Andy strikes Again & Again & there's more

Well,

After enjoying his 3 day stay leaving on Christmas Eve Andy Knowles is enjoying another short break. As you can see by these photos he's off  again! Andy hooked 2 fish both at the same time  luckily on this occasion Julian was near by to help land the fish &  become photographer!

The fish were taken on Frankfurter & Snail pop up.

Here are also a couple of photos of Fish caught on previous visits.

Christmas Fishes!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our guests and friends!

Andy Knox was granted his christmas fishes during his pre-christmas short stay with us when he had more than his 12 Carp of Christmas on the bank - 8 of which he caught in just five hours! He's had such a good time he's back this Saturday.

Meanwhile I've been working on catching fish without bait this winter, getting more adept at fly fishing for coarse fish and developing my favourite lure selection.

This year I was lucky enough to receive the gift of a Sealey Mayfly rod from Matt, and a Dragonfly Imperial reel from John (Thankyou!) - both regular guests at Lonsdale, and am starting to get to grips with them. A copy of Fly fishing for coarse fish is sitting on my bookshelf from last christmas and it's a lovely book but I have to say trial and error did get me five species in two days with Chub, Roach, and Perch at Lonsdale and my first Rainbow and Brown trout at local water New Mills. 

The fish at Lonsdale are particular fans of pretty much any fly with a gold head. 

Roach seem to take a fly on the drop during the evening, whereas Chub prefer an almost static fly neatly flicked along a nice reedy margin just after the suns hit the water to warm it in the morning.

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the little terrier with the big ears who is 'photo bombing' my shots these days. This is Mouse, newest addition to the Drinkall clan and although she never had the privilege of meeting Mansell, she seems to know just what to do when a camera's about!

And the perch? Well it was just a baby but I have plans for cat whisker lures to entice some stripey's and maybe even a few Jacks.

The Arches has always been excellent sport for Esox, and I've been playing with a few lures amongst our Jacks before I test them with a fly.  You just can't beat a Rapala and our toothy beauties seem particularly fond of my countdown Perch coloured CP-7. I'm afraid there's not many pictures of my Pike because I tend to fish alone on the Arches. It's very peaceful down there and quietly exploring, moving from swim to swim around the bank is something that Mouse loves as much as I do. And when I become fixated with that perfect margin edge where esox simply has to be, Mouse is happily springing about in the wild meadow behind. 

(If you'd like to bring your dog along to Lonsdale they are allowed in some accommodation and are allowed along the banks of the Arches)

However my new adventure in ultra light lure fishing started dramatically yesterday when my new straight from Santa's workshop Tronix Rockfish UL paired with an equally new pink Angry Birds Rapala lure made for a very angry Pike! 

To be honest I was just playing in the edges of the swim on the Arches with my new bright pink lure enjoying it's action and working things out when at the edge of the weed bed the little rod tip arced around alarmingly and something made short run of just a couple of feet to the weed bed. Before I knew what was happening I'd made my mistake, there was a tiny crack, some great toothy jaw released its grip, and the body of a pale pink lure came wobbling upto the surface. A few seconds later I watched with horror as a small black eye and white section of carbon slid down the line to rest on the swivel of my wire trace.

Oh dear. But the realisation I still had my lure brightened my outlook. 

Of course with a little help from Dad's workshop I soon had a new and "improved", slightly shorter version of the Rockfish UL. We've lost count of the rods we've repaired for our guests over the years, but this the first time I've needed to use those skills on my own gear!

From our family to yours - Season's greetings and tight lines!

To return home click: www.lonsdalepark.co.uk

One-Armed Bandits at Lonsdale Park 19th to 23rd September 2013

One-Armed Bandits at Lonsdale Park 19^th to 23^rd September 2013

John & I were back at Lonsdale Park at the special invitation of owners Paul & Val for a long weekend of fishing through the day & evenings in the Lowther Arms!

John is still fairly new to fishing with only one arm, whereas being a past master I was only too keen to show John a few tips & tricks in the art.  Since our first time together a couple of years ago John has been doing a bit of homework, but in fear of the rest of his tackle ending in his local Lancashire canal he needed some urgent coaching J

Fishing the Cottage Pegs of Lonsdale Lake, on the feeder John was immediately into quality roach at exactly the same time as me on the next peg, both were about 12oz.  John switched to the waggler & was catching small roach as well as a few larger ones.  Each fish he put back was chased by a pike that was in front of him all the time.  John also landed a couple of tench to 3lb.  I was sitting it out for some bigger fish on the method but could only hook into a few nice roach.

