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.