike for 17lb 12oz whilst third place was won by Paul Purchase who was fishing from the boats with a 4 fish catch weighing 16lb 12oz. The three section winners were Kevin Hunter who weighed in 9lb 4oz and Paul Palmer with 7lb 10oz who fished the bank and W Hodgson with 12lb 2oz who was fishing from the boats.

Generally, the fish were well spread out with boat anglers finding particularly good sport from the jungle although these tended to be smaller fish. Both float and ledger tactics worked on the day with sea and freshwater baits both catching.

With water temperatures now increasing, anglers have been catching a few bream and skimmers and even the odd tench on the Old Lake. Whilst all methods have been catching, pole and feeder seem to be the best tactics for the cold-water conditions with single red maggot and small pellet working best. Saying that, small feeder packed with a good ground bait has also been catching a few bream and skimmers with red maggot on the hook.

As detailed on our news pages, last weekends Haiti Angling Silver Fish Match saw 21 anglers line up along the front bank to battle it out for the £250 top prize and despite the cold coloured water conditions some reasonable fish were caught with both the early and late pegs producing. Bury Hill regular Ray Parker won the day with his catch of 7 bream for 25lb 4oz, which included fish to 5lb 4oz, which also netted Ray the prize for the biggest fish. Tony Bartholomew took second place with a bream and skimmer bag weighing 13lb 1oz whilst another Bury Hill regular Haydon Woods won third spot with 9lb 8oz of bream and skimmers. The two section prizes were won by Mark Holland who had 7lb 10oz and Lee Perry who weighed in 7lb 13oz.Most anglers caught on the pole and feeder with maggot being the top bait.

A much better week for the carpers with the Old Lake seeing some reasonable catches reported as water temperatures at last start to rise. Although the fish are well spread out, the island margins are definitely worth a go with one angler reporting a 4 fish catch from peg 36 whilst a few fish have also been caught by the odd boat angler targeting the carp catching from both the jungle and island margins. Bury Hill is particularly famous for this form of fishing and this is a sure sign that the fish are at last on the move!

Tactics and baits remain much the same with ledger and PVA bags clearly the way to go. Bait wise, pretty well any good bait will work although the old favorites such as Icelandic Red, Fusion, Maple 8 and KG1 are all worth a go!

Following Temple’s bi-annual sort out two weeks ago, the good news is that there are now 7 fish over 35lb in Temple with the two top fish both weighing over 37lb. All the fish are artificially at a low weight and with better weather now arriving expect to see all the fish start to pack on some weight in the weeks to come.

New member Stuart Steel grabbed a quick overnighter catching a 20lb mirror and 17lb 4oz common. Stuart fished peg 38 catching his fish on Icelandic Red baits which he fished tight to the island.

Joe Levy certainly had a good day when he fished the Old Lake last weekend catching 4 fish from peg 36. Fishing Mainline Fusion baits to the island margins, Joe caught 3 mirrors and a common with his best fish weighing 18lb 2oz.

Another angler to managed a fish this week was James Kelly. Fishing peg 2, James fished a Maple 8 boilie over pellet catching a 16lb 4oz mirror.

Bonds is currently being dredged, we hope to have this work completed by the 14^th March. Following the stocking of a further 500 fish this winter, expect to see Bonds bounce back to it old self this spring.

Following the dredging on Milton and the stocking of huge numbers of crucian, tench and quality roach, rudd, perch and bream, as predicted the fishing this week has been brilliant with bumper mixed catches reported by all anglers this week. With mixed bags to 50lb plus being reported, anglers have been catching on pole and float tactics with single red maggot and caster seemingly the best baits, although pellet and even corn are also catching. With perch well over 3lb in Milton, chopped worm and Predator Plus additive is also worth a go with a big lobworm.

Bury Hill regular James Frith had a great days fishing midweek catching a real mixed bag which included Perch to 2lb, Roach to 1lb 3oz, Rudd to 1lb 4oz tench, crucian, bream to 2lb and even a bonus 6lb carp. James fished peg 4 catching on the waggler on soft pellet feeding micro pellet.