Sunday 19 December 2010

Hard at work in winter weather!

As you can see above the freezing temperatures we've had recently (down as low as -24 with -18 degrees c last night) got the better of one of Lonsdale's aerators, when the motor burnt out.
Dad and Julian broke their way through the ice to replace it - to make sure some of the lake is clear all year round! Some of our smaller ponds seem pretty solidly frozen now - Mo our 35kg Ridgeback even braved a little journey out onto the ice, before thinking better of it. SO it must be pretty thick!
Of course at this time of year people are often tempted out onto ponds and lakes to 'skate' or follow their dogs, which is clearly very dangerous! I'm sure alongside ourselves many of our angling friends are warning their nearest and dearest, and particularly youngest of the dangers of ice!

On the plus side, the Lonsdale sloe gin I laid down this year has turned out rather lovely! A great winter warmer!

Hope you are all well, warm and with those you love! Merry Christmas!
Emma and all at Lonsdale.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Thomas strikes the Pike & beats Dad!!!



hi Paul and Val,
here's a few pics from our 2 day stay in October total of 9 pike in 2 days Thomas yet again putting dad to shame with a 18lb 1oz stunner which nearly pulled him in!! haha Thomas has sent his pic off to improve your course fishing magazine for yet another badge!!! so his pic should be in the Dec issue great 2 days fishing hope to be back in the new year hope you all have a great xmas and new year !!
Scott jade and Thomas


Thanks for the photos Thomas - You'll have to give your Dad some tips. We will look out for your photo in the magazine

Thursday 7 October 2010

Paul & Lee 21.09.10 A belting 3 day stay!







Thanks to Paul Dobie for these photos. Paul & Lee had a short break at Lonsdale a couple of weeks ago & did extremley well. Above are just a selection of the fish they caught. Lee caught 17 whils Paul caught over 20!!

Sunday 26 September 2010

The Campbell's are coming!!





























Pleased you had a good stay last week Jamie!! Thanks for the photos & those from your April visit too.

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Thanks Amanda (last week's stay)

Thanks Amanda for the email glad you enjoyed your week , will sort out the Christmas dates for you.


Hi Val,

I hope you are all well?

I just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone at Lonsdale for another fantastic holiday. Although the fishing just wasn’t happening for us last week and we only actually caught 2 small carp all week, the holiday, the cottage, the staff and the surroundings were all just amazing and we hope to be back very soon for maybe our 3rd visit of the year J

Are you taking bookings for the New Year and how will it work with Christmas Day being on the Saturday? I am possible looking at Monday 27th December to Sunday 2nd Jan (6 nights) in cottage 3 or maybe the secret cottage?? Can you please let me know how much it would be?

Thanks again

Amanda Booth

Sunday 5 September 2010



hi Val and Paul,
just a quick note to say thank you for a great few days(21st to 24th August) . This was Heathers first visit and she enjoyed every minute, when the fishing was slow we just enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and the wildlife around the lakes, looking forward to visiting again next year.
Thanks again Neil, Nathan & Heather

Thanks for the email. So glad to hear you enjoyed your stay at Lonsdale.
It was great to see you again. Heather is a proper angler now!! Hope Uni goes well Nathan!
See you next year.

Friday 27 August 2010

This week's match


This week's winner was Keith with a lower than normal result at 13lb, closely followed by his son. I think the huge amount of rain we had in the preceeding 24hrs must have put the big fish off the feed.

Mean while the Lighthowler family always run their own inter-family competitions complete with trophies! As we understand it Steve is currently winning with 4 good carp to 16lb in one short session. Steve doesn't like to get up too early or fish too late - much to the rest of the family's annoyance! Steve says "I do what I have to!"

The Secret Pool has been fishing well this week, as of Wednesday it has produced 10 Carp to 26lb, plus numerous nice chub.
Keith who stayed in the Secret Cottage last week had a very memorable catch when he landed a beautiful specimen Perch - which is veryinteresting as we never stocked any of these gladatorial fish. So it's appearance and apparent growth rate hold great promise for the future. The Perch came alongside cracking Chub and Roach, Bream, and Carp all taken on his pole.

Saturday 14 August 2010

A Passion for angling





















Well as promised here's the second half of Paul Wood's story!

Paul stayed and fished with us for two weeks, mainly fishing during the daylight hours.
In the end he had 62 'good' fish, which gave a total weight well over 700lbs!
In fact almost everytime Dad or Julian went past Paul seemed to land a fish - you can see he even had 'the boss' acting as gillie! In fact Dad was so impressed he decided to award Paul a signed copy of 'A Passion for Angling'

Had Paul decided to fish through the nights, he might of topped our previous reported record of over 1200lbs of carp in a 2 week stay by regular Colin Chambers.

Of course other anglers have been enjoying the fishing this week too, for example Warren who had 21 good Carp in the week.

PS: I know there are a couple of photo's in this post that were in the previous one, but when there's this many pics to try and remember, I hope you can forgive me!