Old Lake Latest Catches week ending 8/4/18

Headlines:

Big bags of bream as milder weather takes hold
29 fish and 18 fish from Long Bank on feeder
Milton Lake crucians now being caught in good numbers
30-fish catch on pole to lake regular
27 lb 14 oz Temple common is a new PB
More great Bury Hill wildlife photos

THIS WEEK’S FISHING! (In brief)

The milder weather has put the Old Lake bream in a feeding mood, and anglers are making the most of the chance to line the fish up and catch them one after another.
Kevin Pack had 29 to 4 lb, and Ray Parker 18 of 4-5 lb, both fishing the Long Bank with feeders and pellets.
The crucian carp in Milton Lake have switched on to feed, and after a cool early half of the week, when the midweek match was won with 19 lb, there were plenty of catches of 10-20 fish per angler by the weekend, topped by a 30-fish haul.
Temple Lake has produce another two ‘twenties’, suggesting that the time when all of the fish really go for it in their annual April feed-up is just around the corner.
The latest fish weighed 27 lb 14 oz and 23 lb, the bigger of the two believed to be a common that doesn’t visit the bank very often.
And local photographer Chrissie Wiggins has been at the lakes taking photos of the wildlife and has come up with some unusual species, including a resident treecreeper and a nuthatch, showing what can be observed around the lakes while you’re fishing.
It looks like being another mild week this week, with an average high of 14 degrees C, with not a lot of strong sunshine, but not much rain either and little likelihood of a frost. Monday looks set to be cloudy and grey but staying largely dry during daylight, and with a high of 12, staying in double figures overnight into a slightly less overcast Tuesday and 14, falling to 7 overnight into a slightly sunnier Wednesday and 15, with 7 again overnight into a cloudier Thursday with the chance of an afternoon shower and 14, with 8 overnight into a brighter Friday of 14, but still with the chance of a lunchtime shower. Then it’s 8 overnight into a dry but cloudy Saturday of 14, and a couple of degrees higher for a sunnier Sunday. Winds look set to start as lightish north-easterlies on Monday, moving round to the south east in the afternoon and into Tuesday, becoming moderate in strength, before becoming more north-easterly again on Wednesday and lighter, strengthening a little on Thursday, and back to lighter south-easterlies on Friday and Saturday, a bit stronger on Sunday. So an improving picture in terms of temperature, more comfortable with less rainfall and without frosts. It just needs the winds to swing round to the south west and strengthen to make things really switch on.

• The predator fishing season begins on October 1 and finishes on 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

There’s a great chance of a busy day’s bream fishing on the Old Lake at the moment, with pleasure anglers landing up to 29 fish each, mainly on feeder.
Kevin Pack had the best catch reported, fishing peg 38 on Thursday, landing 29 to 4 lb on a Hybrid feeder with groundbait and micro pellets, fishing Sonubaits White Chocolate Band’ums on the hook and chucking about 50 yards or more.
Ray Parker, from Guildford, was part way through a good catch when we reported last Sunday, and he ended with 18 bream of 4-5 lb from peg 32, on open-end feeder with a 12-inch hook length and 4 mm banded hard pellets at 20 metres, all colours of pellet working.
Chrissie Wiggins, of Brista Photography, has been observing the wildlife at Bury Hill and has come up with some more images, showing the scenery and the diverse collection of creatures that share the lakes with us.

TEMPLE LAKE – CARP

A wet session on Temple was made a lot more enjoyable for Andy Hall when he landed a personal best common of 27 lb 14 oz (see photos), which he believes has not been caught since 2016.
Andy hooked the fish at 10.30pm last Sunday while fishing peg 4 with a single 12 mm wafter.

And Luke Luff, from Horsham, was also in action, the following weekend, landing a 23 lb mirror carp from peg 1 on Saturday after casting a single Sticky Baits The Krill dumbbell over 4-5 freebies to a showing fish.

BONDS LAKE

This is a great time to grab yourself a slice of the action on Bonds, which 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

Lake regular Alan Derbyshire returned to Milton for more crucian action, and the improvement in sport can be judged by the difference between his two visits, which were a week apart.
Over Easter, when the temperatures were still struggling, he managed to land 12 crucians and three tench, along with an 8 oz rudd, in chilly conditions at peg 25, on a 13 m pole and expander pellets.
And this week he had 30 crucians from the same peg, on 4 mm expanders over 2 mm feed pellets.
When the wind was still cold during a rather wet midweek match, 19 lb was enough to win, from peg 21, but anglers practising the weekend after for a forthcoming contest were all catching between ten and 20 crucians each, along with a good number of tench.