John’s improved ability to play & land fish, was impressing Paul & I.  Frustratingly he can no longer use his prosthetic arm & tackle tying hook, so I gave him a few tips, while learning a couple of things from him.

Next up was the challenge I set myself a couple of years ago when John said there’s no chance of pole fishing with one arm.  Well, after a few different attempts I, as John said, cracked it.  That said, any distance over 10 metres is hard work, but in the margins you can have great fun.  Back home in Kent, I had landed fish to 17lb but had decided it is for fun only as I’m not competitive using it at match level, yet.

We loaded our buggy & drove to Deer Lake and using his own pole gear on my seatbox & setup John was away and it wasn’t long until John was getting into small carp & decent roach & enjoying seeing having his elastic stretched again.  Most impressively was that he landed them on his own with only a short-handled landing net, which I found very amusing.  I was catching a few carp to 5lb on the cage & method feeder.

During a quiet spell in the fishing we were enjoying the wildlife, especially the pair of Kingfishers that were flying around the lake.  We had such a great day that day we went back & did it all over again for our final day.  Now John can’t wait to get back up there, even if he has to go on his own.

Over a brew with Val & Paul we bid our farewells with extreme gratitude for the invitation.  One last trip to the pub before saying our goodbyes as I was going to leave before John got up the next morning.  All being well we will meet up again next year.

Thank you again Paul & Val

Roy & John

AKA The One-Armed Bandits

The Luck of the Irish!!

Hi Paul and all at Lonsdale,  hope all is well.  

                                                                      I am just getting in  touch to share our experiences of  the truly fantastic  time we have just had during our week’s stay at the  park, and there’s only way to describe it, a session of a life time!

Straight from the off all 3 of us were catching carp, which was a bit of a surprise due to the weather conditions that we were faced with but it soon became clear that the fish were up for a feed, and as the days went on the fishing just got better and better.

Most of the time my Brother Aaron couldn’t keep a rod in the water due to constant double takes, he really did have them in a feeding frenzy, he ended up with a grand total of 59 carp ranging from low doubles to the biggest at 22lb 12oz, a cracking common, which I think is a fantastic achievement considering he was only fishing from just before first light to around midnight, mainly due to the fact that he was well and truly shattered from his constant hauling and needed a good night’s sleep.

Dad and I also had some excellent sport as well with Dad landing a total of 37 carp and 29 for me, with most fish ranging in the mid double, to high teens, again caught on a mix of Richworth and Lonsdale peach & pepper freezer baits over Lonsdale halibut pellet.

The carp weren’t  the only species on the feed as Dad soon found out when he decided to have a go for the pike, after witnessing the constant showers of roach scattering the surface trying to evade capture, and he wasn’t disappointed either, for he had regular takes on  float fished roach and mackerel. Again they came thick and fast in only a few hours fishing each day, and it’s here we have to give testament to you and all at Lonsdale for the superb condition these fish were in not to mention the fantastic average size of just over 12lb topped by the biggest going exactly 22lb.

 At one point he did have a much, much bigger fish on only for her to slip the hooks at the net, gutted wasn’t the word and when asked how big he thought she was he said he wouldn’t  like to estimate her size, but  it was a beast of epic proportions!!!

After experiencing the quality of pike fishing on offer Aaron and I soon decided to follow suit and have a dabble ourselves, and we too managed to bag ourselves a few toothy critters to mid doubles.

I have to say the pike fishing was one of the many great highlights of the trip as unfortunately here in N. Ireland the piking has somewhat diminished over the years due to reasons beyond the anglers control, so it was a real joy to experience  quality pike fishing again.

We even had a few surprises along the way as well in the form of a 1lb 10oz roach, a 19lb pike both caught on boilie a cheeky 2lb perch that had a go at dead bait much too big for it, 3 tench, 2 chub and a UFO for good measure, lol.

All in all an amazing week, and one we will always remember.

