Predator fishing goes mad as ice melts! - 24 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.

The good news is that the ice has now melted on all the lakes, which has resulted in some good fishing. Water temperatures have also increased slightly to 4 degree’s whilst oxygen levels have also increased to 70%.

Outlook for the week ahead is looking warmer with temperatures sitting around 6 degree’s.

Despite having taken nearly 10 days for the ice to melt with Temple and the small lakes only just being fishable, the fishing has been remarkably good, particularly for the predators and the pike in particular.

With water temperatures on the rise, the Old Lake has seen the best predator sport for weeks with good numbers of pike to upper doubles going on a feeding frenzy as the ice melted, with quite a few anglers bagging 3 or 4 fish at a time. Whilst the zander have been few and far between since the cold snap, there has also been the odd zed banked which is a good sign for things to come.

Regarding the general fishing, whilst anglers have been catching a few bream and hybrids on the Old Lake, the cold water melt has seen Milton come into its own with anglers reporting 20lb to 30lb bags of perch and roach and even a few small tench. Regarding Bonds and Temple lakes, these have only just thawed and as such anglers have not yet fished them.

With water temperatures set to rise further over the next few days, expect catches to improve further. So if you fancy getting out it is definitely worth a go!

With the ice melting back steadily over the past week, it was a surprise to see the pike respond to the cold water melt with anglers bagging up to 5 fish a session. With fish to 17lb caught and even the odd zander, which is a good sign of things to come once the weather warms up, most anglers were reporting multi catches.

With the fishing initially restricted to just the front bank at the start of the week, anglers were catching from pretty much all areas by the weekend as the ice melted.

With both sea and freshwater baits working, ledgered baits seemed to be the best tactics, with small sections of bait seemingly working best coupled with single hook rigs.

Despite the tough conditions, anglers targeting the general fishing on the Old Lake have been rewarded with a few bream, roach and hybrids and even the odd small carp. With both the front and long banks producing the odd fish with the mid waters sections probably being the best, conditions clearly dictate small hooks and baits, with small open feeders with maggot and pellet catching.

Bill Turner managed 4 fish during his session in the week, 3 bream to 4lb and a pretty 3lb roach/bream hybrid. Fishing a small open feeder packed with ground bait, Bill caught on a single red maggot and 20 hook from peg 21.

Not surprisingly, a very quite week for the carpers with thick ice preventing any form of fishing on Temple and only the odd swim open on the Old Lake at the start of the week. However as the ice melted and with a few more anglers willing to ‘give it a go’ as the week wore on, a handful of fish were caught, although nothing large.

With winter conditions still very relevant, accurate feeding and small baits are definitely the way to go with boilies still accounting for a lot of the fish, although pellet is also catching. As is normal at this time of year, the island margins are always worth a try as are the mid and deep water sections.

Tim Read managed a nice 12lb common during his day on the Old Lake. Fishing peg 29, Tim fished a mini boilie to the island catching over a bed of hemp.

Richard Gill chucked out a small ledger whilst pike fishing peg 27 catching an 8lb carp on pellet and pva bag filled with hemp.

With thick ice preventing any fishing on Bonds until this weekend, only a handful of anglers have fished the lake, resulting in the odd carp. 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.

By far our best winter water for general species, Milton responded well to the thaw with some reasonable catches of roach and perch reported 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.

Andy Wedlake from Bookham had a cracking day on Milton this Saturday catching a dozen or so perch to 1lb, 30 odd decent roach to a 1lb plus and 6 small tench. Fishing a pole to the open water from peg 3, Andy caught on red maggot feeding chopped worm with Predator Plus additive in with his feed.