Pike fishing picks up as cold weather hits! - 19 12 2009

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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.

Following a very cold week which saw plenty of ice and snow, it was not surprise that water temperatures plummeted to just over 3 degree’s whilst oxygen levels remained pretty level at 65%. Outlook for the week ahead is remaining cold with night time temperatures hitting minus.

Following some pretty grim weather, the cold weather has seen the pike start to feed in better numbers with quite a few fish caught in the week including a few better fish to 18lb. Not surprisingly, the zander fishing has slowed, although the odd fish has been caught.

Whilst anglers tend to target the predators at this time of year, the bream fishing on the Old Lake can also be pretty good for anglers looking for something different although small baits and fine tackle are essential.

Despite the hard winter conditions, the carp fishing on the Old Lake is also worth a go with the chance of the odd fish or two regardless of the weather conditions.

Renowned as a solid winter water, Milton Lake has been pretty good this week with mixed silver fish nets to 20lb being reported which included some good roach and perch. Bonds has also produced a few fish with nets of carp to 25lb reported.

A brilliant week for the piker’s with a good number of fish caught which included fish to 18lb and with colder conditions now favoring the pike, the week has seen the zander take a back seat.

Whilst the mid and deep water areas have been producing a lot of the fish, the shallows are always worth a go.

Regarding methods, ledger tactics still 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 continue to enjoy some great sport from the jungle area. With smaller baits continuing to work, the fish are coming out on both sea and freshwater baits with small sections seemingly working best to single hook rigs.

Top pike of the week was a cracking 16 pounder, which was caught by Stewart Collins. Fishing the long bank, Stewart from Dorking fished a mackerel tail which he injected with oil to the open water.

Bury Hill regular Kevin Old corn also had a great days sport in the week catching 3 pike from peg 32 along the long bank. Fishing half a mackerel on a light ledger set up, Kevin caught fish weighing 17lb 7oz, 13lb 10oz and 10lb with his largest fish making a strong 30mt run to the island.

Although in search of a big zed, Bury Hill regular Alan Stagg managed a nice pike weighing 13lb 7oz, which he caught on a small piece of sprat which he fished on a single size 6 hook.

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.

This weeks catches

Carshalton DAS held their club christmas match on Milton Lake last sunday, hoping to bag a few fish and win some mince pies in the process. Jed Walstencroft led the way winning the festive match with a weight of 25lbs 13oz which consisted of 4 carp up to 6lbs, a few crucians and some quality roach in the 1lbs bracket. Jed fished the pole, short and long catching all of his fish on 4mm soft expander pellets over a few pots of micro feed during the course of the match. Young Steve Walker got amongst the prizes from peg 4 catching some nice crucians and roach for 12lbs 4oz on maggots and pellets fishing the pole at 12 metres to his right.
Lee Perry took third spot on peg 24 when a late run of big roach helped him to 5lbs 10oz. In general it was typical winter fishing after a hard frost with virtually all of the anglers managing to put fish on the scales.