Sunday 28 June 2015

Catch Report

Thanks to the Sawyer family & co. for sending over photos of some of their catches, including some lovely tench to 7lb 8ozs & roach.

Most of the larger fish have been taken on  our freezer baits,

Well done to Jules who landed a lovely 18lb carp on her first fishing venture!

Pleasure anglers are reporting plenty roach are starting to feed, with weights up to 2lb.












Thursday 18 June 2015

The Colonel’s First ‘Glorious 16th’ in a Long, Long Time

Thank you for sending over this account & photos Colonel, much appreciated & home bakes delicous!.



16th June 2015 The Colonel’s First ‘Glorious 16th’ in a Long, Long Time

It’s been a very, very long time since I fished ‘the first day’ of the New season, and I know exactly how that aversion came to be. Back in the early 80’s, yes, really 35 years ago, I was a committed ‘Specimen Hunter’, having formed a Specimen Group of like minded anglers in my local area. We were privileged to be very near a now famed Cemex gravel pits complex. In those days I was also a father of six (and still am, of course), so did not have the time available for serious Carp fishing; I therefore concentrated on the Tench and Roach, which grew to specimen size in these lakes. I’d previously observed a good number of decent Tench in one of the lesser fished lakes and set about a baiting campaign in a hidden swim with difficult access. Long story short, when I arrived on 16th June, late, due to family responsibilities, I found my pre-baited swim occupied by two other anglers, both members of my Group. They’d already grassed a 7 pounder and were intending to stay put for some time to reap the rewards of my not inconsiderable efforts ……….. gentlemen anglers they were not, and the taste in my mouth was of the nasty kind. Hence my aversion to wetting a line on ‘the glorious 16th’.

Paul’s kind offer to allow me to cast a line at Lonsdale, 2015 might present the ideal opportunity to confine those memories to the dustbin of history. With a slight feeling of apprehension still nestling in the pit of my stomach, I took the familiar journey to Lonsdale Park with Paul’s battling Roach in mind and, most appropriately, a newly restored Chapmans ‘Fred J Taylor Roach’ rod to christen. Of course, Merlin was with me just in case some heavier ‘magic’ was needed.

There being no-one about, I left a couple of jars of my Gaffer’s Three Fruit marmalade on the kitchen table to accompany my home-baked fruit loaf which I know full well tickle my hosts’ palettes, then stealthily approached the lake. It was oily smooth and the air was muggy, in need of a good thunderstorm ……… hopefully not today, though, as I’d not packed a brolly !!!! As always, I launched a goodly handful of squeezed bread mash a rod length out, to ‘stir ‘em up’. Three or four pieces of crust hadn’t succumbed to the liquidiser the day before and refused to sink with the rest of the white cloud, stubborn to the last. Served ‘em right, when an apparition appeared, greedily sucking them down. ‘Mmmmmm’, I thought, ‘I reckon Merlin may need to cast his spell…….along with a fresh piece of crust, impaled upon my trusty, sharp steel.’

First cast, the crust was ferociously attacked almost at my feet. They were that close in the margin. Second one, just a vicious, knocked the crust off the hook, giving the fortunate assailant a free meal. Third time, lucky !!!! Merlin didn’t need a strike. He arched over, the hook well and truly set and the game was afoot. The Carp was the smallest of the gang, but I was relieved, as the strongest line I had with me was 4lb BS on my baby Mitch 408. Consequently, the little critter led me a merry dance. I did enjoy the tussle immensely in this lovely pool that is devoid of any nasty snags, to my knowledge. As long as sufficient side strain can dissuade a trip to the marginal vegetation, the day is generally won with patience and a strong wrist. So it was this day. My net was wet, Merlin and I were happy. With the swim well and truly ‘stirred up’, I could assemble ‘Fred J’ at my leisure.

I love ‘The Lift Method’. There’s something mystical, surreal, about a float rising up, Excalibur like, above the pool’s mirrored surface, when you consider it’s normal bite indication is a disappearance downwards, into the depths and out of site. Employing it this day was particularly poignant to me; using a technique promoted by my childhood angling hero, Fred J Taylor, in conjunction with the rod bearing his name. A delightful symmetry, I felt. Although a method primarily with Tench in mind, it also works admirably for other species prepared to pick a bait up from the bottom and, especially with Roach, as it gets the baited hook quickly past the ‘little ‘uns’, to the lake bed where the likelihood of bigger fish is greater. However, my faith was severely tested when I hooked small bream after small bream when I believed I should have been catching big Roach after big Roach.

A change over to Merlin and a running leger with golden grains as hookbait brought a little improvement in my luck. Chub, not Roach, graced my net now. They gave me a good scrap at around 2lbs a piece and half a dozen in number, but they were not the roach I so wanted. Back to the ‘FJT’ rod, the float and the FJT Lift it was, but this time corn on a gilt hook, to see if I could fool them.

Izaak smiled upon me that afternoon, and it worked!!!! The big Roach moved in, finding the corn to their liking. The float never remained stationary for over long. Slow lifts mainly, with the occasional instant disappearance without notice, just to keep me on my toes. They were all around the same size, comfortably over the pound and in pristine condition. I even had the heart stopping moment of knowing I’d got myself another ‘two’, when I saw a giant Roach hooked well and tussling hard a rod length or so away, with ‘FJT’ well bent; then the deceitful creature morphed itself into a Roach/Bream amalgamation weighing 2lbs and 2ozs ……… why do they do that to us? It did scrap darned hard though and was still kicking like the devil in the landing net.

All too soon the smaller Roach wised up, realised where the food was and moved in, by which time I guess I’d winkled out a lot of their big brothers anyway. Best to quit while I was winning. Time to head homeward. I’d achieved all I’d wanted and more but, most importantly, a ghost from my past had been exorcised.




Sunday 14 June 2015

Catching Carp

Well here's a couple of photos we have received.

Fred Tillett who stayed for the past 2 weeks caught lots of Pike & Carp, but here he is with his PB Grass carp weighing in at 25lb 4 ozs.

See you again  in September Fred.



Rob Sawyer has had a good start to his fortnight. Having stayed at Lonsdale last year he hadn't fished the Arches Lake so with that in mind took himself off there this morning. A couple of hours later he was rewarded by landing this 18lb beauty on our peach & black pepper boillies.


Tuesday 9 June 2015

What Tincas!

Pleased to say Mr. Williams as started off the day well.

After speaking to Paul yesterday, he followed the advice he was given & took himself off to the Arches at 4:30 am.

He enjoyed the next few hours catching 10 tench all over 5lb.