Old Lake Latest Catches week ending 8/10/17

HEADLINES

Nemo out at close to its biggest weight
Temple’s fish weighed 42 lb 15 oz
Predator season starts with up to 17 fish per angler
Old Lake angler lands six 20s in a week
36-crucians catch wins Milton match
33 Old Lake bream on wafters
Two anglers share 15 tench on Milton

 THIS WEEKS FISHING (IN BRIEF!)

Bury Hill’s biggest fish has put in an appearance for its first reported capture since July.
Nemo brought a change of fortunes for Karl Jansen, after a slow start to the season, providing him with a new personal best at 42 lb 15 oz.
October is already living up to its reputation as one of the best months of the year, providing one Old Lake angler with no fewer than six ‘twenties’ to 25 lb in a week, along with back-up upper-doubles.
And the bream show no signs of slowing down, one angler landing 33 on hair-rigged Ringers wafters.
Milton Lake is also in fine form, a Dorking club match being won with 36 crucians for 48 lb, and two pleasure anglers sharing a catch of 15 tench to 4 lb, along with quite a few sizeable roach.
And the zander season started in style with no fewer than 17 fish to one angler, and plenty of other multiple catches, though no confirmation of the rumoured 11-pounder.
We are entering a much more settled phase in the weather, following on from the changeable, sometimes stormy conditions. After last week’s Harvest Moon, this looks like being a changeless week, with near identical conditions every day of around 16 degrees C, high cloud but not much sunshine, though dry, and with moderate winds, which means the present conditions are sticking around and not being blown on, to be replaced with something different. Winds look set to be south-westerlies or westerlies right into next weekend, and reaching moderate by Wednesday, continuing through to strong by Sunday. The weekend should bring a slight rise in temperatures to 18 and some proper sunshine for a pleasant day out. Overnight levels are likely to be constant at 11 or 12 degrees, with 13 for the weekend, though cooler weather could be around the corner from Monday week. So, given the run of moderate-to-strong south-westerlies that should spur fish into feeding, and a settled weather pattern with no overnight drops in temperature, and also cooler weather coming up, this looks like a very fishy week.

• The predator fishing season began on October 1 and continues until March 14.

• Anyone who fancies being part of the night syndicate of anglers who are allowed to fish Temple and the Old Lake after dark for a £50 joining fee will be interested to hear that there are places available. To apply, get in touch with the office on 01306 883621.

• Anglers are reminded that fishing on Temple and night fishing on the Old Lake is available exclusively to members of the Bury Hill Specimen Carp Club. Membership cards must be carried at all times when on the fishery, and be available to bailiffs when they carry out checks prior to the evening lock-up.

OLD BURY HILL LAKE – GENERAL & BOAT FISHING

The pike and zander season got underway with a flurry of catches, including one of 17 fish to an angler fishing an overnighter.
Autumn and winter lake regular Janusz Kansik, of the Polish Anglers Association enjoyed an “amazing session” in which he had sizeable fish of between 5 lb and 7 lb “very unusual for the beginning of the season” on half roach (see photos below).
He found that fishing well out was best in the daytime and close to the bank in the evening of his 24-hour visit, and he also landed a bonus 13 lb 6 oz common carp and lost another much bigger.

Also in action with the zeds was Alan Pickering, who had four to 5 lb from peg 1, and missed another bite, while the angler two swims along at peg 3 caught six of a similar size.
Alan used smelt, and the other angler had his fish on sardine.
And Kris Majeski, also of the Polish Anglers Association, had five zander to 5 lb on roach tails at peg 26.
On the carp front, Ben Davis had a busy week, visiting four times and landing more than a dozen carp, including six ‘twenties’ to 25 lb.
Fishing peg 44, Ben, from Woking, also had two 22s, two 21s and a 20, along with a 19 and a 17, all on single 18 mm krill boilies drilled out to take a cork plug, over loose offerings.
And Barry, from Epsom, got amongst the lake’s bream, landing 33 of them to 6 lb from peg 1 on a Method feeder at 20 metres and hair-rigged Ringers wafters.

TEMPLE LAKE – CARP

A move of swims from peg 11 to peg 9 transformed Karl Jansen’s season, helping him to catch the lake’s largest fish, Nemo, at a near-record 42 lb 15 oz (see the fine photos below, taken by bailiff Sam Sawyers).
Karl admits he has struggled this season on Temple, landing his first fish only three weeks ago, and he couldn’t believe it when he looked into his landing net and saw Nemo, his fifth fish of the year.
The famous mirror is a new personal best for Karl, who has fished Temple for several years and has landed ‘thirties’, including Friar Tuck, Two Tone and the Double Row Linear, along with multiple hits of ‘twenties’.
He was on the bank when Nemo came out at its record weight of 43 lb 3 oz just after the Christmas break in 2015, ringing the fishery to have the fish officially weighed for Martin Goddard back then.
This latest capture is Karl’s first UK 40-pounder, and it took a 16 mm wafter on a 48-hour session, during which he also had a 20 lb 1 oz common.
On his previous visit he had landed three ‘twenties’ to 26 lb 12 oz and an upper double from peg 10, again after a move, on Mainline Cell bottom baits tipped with a home-made pop-ups in open water.
Nemo’s best weight this year was 43 lb 1 oz in June, just prior to spawning, and by July the fish was at 41 lb post spawning, which was the last reported capture until Karl’s.
Nemo seems to be at its biggest weight just after Christmas, which means a potential fishery record at the end of the year.
With Nemo out this week and Two Tone last week, there is a good chance that The Ghost, last reported caught twice in May, will put in an appearance, as those three often come out at about the same time.

Also in action on Temple was Graham Collins, from Croydon, who had a 23 lb 3 oz mirror carp from peg 12, on an 18 mm Active Bait Solutions PLAN B boilie over Cray Valley Baits freebies.

BONDS LAKE

Bonds regularly produces multiple catches of carp to double figures on a variety of methods, from pole to feeder and straight lead to waggler.

MILTON LAKE

Milton Lake is the place to try for a catch of prime roach, using a waggler on a running line or pole just a short distance out, close to the pads, where they can be lined up with a little-and-often loosefeeding approach. And in the mild spells there are crucians, tench and bream to be caught, along with occasional carp.

Some anglers think of crucian carp as just a summer species, but even in October they are being caught in numbers on Milton Lake, and providing some great autumn sport.
The latest Dorking club weekend match was won with 36 of them for 48 lb, by Dave Steer, along with two tench and a roach, on pole and pellet at peg 2.
Runner-up was Mark Hathway with 33 lb from peg 20, ahead of Steve Parkin with 28 lb from peg 21 on pole and pellet, and Steve Midgley was fourth with 27 lb from peg 22.
And the lake’s tench are also very catchable at this time of year. John and Dave Howlett, from St Albans, shared a catch of 15 tench to 4 lb, along with just as many fish of other species, including some good roach.
The pair legered from pegs 2 and 3 with a half-ounce bomb and hair-rigged 6 mm halibut pellets, loosefeeding the same.