No doubt we will be seeing you in the new year, which can’t come quick enough even more so for Dad as he has a score to settle with the Beast!, all the best and tight lines,

                                                                    Michael, Ryan & Aaron Mcilwaine,

                                                                                     Belfast.

Thanks for sending us the write -up & some of the photos from your weeks stay.

Paul & Malcolm enjoy their week

Just had a great week at Lonsdale.

We caught well over fifty carp and some chub and tench.

The best fish being two over 20lb.

All my fish were caught on Lonsdale frozen baits and most of malcolms was caught on shelf life.

Apart from the weather we had a great week.

Many thanks to Lonsdale and we will see you again soon.

Paul and Malcolm from Edinburgh.

Thanks for sending us your write-up & photos glad you enjoyed your stay.

.

Lots on Line !!

Paul's been kept busy getting the cottages "on line" - wi fi reception now also reaches most of the pegs on Lonsdale.

This has coincided with busy lines of a different type! It has proved one of the best weeks fishing this year. Every carp angler around the lake had amazing catches. Just to mention one Aaron McIlwaine  accounted for the largest number of carp. (over 50) Brother Ryan didn't catch quite as many & Dad Michael caught 37 carp & at least 12 pike up to 22lb. As a family they accounted for a catch of around 130 carp from 12lb to well over 20lb.
As soon as the guys send over their catch report & pictures we'll post them on the blog.

This scenario was repeated around the lake with all anglers reporting great carp & pike catches with quite a few PBs.

- Please send us your catch reports with photos!

This often seems to happen this time of year with the arrival of Autumn  the carp seem to realise winter is approaching & get their heads down to feed & the pike wake up!

The Colonel's Return

Colonel’s Diary : A Visit From ‘Boris’ and a Netfull of Willow Roach

If you’ve read the chapter ‘Carps and Beer’ in Chris Yates’ Casting at the Sun, then you’ll have noted the reference to ‘a man called Boris who lives in Farnham, Surrey’ as someone the Golden Scale Club has resisted. Well, it just so happens ‘Boris’ is a very good friend of mine, and is married to the lovely Linda, who has close relatives in Kendal. To cut a long story short, they were up for the week, so I pleaded with Paul to allow Boris to accompany me for a day at Lonsdale, as it was some while since I’d enjoyed a visit.

Now, Boris is what I can only describe as a ‘hardcore angler’. A lifelong British Carp Study Group member and highly respected allrounder, he and Paul struck an immediate rapport, exchanging experiences of foreign angling campaigns after Shark, Nile Perch et al. Although he is suffering failing eyesight and severe breathing difficulties, neither of these problems stop him spending a week in a bivvy to net a 40 pounder or a day on the open sea enduring all the weather can throw at him……..for sure, he’s a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

What dear old Boris needed was a leisurely day, a frequently dipping float and the company of good honest fellow anglers. I like to think he got that a plenty from Paul’s fine hospitality, in the form of lashings of steaming tea, Willow’s jagging Roach and an eel ( on breadflake!!!!), a bonus chub and one of the carp, which I reckon he’d have netted if the hookhold hadn’t failed.

Boris went home with a smile on his face and a new found friend.

I had a month or so ‘off’, not feeling too good, until a call from Paul spurred me into another visit with a bag of mashed bread, a fresh loaf and a tin of the golden grains. It was a tonic to see my old friend again, plus there was the added bonus of a chance at those pristine Roach of his. Also, the night before, ‘Walter’ had floated through my dream, cruising across the pool half out of the water, his eye swivelling tauntingly at me. He was so intent on teasing me that his bulky frame took him crashing into the reedbed to the left of the little jetty, whereupon his splashing and struggling awoke me from my slumber. I drove to Lonsdale in high spirits.

Unbeknown to me, it was my bearded friend’s birthday, so I was particularly thankful my Gaffer had handed me a jar of her homemade marmalade and a small cake for him before I’d departed that morning. I fear the lovely lady has psychic powers !!!!! He beamed his gratitude and carried my rod and landing net to the poolside for me. What a fine fellow. We sat with the customary mugs of Yorkshire tea for a quick catch-up before he went about his work for the day. ‘The Carp are laying under the jetty and the Roach are awaiting their mashed bread’, he remarked casually upon leaving me alone in the swim. I needed no further bidding, a couple of handfuls of mash hit the water surface pretty swiftly followed by my baited size 12 hook beneath the handmade sarkanda reed float. The red tipped reed hardly had time to settle.

