Great pike fishing as winter chill continues! - 31 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.

Back to ice this morning, but we have managed to keep most of the Old Lake open and a few swims on Milton. Despite the recent ice, water temperatures remained at 4 degree’s whilst oxygen levels increased to 76%.

Outlook for the week ahead is getting warmer with temperatures increasing to 7/8 degree’s with some rain towards the weekend.

There is something about the ice and cold water that makes the pike feed and this week was no exception as the predator fishing again bounced with most anglers catching a pike or two and with the odd angler reporting 4 or 5 fish.

Whilst the odd zander has been caught, zander are not lovers of cold clear water conditions and as such have been few and far between since the cold snap. However, we warmer conditions on the way, expect to start see zander catches start to increase.

Regarding the general fishing, much the same as the previous week with a few bream and hybrids showing on the Old Lake whilst Milton has started to see 20lb to 30lb bags of perch and roach and even a few small tench reported. Whilst Bonds Lakes has seen the odd angler and the odd fish, generally things on the carp front have been quite.

With water temperatures set to rise over the next few days, expect catches to improve further.

Another great week for the predators with the pike in particular showing in good numbers with many anglers reporting one or two fish and even the odd angler bagging 4 or 5!

The week again saw fish to 16lb caught with sea and freshwater baits both working with small sections of bait seemingly working best when fished with single hook rigs fishing light ledger tactics.

Despite some pretty tough conditions this winter, the few general anglers who have braved the conditions have managed a few fish, particularly bream, roach and hybrids. With all methods working, pole and feeder seem to be the best tactics with maggot and small pellet both catching.

Terry Myers popped down for a quick session mid week catching 3 bream, a nice 3lb hybrid and 7/8ln of skimmers. Terry fished a small feeder packed with ground bait catching on a single red maggot.

Another pretty quite week for the carpers, although we did see a few anglers starting to brave the conditions catching the odd small. With all the usual area producing, subject to conditions, accurate feeding and small baits are definitely the way to go with boilies still accounting for most of the fish caught, although pellet is also worth a go! As is normal at this time of year, the island margins are always worth a try as are the mid and deep water sections.

Simon Peters grabbed a few hours in the week catching a pretty 12lb mirror from the middle section of the Old Lake. Simon fished a white pop up tight to the island.

With only a handful of anglers have fishing the lake this week, catches have been hard to come by with only the odd fish being caught. Tactics and baits remain much the same, as before the freeze and a small maggot feeder seems to be the best method with mini boilies and pellet also catching to the island margins.

Milton responded well again this week to the cold-water temperatures with anglers reporting some reasonable catches of roach and perch despite the wintery conditions. With the odd tench also showing, float and pole tactics continue to be the best method with both the pole line and margins producing bags to 20lb plus. Bait wise, things are now a lot finer with single red maggot and caster the best baits, although pellet and even corn are still catching. Chopped worm and Predator Plus additive is also worth a look at.

Robert Hughes had a practice on Milton for a forthcoming match and found some great silver fish sport from the margins on peg 3. Fishing a short pole, Robert fished single red maggot over chopped worm and maggot catching roach to 1lb 6oz, rudd to 1lb, perch to 1lb 8oz and even the odd small tench for a good 16lb of fish.