National Geographic spots Emma's Photo!!

Emma is really delighted to have one of her photos chosen by National Geographic has photo of the week!!!


It's a great photo she took whilst on one of her veterinary placements in Shetland.


To check out  go to:- 

                             http://facebook.com/natgeo/posts/243078815768805

Lots of bird life at Lonsdale but don't think you'll spot these!

 

                                                        

Want to Fish under the Northern Lights?

With some gorgeous weather set to continue for the next two weeks giving us lovely clear night skies, and the recent solar flares, much of Cumbria is getting to see the Northern Lights!

You can see people's photo's on the BBC at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16685364

If you fancy casting a line into the reflection of the aurora borealis, and watching it dance over head we're your best bet!

Imagine telling your kids and grandkids about that!

For more information, or to grab a last minute aurora borealis bargain break you can call Paul on 07770825896 or Val on 01228562655

PS: if I can get a decent photo I'll post it!

Deer Lake Today

Deer Lake

Even when the leaves are gone, a bright clear day is all takes.

Odham's Pictorial guide to fish and fishing

Well I did promise I might write a post about this book!

Odham's pictorial guide was my christmas present from my Dad this year. It was his very first fishing book, and one he pored over for hundreds of hours as a young angler. He found a copy and bought it so that he could share it with me.

The book is very big, and reminds me of comic book annuals. The colours are bright and the illustrations are typical of the late 50's early 60's when the book was published:

Inside the book starts with introductions to the water cycle and aquatic life, to make sure a young angler was properly educated!

 

The book then progresses through different species of fish, and compares them to land animals, for example the roach is similar to a sheep as a grazing shoaling fish, but the pike is likened to a tiger.

With a pretty thourough background in place the book progresses onto how to catch these beautifully depicted creatures, and I have to say it is very reminiscent of Mr. Crabtree:

Reading through with Dad, he told me how he could remember each of the illustrations, and how he had studied those explaining how a roach might bite (shown above)

What I really love about the book, aside from it's illustrations, is the attitude. The book progresses from environment to the natural history and biology of fishes, before eventually enlightening the reader as to how to cunjour these denizens of the deep. It even describes the natural history of predators like cormorants and mink, as well as commonly seen water side birds like the Kingfisher.

So often these days I meet a young angler in my social circles and they seem to have lost sight of everything but how to catch the fish, and they're missing out on so much! 

I think that what my young contemporaries may have missed out on, is an introduction by the likes of Odhams or Mr. Crabtree.

Odhams still gives a very thorough introduction to the watery world, and the time spent reading it, or as my Dad did comitting it to memory will pay dividends to any young or aspiring angler.

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Angler's Mail Dec 6th issue - nice little piece

I read this little piece in the Angler's Mail the other day (from the 6th Dec issue):

click to enlarge

 

It's always nice to read about people championing the need for the care and respect due to our aquatic quarry.

So I thought I'd share it in case you'd missed it, Ben Hervey-Murray makes an excellent, succinct point about unhooking mats. And we completely agree with him.

We take great pride in caring for our fish.

We tend to attract very caring anglers anyway, but there a few key things we do to ensure our fish are kept in tip top condition:

• Firstly the ratio of anglers to fish is kept deliberately low - not only ensuring that guests enjoy space and freedom with plenty of pegs, but also keeping pressure on the waters to a minimum,

• We require that guests are equipped with an unhooking mat, 

• And also that they use Klinik or similar antiseptic on any wounds for example should a fish have spawning damage,

• We carefully monitor water quality, and what the ingredients of popular baits contain,

• Predator prevention and control (not pike or perch - cormorants and mink)

• And of course barbless hooks only.

 Of course that's not all we do, but it's the main things we hope our guests appreciate.

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

January Special Offer - Fishy Friends

Until the end of January:

Introduce a friend to Lonsdale Park, 

and if they make a booking 

we'll thankyou with a £15 voucher for anything in the onsite tackle and bait shop, 

and they benefit from January's prices being frozen at 2011!

All you have to do is tell your friend to mention this offer - which we're calling 'fishy friends' and to name you as their referee, and we'll post a voucher off to you.

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Winter Roach

I looked out of the window yesterday to see the winter sun burnishing the reeds a deep yellowy gold, and I found myself drawn inexorably to the water.

A quick cup of tea and a crumpet, then perhaps an hours angle was just the thing, I hadn't fished since last year after all (hah hah) so extracting my beautiful avon from Dad's overcrowded rod rack was overdue!