The Roach had obviously missed seeing their old ‘Colonel’, as they came to visit my net in droves throughout the day. Forty of them, in fact, all good’uns with the best close to the magic ‘two’. There’s something about the larger Roach, isn’t there? They take on a squarer, more solid look; there scales grow rougher, more warriorlike. The jagging fight has that bit more menace and fury about it. I love them with a passion. Unusually, they kept at it all day, which I think was due to me alternating between float fishing and legering with a cage feeder, a tip I’d picked up from Boris’s recent Thames fishing experiences.

The Roach tally was added to by three silver bream, a hard tussling chub and a twisting, spinning vegetarian eel…….yes, it snaffled a grain of sweetcorn!!!!! And in proper Yates fashion, my dream was broken when the float lifted, pirouetted and slide away with a purpose. I like to think it really was Walter reminding me I’m no match for him, as he crashed into the reedbed to my left, snapping the hooklink…….well, not on float tackle anyway, my friend. But, just you wait; one day, one day soon, old fella.

Reel a Deal

Call for details of last minute offers - 07770 825896

3 Bedroomed Lodge Available

50% discount off the 3 Bedroomed Lodge week commencing 24th August

(conditions apply) Phone for details!!

Catch Update

Bill Faye who recently stayed in the 3 bedroomed lodge with his family had a great week, especially Mark who had 37 good fish mainly Carp to 14lb 8 ozs but included 7 tench & 5 chub. Mark bivvied on the lodge peg & caught most of his fish late evening early morning.

Regulars Matt, Pete, Helen, & Big Matt also had a good week staying in the cottages.Both Matt's had a good week.

Big Matt broke his PB with a beautiful 24lb 8oz carp whilst everyone else also caught well. All the carp were taken on our frankfurter & snail boillies.

Where's the pictures you promised Matt??

Pam Reeves & family again regulars for many years had a truly outstanding week. Son David had 52 carp the biggest being just over 20lbs most averaging the high teens giving him between 750lb & 800lb of carp. - Well done David - you were going to get your Mum to send the best photos!!   Please!!

This beats the previous record of Paul Woods from Wigan who had over 700lb of fish but his stay was over 2 weeks.

Unless this weight is beaten before the end of September this will make David the winner of our biggest weight of the season entitling the family to a 50% discount in the accommodation of their choice on a holiday booked & taken before Easter 2014. (we need the photos David)

Cottage with Private Lake

Cottage with private lake available. Call for details.

Late Availability

2 bedroomed lodge available commencing 3 August 2013.

Call for details.

Mark & J.J. strike again

Hi Paul, Val

 

Just wanted to say a big thank you from myself, JJ and his wife Siggi.

Thought I would share a few pictures of results of our holiday there at the end of June.

 

As always when I arrive there is always a turn for the worse with the weather and yes the fish were feeding like mad the week before. (always the way!)

JJ as always on his once a year fishing escapade from Germany was about to explode with excitement when we arrived and on his first day was catching eels on a float fished pellet near the surface for roach and then went on to catch another on a pop-up on the surface,which I have never seen done before.

After that the change in the weather put a halt to the carp feeding on the bottom so I moved JJ and I over to mostly fishing on the top and with Z rigs. A couple of carp were had on your new Snail and Frankfurter boillies but we mostly caught all the carp on top or mid water.

The end results was JJ having 15 carp with a new PB with a lovely 23lb common and the biggest fish of the week (shear luck since he can’t even tie on his own hook!), whilst I managed to bag 36 carp with the biggest a little over 19lb. Not bad since few others were catching any carp at all.

Anyway just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone and I’m looking forward to getting back soon.

 

Take care

 

Mark Carberry

Thanks for sending us the photos & write up Mark, much appreciated.

Martin's rod bending week-end

Martin Broadbent has had an excellent week-end.

He landed 3 beautiful carp all from Reed Lake weighing in at 18lbs, 25lb 8ozs & 31 lbs, beating his PB.

Photos to follow.

13th July late availability

One cottage available week commencing 13th July.

Call 07770 825896 for details.

Steve's relaxing break!

Thanks to Steve Margett for the photos & write -up, see you again!

