Zander catches go MAD as floods arrive! - 15 11 2009

FISHERY REPORTS

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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 and a good number of skimmers from Temple, whilst Milton Lake will see most of the carp removed, these will be replaced with small tench as well as quality roach, rudd, perch and skimmers, all of which will also 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.

Well what a week that was? I cannot tell you how much water we have had into the system in the last few days, other than to say that all the lakes are at now at the point of flooding. However the good news is that temperatures are still pretty mild and as such water temperatures have not changed much this week despite the rain.

Today water temperatures are 9.4 degree’s whilst oxygen levels were well up at 65%.

Not surprisingly, the fishing did slow this week due to the heavy rain, which did have a positive affect on the zander fishing which thrive on ‘mild and wet’ conditions, especially in the last few days when anglers were reporting incredible catches which included plenty of big fish.

The general fishing and carp fishing has, not surprisingly been somewhat slower than recent weeks, although some reasonable bream bags have again been reported from the Old Lake whilst Milton Lake has also seen some reasonable mixed nets of fish reported with even the odd tench and crucian still being caught.

On the carp front, whilst the fishing has slowed, the Old Lake has continued to throw up a few fish with the odd twenty included.

With near perfect conditions for the zander i.e. mild and wet, it came as no surprise to see some terrific catches reported this week which included a good number of doubles with one angler catching three 11 pound plus fish in just 20 minutes. Whilst conditions this week favored the zander, quite a few pike to mid doubles were also reported.

With all areas producing a few fish, it was again the shallow and mid water areas that appeared to be best with the top end of the long bank seeing some spectacular sport with a number of anglers reporting a dozen fish apiece in what can only be described as a “feeding frenzy”.

With float and ledger tactics working on the day, both freshwater and sea baits are catching, although it has been interesting to see more fish being caught on sea bait sections this week. Indeed it is my belief that the key to success, particularly when conditions are right is to fish smaller baits and small strips of larger baits on single hook rigs, which are proving to be effective for avoiding deep hooking with both pike and zander seemingly taking the baits more freely.

The catch of the week must be that of Alan Stagg and Duncan Charman who between them caught over 30 zeds in less than 4 hours, which included a new PB for each angler, Alan a 10lb 6oz zander whilst Duncan managed to pip him with a 10lb 14oz fish. You can read a fuller report on our news pages, but both anglers caught on small sections of sprat which they fished on single 6 and 8 carp hooks tied to a light wire on a ledger rig.

Although I don’t have any specific details, both Alan and Duncan witnessed a truly remarkable catch with an angler fishing close by catching three eleven pound zeds in just 20 minutes. Fishing close to the pair along the top end of the long bank, the nameless angler bagged zeds weighing 11lb, 11lb 4oz and 11lb 12oz. It is thought that the angler was fishing small roach dead baits on a light ledger set up.

Another angler to make the most of the conditions was Terry Hayes from Croydon. Fishing peg 41 along the long bank, Terry fished almost identical tactics to that of Alan Stagg and Duncan Charman catching 7 zander to 11lb 9oz.

Other anglers to catch this week were Brian Callicott who caught 3 pike to 9lb on float fished small freshwater dead baits and Simon Hayes who caught two zander, the best 9lb on similar tactics. Both anglers fished the top end of the long bank.

Last weeks Big Fish Pro-Fish Course taken by Eric Bailey also some great action with plenty of fish caught. With six anglers taking part, the group fished pegs 54 to 62 catching pike to 10lb and zander to 7lb. With plenty of missed chances, all the fish were caught on a new light float ledger set up which Eric has devised with most of the fish coming to sea baits.

Not surprisingly, a bit of a mixed week although the bream did continue to show in reasonable numbers with bags to over 50lb reported.

With both the front and long banks both fishing well, it was the early and middle sections on the long bank that seemed to produce the best of the sport with both pole, waggler and feeder tactics all working on the day.

Whilst hair rigged or lassoed pellet has been working well, maggot, caster and worm are now catching with the secret to success being to feed only very small amounts.

Whilst most of the sport has been to bank anglers, the few boat anglers general fishing have been catching a few bream from the open water areas with the odd late season tench also showing.

There was a good turnout for the latest KC Angling open match on the long bank where 21 anglers braved the much colder conditions in the hope of tempting a few bream to feed. It was evident by the bubbles blowing that the big shoals of bream were moving up and down the match length encouraging the competitors of a good day.

Golden fingers Robbie Taylor pulled out plum peg 38 and by alternating between feeder/pole and waggler notched up a superb winter bag of bream and skimmers for a match-winning haul of 47lbs 8oz. 6mm soft pellet accounted for Robbie's winning weight with minimal feeding the key to his success. Two pegs away on peg 40 was John Brice who stuck to a game plan of fishing the feeder solely and was duly rewarded with second place accumulating 24lbs 4oz narrowly pippin Chris Nichols by just 2oz from peg 43. Drawn to the left of the winner on peg 37 was Bury Hill regular Hayden Woods who again opted for the feeder some two thirds of the way across towards the island and with a weight of 21lbs 10oz claiming fourth place.

Last Wednesday’s open on the front bank also proved to be a good match despite the colder weather.  

Tony Barthomlew won the match with 7 bream from peg 8 hair rigging corn with ground bait feeder at 30 yards out. Russ Evans fished similar tactics from peg 13 for 6 smaller fish using single red maggot and micro feeder with a long tail. A downpour of heavy rain the day before put the fish off the feed, as they tended to feed in spells during the match. Although bites were at a premium everyone taking part caught in what was a close match.

1st Tony Barthomlew (Anchor Croydon) 22-12-0

2nd Russ Evans (Fox/NDP10) 12-4-0

3rd Alan Joplin (Edenbridge AS) 8-15-0

4th Colin Wood (F1 Monks) 7-12-0

Not surprisingly, a much harder week for the carpers with the Old Lake definitely giving the best chance of a fish or two. With few anglers braving the conditions on Temple and even fewer fish caught, it was the Old Lake that saw most of the weeks action with a couple of anglers reporting some reasonable catches which included fish to mid twenties.

With tactics and baits pretty much unchanged in recent weeks, Icelandic Red boilies are continuing to catch, as are KG1, Activ 8, Maple 8 and Cell, although judging by recent catches, pop ups are still worth a go!

Joe Levy grabbed a short session on the Old Lake catching 4 fish, the best a lovely 24lb 9oz mirror. Fishing homemade cork ball Cell pop ups, Joe fished peg 3 catching from the open water. Joe’s catch included a brace of 18’s and a 15lb 4oz common.

Always worth a fish or two, Bonds generally fished OK this week despite the awful weather with anglers catching up to 10 fish.

Whilst most methods are catching, a small feeder with hair-rigged pellet still seems to be the best method with mini boilies and maggot also catching. Indeed as water temperatures chill down further, maggot and smaller baits will become more important.

Still to come into its own as we await the first frosts, Milton has produced some reasonable catches this week with roach, rudd and perch showing is reasonable numbers. With the odd tench and very odd crucian also showing, float and pole tactics continue to be the best method with both the pole line and margins producing bags to 30lb. 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.