Old Lake Latest Catches week ending 22/4/18

Headlines:

Sport hotting up as temperatures rise
Warm weather brings big catches of carp, crucians and bream
28 Old Lake carp, 20 Bonds Lake carp, 32 bream and 53 crucians
Two Temple ‘thirties’ and eleven ‘twenties’

THIS WEEK’S FISHING! (In brief)

Sport have been given a big boost by the warm weather, with all of the lakes producing multiple catches of a range of species.
On the Old Lake two anglers shared 28 carp, including three ‘twenties’, and more than one bream angler reached the 100 lb mark with 30 or more fish in a session.
Crucian angler Chris Stott returned to the fishery for the first time in a while and landed 53 of them during his visit, while good numbers of tench and perch have been landed, and on Bonds there have been catches of 20 carp and 16 carp in particular on pellets.
Temple Lake produced two ‘thirties’ and eleven ‘twenties’, the biggest a 37 lb 10 oz mirror by an angler looking after another angler’s rods, and Aaron Warner had not only a 33 lb 8 oz common, but also a 10 lb 8 oz Temple zander on a wafter!
Although the weather is expected to be cooler than the seven-decade high of almost 30 degrees C in West London last week, it should be a pleasant 13 degrees, largely dry, and with fishy south-westerly winds.
Temperatures look set to take a dip from the 21 degrees on Sunday to 15 on Monday, but still remaining in double figures overnight and with some sunshine amid the cloud. Tuesday is likely to be the wettest day, with heavy cloud and showers, but dry spells and 14, staying in double figures into Wednesday and the same again in temperature but with lighter cloud and sunny spells. Thursday should start clear, meaning a fall in overnight values to maybe 6 degrees, but a very bright start and 13 degrees, with sunny spells and the chance of a shower, leading into the coolest night and a cloudy 12 degrees on Friday, with much the same for Saturday and Sunday but with a little more rain. Winds should start moderate and south-westerly, moving westerly, strengthening on Wednesday and Thursday, before moving back to south-westerlies, becoming lighter on Friday and Saturday but then becoming more north-westerly for the weekend.

• 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

It’s been a great week for big catches at Bury Hill, as fish have responded to the rise in water temperature and gone looking for anglers’ baits.
Graham Foster and Jon Botting, from Horsham, shared a catch of 28 carp that included three ‘twenties’ to 21 lb, which was a mirror for Jon, on single A2 Baits and 15 mm Mainline Cell boilies.
And Adrian Vizitiu, from Dagenham, landed 22 carp to 20 lb, which was a mirror, from peg 75, on single 15 mm Mainline Peaches & Cream boilies tight to the island over loose offerings.
Lake regular Janusz Kansik had six commons to 19 lb 8 oz, from peg 22, on the same bait in 16 mm and 18 mm, along with a 6 lb tench.
The bream anglers have also been enjoying hectic sport, regular visitor David Pocock, from Kingston, landing 32 to 6 lb for well over 100 lb, at peg 32, on Method feeder and double red maggot three or four rod lengths out.
Tom Bean had over 30 bream to 5 lb to also beat the ‘ton’, along with a bonus tench of 7 lb 9 oz, fishing waggler or feeder and double red maggot, close in or at 30 metres out, on peg 11.
Ed Hammond, from Wallington, landed 31 bream and a 7 lb tench for well over 100 lb at peg 37, using a Guru Hybrid feeder and micro pellets with three red maggots on the hook.
There was also a report of an unnamed angler landing 90 lb of bream to 6 lb and a 20 lb common carp on hair-rigged 6 mm pellets.
An angler called Ben, from Walton, had a 14 lb mirror carp and some good tench and bream from the Front Bank on 12 mm Sticky Baits pop-ups.
And David Grant landed the Old Lake’s famous ghost carp, at 13 lb (see photo below), on a 20 mm Urban Bait Nutcracker pop-up, from peg 75, casting to the island margins.

TEMPLE LAKE – CARP

Sport has really switched on at Temple, with two ‘thirties’ reported and eleven ‘twenties’, along with an accidental double-figure zander.
All the signs are now that the fish are on the hunt for food, and among the anglers benefiting was Joshua Lee Knight, who landed a 37 lb 10 oz mirror carp (see photos below) while looking after another angler’s rods for 20 minutes at peg 9.

Also banking a ‘thirty’ was Aaron Warner, who not only landed a fine 33 lb 8 oz common, but added a bonus 10 lb 8 oz zander (see photos below), on a single Mainline Cell wafter.

Jason Ostler was kept busy with ‘twenties’ landing four, in the form of mirror carp of 28 lb 8 oz and 27 lb 5 oz and commons of 25 lb 5 oz and 20 lb 11 oz (see photos below), from peg 11, on NashBait Strawberry Crush boilies over a bed of Dynamite Hempseed & Snails.
And Jason’s father, Martin, had a lovely 18 lb 9 oz fully scaled in the next peg, 12.

Graham Bicknell also enjoyed a multiple hit of ‘twenties’ with a common of 26 lb 8 oz, and mirrors of 24 lb 8 oz and 21 lb 8 oz, from peg 3, casting into open water.
Ray Harding added to his tally of big Temple fish with a 27 lb 8 oz mirror from peg 1 on a single Mainline Peaches & Cream boilie, while Gary Wall had a 24 lb 10 oz mirror from peg 7 on a single Mainline Cell boilie a rod length from the island.
And Terry Burns landed a 21 lb 4 oz mirror (see photo below) from peg 10 on a single Essential Cell boilie fished in open water.

Last week we reported how Joe Concanon had landed the Red Mirror at 25 lb on a Cell pop-up over half a kilo of freebies in open water, and he has sent a picture, which is posted below.
Joe was fishing with Matt White, who had a 21 lb fully scaled stockie on the same tactics at peg 10, also below.

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.

Plenty of anglers have enjoyed arm-aching sessions on Bonds in recent days, Colin Biddulph, from Epson, landing 20 carp to 11 lb 11 oz from peg 7, on pellet feeder in the margins, with 8 mm pellets on the hook.
Peter Stevens wasn’t far behind with 16 carp to 14 lb from peg 11, on banded 8 mm pellets cast close to the island.
An angler called John had a dozen carp to 15 lb 2 oz on feeder and 6 mm pellets, while Dave, from Crawley, landed ten to 6 lb on legered, hair-rigged corn, and Vasile, from Mitcham, finished with eight to 7 lb from peg 6, on groundbait feeder and 8 mm pellets.

MILTON LAKE

The crucians do love it when the water warms up, and one-time regular Chris Stott, from Weybridge, made a splash on his first visit for quite a while by landing 53 in a single sitting.
However, Chris is no stranger to big catches of Bury Hill crucians, having had numbers in the 50s and 60s before, especially in spring, topped by a 107-crucian catch in early June 2012.
On this visit he was fishing a small waggler a rod length out and double red maggot on the hook, feeding small balls of groundbait and loosefeeding 2 mm pellets, also landing two tench.
Milton anglers have been catching a variety of species, including perch of over 2 lb, big roach, rudd as well as tench.
Les Moore, from Rochester, had six tench to 7 lb 8 oz and four crucians to over 2 lb on float fished luncheon meat over loosefed pellets.
Clive Taylor had 11 tench to 6 lb and a dozen crucians to 2 lb 9 oz from peg 1, on pole and pellets or on a small feeder in open water.
Photographer Chrissie Wiggins, of Brista Photography, has been taking pictures on Milton, and has provided the images posted below.