I recently spent 3 nights targeting tench on the arches lake over at lonsdale park over the years ive had some very good tench hauls from all the lakes including several 9lb plus fish but this time with tench fishing very patchy here in scotland i just wanted to bank a few and thats exactly what happened, fishing at very short range to reed lines and coupled with a consistant baiting approach with maggots, pellet, bread crumb, hemp and wheat also with a few broken and crumbed boilies in the mix was my tactics for the session , im a big fan of using small mesh pva bags boosted with liquids on top of the free offerings, i used trimmed down lonsdale snail and frankfurter boilies with a 6mm bright topper on the hair for my hookbaits , i did try maggots but the constant eel takes convinced me to stay on cut down boilie, it took a while for me to get my first take which was about 8pm on the first evening, but once they started i was kept up all night by the tench coming thick and fast, my first was the best of the trip coming in at just over 7lbs at 7lbs 4 oz but the next few nights produced over 40 4lb plus tench with a good few smaller males as well!! also a brace of carp, the biggest was bang on 25lbs a very well put together fish!! Some large roach also played ball the best just a tab under the 2lb barrier. when the tench switched on i had some great sport even if the weather was not that good with prolonged heavy rain at times and gusty winds coming and going with the showers but it didnt put them off infact i 3 fish in the net once during a heavy wet spell whilst i readied my camera, when they are feeding here big hauls are possible in a very short time thats why i always have plenty of pva bags made up and waiting so i can get straight back on the baited spots and get the fish in ive always used 2 landing nets at lonsdale whilst targeting the tench and carp because they often turn up in bunches!! And when theres big tench and carp to be had you don't want to leave yourself struggling!! brilliant tench sport and its always nice to bank a few big roach and chunky carp- Thanks again paul!

Roy & Gina at Lonsdale Park

8^th to 22^nd June 2013

After a long non-stop drive from Kent it was nice to be greeted by Paul, Val, Julian & Matt.  While dipping our nets & mats we sat with Paul over a “brew”.  Having not seen each other for a year seemed weird so it was great to catch up face-to-face while Gina was putting the world to rights with Val!

We were in Swan Cottage (3) this year, which was a strange but pleasant change.  It was good to be back and to see my old pike rod on the wall outside the whirlpool bathroom.  We settled in and said hello to our friendly neighbours then caught up with our old Lonsdale friends Colin & Wendy, they were there for our first week (in week two we’d meet up with old pals Jack & Terry).  Eventually it was time to sort out the tackle then cast out from our cottage peg and to chill out, which was our main aim after what had been a tough year.  Then to bed zzzzzz

I woke early to a glorious sunrise, with a mist on the water, oh it looks fishy today:

We loaded the tackle on the FishMobility Buggy and headed for one of our favourite places, Deer Lake, there was no one else to be seen:

Gina found a peg in the sun & saw a Ghostie just a few feet from the bank, what more could she want.  It wasn’t long before her tip zipped round and the Ghostie was on:

Having not fished for a year, Gina looked a natural as she played it to the net, the Ghostie was hers:

More were to follow over the next 2 weeks.  It seemed every peg Gina chose to fish would have a Ghostie in front of it, unfortunately she didn’t capture the big one this year but had plenty of good fish & a few feathery friends:

Roy had set himself the challenge of pole fishing and developed a bespoke system to manage it with just one hand, you’ve got to see it to believe it!

We fished the newly re-landscaped and re-stocked Birch Pool, where Gina caught a gorgeous mirror carp that impressed Paul so much he grabbed it for a photo opportunity:

Not to be outdone (well slightly!), Roy caught a smaller and not quite so pretty one:

Many fish were caught over the 2 weeks including these two from Lonsdale Lake on a carp rod using Lonsdale’s Snail & Frankfurter boilies (yep real snails & German sausage) over balls of a 50-50 mix of their Halibut & Carp groundbaits.  The first is a 17lb 6oz common only 6’ out & 15’ along the bank, the second a 15lb Mirror from 6’ short of the reed island, proof that you don’t need to cast to the horizon!

Gina nabs a clonking roach from The Arches, then as the sun begins to set on our 2013 holiday we are already looking forward to our return next year.

Thank you Lonsdale Park, see you in 2014

Roy & Gina