In the end I did only fish for about an hour (for those who do not fish, 'angler's time' has a somewhat elastic property so here 'about an hour' most closely resembles an hour and a half of 'real time' that felt like only 30 minutes)

But I filled my hour with lovely winter roach.

I should have kept count, but I admit I didn't, I was enjoying pulling them in too much.

 I can report that all were between half a pound and just over a pound, and that I was relieved of 3 slices of bread to catch them.
All were in lovely condition, and the low winter sunshine really brought out the bright red fins, and the sparkle in the silver. 

It's just as exciting to see a nice roach slide into the net today as it was when I was 7. Magic.

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Online Booking now available for 2012

My internet jobs list is very much coming under control now folks!

I'm pleased to let you know that our online booking system is up and running for 2012, so you can peruse our availability at your leisure 24 hours a day.

Come Monday I should have worked out how to make the background green instead of the old blue, so it should be much more aesthetically pleasing too.

Prices for 2012 are currently frozen until the end of January so the early bird is sure of catching a juicy worm!

With some good work done I thought I'd have a cup of tea and a little think about 2012.

As I'm sure you all know I'm a rather avid bookworm, so my plans for the year always include what books I'd like to read and any nice editions I'd like to acquire.

At Christmas my Dad gave me a copy of Odhams Pictorial guide to Fish and Fishing, from the 50's. This was Dad's first and favourite fishing book, and one which he read and referred to so often in his childhood that he had the book virtually completely memorised as he shared it with me. But enough of Odham's for now - I might share a post on it with you later.

My 2012 reading list:

A Pool of Dreams by Tom O'Reilly

Out of the Blue by Chris Yates

Waterlog magazine,

Fishing for a Year by Jack Hargreaves

A train to catch by Jon Berry

Catching the Impossible by Mark Bowler and Hugh Miles

Big Roach by Mark Wintle

My favourite angling books, which I often and frequently reread are:

Anything by Chris Yates, but particularly my signed copy of How to Fish (a kind gift from Ray Kemp) and The Spirit of the Pond by Tom O'Reilly.

So what about you?

What do you plan on reading in 2012, and what books do you find yourself returning to again and again?

Let us know by leaving a comment or writing to us on the facebook page - particularly if you think you could recommend something we haven't read yet!

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Website Redrafted!

Hello again!

I just wanted to let you all know that I've been redrafting our website and giving it a little bit of TLC, so if you refresh your browers / or delete your cookies you should be able to see my changes!
I've made the big ones, but haven't quite finished it yet and will probably continue to tinker with it over January.
The most changes have been to the flora and fauna page - a hugely under appreciated aspect of angling in my opinion, I hope the new page gets people more interested!
And also our infomation page, whish now features a bit of history on Dad, me, the site and a bit of our Philosophy as it were - I hope you like it!

Please get in touch on the facebook page or via email if there's anything you think I've missed, or that you'd like to see of even if you've got some really cracking photo's you'd be proud to have on display (let me know who you are and I'll make sure there's a caption underneath giving you full credit!)

In other news the high winds in the borders seem to have died down, but not before blowing a lonely visitor our way:
This is Henrietta - the lonely Greylag goose.
Don't worry I heard some others fly over this morning so I'm sure once she's recupperated after her windy battle she'll be back amongst friends soon!

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

Happy New Year!

A very happy (belated) new year to all our customers and friends!

Despite the quiet time of year we've had guests with us over the holiday period. Dave and Fran stayed with us for Christmas, and enjoyed some much milder weather than this time last year (which saw temperatures drop to -22 degrees C). Good catches of Roach (as always) and especially Tench were taken by both.

With the weather so mild I'm often seeing chub rising and splashing on the top of the Willows, so I expect a few good chub are also only a cast away!

No doubt the birds are appreciative of the milder weather too, and I did hear Dave got some cracking photo's.

Personally I've been enjoying keeping an eye on one of our Coal tit's who has taken up residence down the barrel of my dad's french sea cannon that sits outside our window - the cannon took a 3 inch ball - apparently just right for this little character who retires to bed at about 4 o'clock each day. Although with the days creeping ever longer he is becoming a little bit later as the week goes by. Before we know it we'll back in the long golden days of summer watching the carp cruising across the top!

Some of you may have noticed we've updated our prices list page for 2012, and unlike the weather I hope you're pleased to find the prices are frozen!

I haven't quite managed to get the online booking system into the new year quite yet - please bear with me.

Best fishes for 2012, from Emma and all the family.

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk