Old Lake Latest Catches week ending 15/4/18

Headlines:

Seven upper doubles to 18 lb 14 oz and tench to 6 lb for Old Lake duo
First 30 lb carp for bailiff Sam Sawyers
Hackbridge match won with 99 lb of bream
42 lb of crucians wins Milton Lake contest

THIS WEEK’S FISHING! (In brief)

Multiple catches of carp, bream and tench are providing Old Lake anglers with lots of action and a variety of species on the same baits.
Lake regulars Kevin Oldcorn and his friend Dave ‘Jonty’ Smith shared seven upper doubles to 18 lb 14 oz, along with tench to 6 lb and bream, all on boilies.
And another lake regular, Janusz Kansik, had three carp to 16 lb along with 15 bream in one session.
It took 99 lb of bream to win the Hackbridge match on the Old Lake, while 42 lb of crucians won the Milton Lake contest, with even bigger hauls possible for pleasure anglers.
Temple Lake is on the brink of producing some big catches, a 30 lb mirror and a 25 lb fish known as the Red Mirror being landed this week as the carp get ready to feed hard.
There looks like being a big boost in temperatures this week, from last week’s high of around 15 degrees C to a best of 22, which should stick around for a couple of days, and there should be lots of strong sunshine from midweek onwards. After a damp weekend it should be a dry week, starting with 14 degrees on Monday after 8 overnight, and plenty of sunshine amongst cloud, with similar on Tuesday and double figures overnight into a warmer Wednesday of 19. There looks likely to be more sunshine and 22 degrees on Thursday, after 11 overnight, and 22 again on Friday, which will feel like the warmest day, after 10 overnight, followed by a weekend of 18 degrees, and then warmer again for Monday week. Winds have moved round to south-westerlies, moderate on Monday, strengthening on Tuesday, but become a bit lighter on Wednesday and with a bit more south-easterly, and the same on Thursday, before a switch to light north-westerlies on Friday and stronger north-easterlies for the weekend. So with temperatures on the rise and a strong sun warming the water, there should be a boost in catches, especially among fish of up to about 20 lb, whose metabolism seems to get restarted sooner after winter than those of the biggest fish.

• 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

With the water slowly warming up, there have been some good catches of carp, bream and tench, all possible from the same peg and often on the same baits.
Kevin Oldcorn, from Old Basing, and his pal Dave ‘Jonty’ Smith used their favoured 20 mm Mainline Peaches & Cream boilies, and these accounted for two 18 lb fish, the biggest 18 lb 14 oz to Jonty (see photo below), three 17s and a pair of 16s, along with tench to 6 lb and bream, on their first visit of 2018.
They were fishing pegs 74 and 75, casting towards the island margins and into open water and using PVA bags.

With the predator season now closed, Janusz Kansik has turned his attention to the Old Lake’s other species, and his latest session, at peg 2, produced three carp to 16 lb, on 16 mm Peaches & Cream boilies, and 15 bream on Method feeder with corn and maggots.
Stephen Hills had a 21 lb common and an 18 lb mirror in his day session at peg 60, both on 18 mm Carp Company Icelandic Red boilies over a few offerings.
Father and son Robert and Jack Haddad, and friend Jose Garcia, enjoyed their visit, Robert landing a 14 lb carp (see photo below) along with several sizeable bream, from peg 2, on home-made Tiger Nut and Maple boilies.

The Hackbridge AS contest, from pegs 1-40, was won with 99 lb 4 oz of bream for Andy Ryan, on Method feeder and dumbbells, at peg 37, ahead of Mark Hathway on 43 lb 12 oz at peg 1, who caught late in the contest on pole.
Norman Youldon was third with 43 lb fishing pole at peg 2, ahead of Dave Fyfield with 40 lb 2 oz on pole, and Keith Hogg with 37 lb 12 oz on quivertip.

TEMPLE LAKE – CARP

Every week takes us closer to the big spring feed, as a couple of ‘trailblazer’ fish lead the way by starting to take an interest before all the rest.
This week they included a 30 lb 2 oz mirror carp (see photos below) for bailiff Sam Sawyers, his first 30 lb fish, from peg 6 at 7.45am on Sunday, on a 15 mm CC Moore Equinox boilie over ten scattered freebies and a handful of hemp, just a rod length off the island.

Also in action was lake regular Joe Concanon, who had the Red Mirror at 25 lb.

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

The crucian carp fishing on Milton gets better every week, as the latest match result shows, the winner finishing with 42 lb.
Gary Sharpless was the successful angler, and there were other weights of over 30 lb, showing what can be caught in a pleasure session given that match conditions always make it more difficult to put together a weight of fish.
Fined down tackle, with a pole or a small waggler, is the best approach, using maggots, corn or pellets and small amounts of loosefeed or regular small balls of groundbait.