Old Lake Latest Catches week ending 22/10/17

HEADLINES

Multiple catches of zander to 9 lb 6 oz
Up to ten fish per angler, along with pike
24 Old Lake bream to 6 lb on feeder
Two Tone captured again at 36 lb 8 oz
Eight carp to 11 lb on Bonds on pellets
Tench still feeding on Milton Lake

 THIS WEEKS FISHING (IN BRIEF!)

Predator anglers are enjoying some busy sessions, landing up to ten zander per visit.
The fish are of a good average size, several reaching 8 lb or 9 lb, as famous angler Graeme Pullen discovered when he landed nine to that weight on a visit this week.
The bream appreciated the recent mild spell, feeding well for many anglers, the best catch reported being 24 of them to 6 lb from the middle of the Long Bank.
Visiting match anglers are also getting among the fish, the Hackbridge AS contest being won with 38 lb.
Temple continued its run of big fish, with the capture of Two Tone at 36 lb 8 oz by Conor Cook, following on from Nemo and The Ghost to other anglers in the past fortnight.
Bonds Lake is still a good bet for carp action, one angler landing eight to 11 lb on pellets.
And the tench and crucians are still feeding on Milton Lake, one angler landing six tench and four crucians on a cage feeder cast to the lily pads.
After the recent very windy weather, it looks like being a more settled week of moderate to strong south-westerly winds, temperatures rising to 17 degrees C by Wednesday, and overnight values staying in double figures helped by the cloud cover of a largely overcast week. Monday looks to be a couple of degrees up on the weekend, at 15 degrees, and the dampest day, with light showers either side of midday. Then it looks like 17 for Tuesday and Wednesday, 16 for Thursday and then falling slightly by a degree for Friday and the same again for Saturday, with no rain forecast after a midday shower on Tuesday. The weekend looks to be dry and sunny but with cool nights, before an upturn in temperatures on the Monday after. The winds look likely to be strongest on Tuesday and Saturday, but easing back a bit in between and becoming westerlies by Friday and into the weekend, falling light on Sunday after the clocks have gone back. Overnight temperatures should stay around 12 degrees until Friday night, but they may dip to 10 into the weekend, and may be as low as 7 on Saturday night. The pick of the days looks set to be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with around 17 degrees by day and 14 overnight from Monday into Tuesday, all with a good, south-westerly blow to stir the fish into action.

• 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

It’s good when you can come down to the Old Lake and get lots of runs from zander and pike to specimen size, rather than having to wait a long time for one or two chances.
Predator anglers have been catching up to ten fish per session, and even short visits have brought hectic action.
Lake regular Alan Pickering moved swims after a slow start and had 13 runs in under three hours, from the middle of the Long Bank.
The ten fish that Alan landed weighed between 4 lb and 6 lb, and all took legered smelt, in rain and a strong southerly wind.
Angling writer and photographer Graeme Pullen came down for a few hours and had 14 runs, landing nine to between 8 lb and 9 lb for a video that he plans to post online.
Graeme used Starlite night lights on his floats when the light began to fade, and found that he saw takes that didn’t register on his alarms.
Biggest zander reported this week was the 9 lb 6 oz one landed by an angler called Nigel, from Tunbridge Wells, fishing peg 14 with a half roach cast to the deep water, while his friend Jason Farington had three to 4 lb.
Dave Pocock, from Kingston, landed seven zander to 6 lb in an afternoon, fishing peg 24 with roach heads on size 6 hooks and using light bottle-top indicators to lower the resistance while still showing bites.
Colin Peters, from Portsmouth, took a boat out in the Jungle and caught seven zander to 8 lb 2 oz and two pike to 7 lb, on float fishing small roach sections hair-rigged on size 6 single, barbless hooks.
Former bailiff Mike Goddard treated his dad, Phil, and uncle, Michael, to a day’s zander fishing, and they caught three to 5 lb (see photos below), their first of the species, and had lots of chances, using half roach on low-resistance set-ups and size 6 single, barbless hooks.

And Robert Haddad and Jose Garcia caught two zeds each to 7 lb on half roach sections and size 4 hooks, from pegs 36 and 37, including Robert’s first of the species, and Jose returned three days later to add five pike to 6 lb from peg 37 (see photos).

Bream anglers are still catching really well, matchman Mark Parrett, from Reigate, enjoying a pleasure session of 24 to 6 lb from peg 37 on banded 8 mm white pellets with a small Method feeder cast to the island.
Peter Burgess, from Godstone, had 17 bream to 4 lb and a bonus 6 lb tench from peg 38 on Method feeder and 8 mm pellets.
And the Sunday Hackbridge AS match, on pegs 1-30, was won by Billy Sheedy with 38 lb from peg 14, on ‘tea-bags’ of pellets at distance to the island.
Runner-up was Malc Heaver with 36 lb 8 oz from peg 24 on pole or feeder, ahead of Mark Hathway with 31 lb 1 oz from peg 11, and Andy Ryan with 28 lb 8 oz from peg 26.

TEMPLE LAKE – CARP

An indication of how confidently the Temple fish are feeding came with the capture of Two Tone for the second time in three weeks, this time by Conor Cook.
Lake regular Conor was rewarded for a lengthy session with the distinctive fish at 36 lb 8 oz, along with a 23 lb 12 oz mirror carp (see photos below), both to Mainline Cell on a blowback presentation in open water.
Conor has had Two Tone twice before, but this capture was the heaviest. Its last reported visit to the bank was to John Botting at 36 lb 1 oz.

Brian ‘Harry’ Krishnan was also in action, landing common carp of 21 lb and 19 lb from peg 4, on Sticky Baits Manilla dumbbells with PVA bags of smaller dumbbells

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.

Ben Little, from Worthing, was kept busy with a catch of eight carp to 11 lb, on straight lead and 8 mm krill pellets over loose offerings of the same.

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.

Andy Bennett, from Sutton, landed six tench and four crucians from peg 17 on a cage feeder and maggots cast to the lily pads.