As we come to the end of another season I will just take time to review what has been a great year for us as the fish and catches just get better every year.
I have to start by saying a big well done to Darran who was our last booking and came over with his son Jamie and his friend Jack. The feedback is on the site but I could not do a review without a comment on the new lake record at 43lb 10oz… and they all broke their pb’s.
The lake record was broken a few times this year, but each time by only a few ounces. This was encouraging as it showed the fish were putting on weight and feeding well, but Darrans was the icing on the cake with the mirror that broke the previous record by nearly 2 pounds! Each time the record increased I knew that there was bigger to come out and I still believe we have a mid forty in there just waiting to be caught.
Next year should be another good year especially as we now have 5 different 40’s that have been caught and with with winter feeding campaign just started they can only get bigger.
It was also good to see the high number of 30lb fish that came out. Some weeks saw a big hit on these and some were fish that had never been seen before, and all the fish were in pristine condition as the feedback shows.
I must mention in this review Roy,Vic and Baz who had the biggest catch of the year with 75 fish out! That was made up of 18 x 30’s and 27 x 20’s… a great weeks fishing by the lads which goes to show that steady feeding does work here.
A lot of our guests caught big numbers of fish and it was not unusual to see one angler having up to 50 fish in a week and within that a lot of 30’s.
However, with the weather being mixed this year the fishing at times was difficult but for those anglers that fed little and often it paid off, and it showed that large beds of bait do not work so well here.
We had other records go with the grass carp record going to Mike at 18lb 8oz and several pike were caught up to 17lb. However, for those that tried for tench they were very hard to find and no big ones were caught. The cats made their presence felt numerous times, but again no one managed to land one, so we are not sure what size they are now.
With winter approaching we have started the big clear up. Lesley is busy getting the gite back to pristine condition and I have started to clear the banks. I will then get the swims tidied up with new bark and new edgings where needed. I will also be spending a lot of time in the lake getting any rocks that proved a nuisance moved where possible and also with my own nets removing a lot of the small silver fish and rehousing them into a neighbour’s lake.
With the usual mild weather we normally have up until January you never know I might even get the chance to do some fishing myself, and for anyone that fancies a winter break we are still happy to have guests here. Phone the ladies in the Angling Lines office and I am sure they can do a good deal for you.
Lesley and myself would like to wish you all an early have a great Christmas and a happy new year and look forward to seeing some of you next year,
Tight lines, John
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