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Big Lake Test Fishing

Posted: 16th Jun 2017

Well it's been an interesting week to say the least and one of stark contrasts between the two lakes. To say the fish have been showing on the 7 acre lake is an understatement, at times you would have thought the lake contained 300 fish because they were showing everywhere.We had a new group arrive this week with the group fishing the smaller lake and two anglers venturing onto the 15 acre lake, this is the first time we have let anyone fish the lake for a complete week so it was interesting to see how it would unfold.

The fish had a little spat at spawning again in Peg 5 this week along with two or three days spawning on the big lake, along the pegside in the margins. Despite the fish turning the bottom over in Peg 5 close in they refused to pick a bait up and the lads had a clear plan in-mind which they stuck with for the week, and it appeared to work against them. Lee fished his socks off in Peg 3 and managed a low 20lb male stockie early in the week but despite him sticking with the spots and working hard it was tough going. Tom also managed another low 20lb male fish in Peg 1 on the first night but after that a few fish were lost to hookpulls but nothing else landed. It has been one of the hardest weeks I can remember and the lowest catch rate of the last 10 years, but the fish are happy on the naturals at the moment and very little can seem to convince them to feed on anglers bait. Dozens of fish each evening could be seen taking emerging insects from the lake surface, and returning to the small weed patches very close in around peg 4 area, which has been the same pattern for the 3rd week running. Matt bumped two fish off while trying to trick them when they visited the weedbeds, but after the two lost fish he had to just sit back and enjoy the show they put on, very frustrating indeed.

The lads this week spent a lot of time wading in and out and I'm sure by the end of the week despite my concerns it would put the fish off, the chaps realised this to be the case.. I didn't think it was going to be a blistering week regardless, but a few more fish should have graced the bank this week if they had tackled the lake in a different fashion!!

Although the fishing was hard on the 7 acre lake, the two chaps on the 15 acre lake ended up fishing around 4 hours per day, simple fact was they could'nt keep up.  A couple of the other lads in the group had a few hours on the lake also resulting in fish, but it was very interesting to see the difference between the size of the fish and different behaviour between one end to the other.The wind makes a huge difference and the fish behave in a very natural manner because of the lack of pressure but on the second day it went a little quite and I could sense the fish knew something was out of the ordinary with the bankside disturbance....after that they settled back down again. John opted for the far bay on his own, this is the shallower end around 3.5 feet deep, acres of water to himself and he was in angling heaven. Paul fished the centre part of the lake and moved his rods around depending on where the fish were bubbling, which seems to change each day depending again on the weather and wind. A couple of interesting points worth mentioning for the forseable future is there no bait limit in place, this may change but for now it's a bait water. At times John would put out 10kilos of bait over a spot, cast onto it and the rod was away before the clip was on....unreal. You are talking over 500 fish in the lake now along with some middoubles that have breed over the last 3 years which will be removed this winter.....so the total number is anyones guess for the remainder of this year. I also get asked about sizes, I always kept a few big females back from the beginning, this gave me a back up if need be, and also good gentetics for future breeding within this lake....one of these fish was 53lb  7 years ago so I hope she has either grown or mantained her weight because of the actual biomass at the moment.

Paul had a pb grassie of 31lb so he was pleased to have that under his belt early on.....lots of fish in the 21-23lb bracket that are all spawned out so they will be pushing mid 20lb this year. John was picking up all the commons down in the far bay for some reason and fish of 26,27,28,29lb, giving him some epic battles, once again fish that will be over 30lb by the end of the year. The guys did pick-up lots of upper doubles as well between 18-19lb and a few mid doubles which are self spawned and will be removed..........but the week total was 140 fish which by anyones standards is incredible considering at times John fished 1 rod and both chaps did not fish hard at all because of the sheer effort!! How nice that must have been. All the fish are true virgin specimens in pristine condition and I can see just from this first session on the lake we will be looking at 100s of fish over 30lb towards the end of next season which is a frightening thought when they come past your spots!! Both chaps said it's going to be incredble in the next few seasons and John said its probably the best weeks fishing of his life....what more can you say!

The smaller fish seem to come from the end of the lake (Peg1) where I feed them each day,, at the moment I put it 100kg of food per day and it appears the smaller fish are getting to it first, with the better fish being in the centre of the lake this week. Paul managed some stunning mirrors to 31lb but the fuuny part about all this was Paul was convinced the better fish were showing on the opposite back over the last few morning with a few real chunks boshing out. He decided to do a couple of hours with pva bags with his Brother Tom from Peg 1 on the smaller lake......they fished a swim which will be called house point because of the old foundations of a building which are on the near margin on the lake bed. It's a large flat stone plateau with a drop-off on the back side which is where they fished, a small underarm flick and within a couple of hours Tom had landed the biggest fish of the week at 39lb....the irony of that...along with another 3 fish over 20lb+ to 27lb. If i can remember correctly Paul finished up with another 5 x 20lb+ including a mirror of 28lb+ and a common of the same weight for his last days fishing.

I'm sure I have missed a few fish from the list because I couldn't keep up if I'm honest....but around 70 of the fish with 20lb+, a handful of 30s to 39lb and the rest being mostly just under 20lb and some mid-doubles. It looks like the spawning has been completed and what the lads caught is just the tip of the iceberg with plenty more surprises to come when the chaps start to fish the lake in September/Oct.

We are now taking booking for 2018 on the 15 acre lake......if you're looking for totally pristine carp, lots of hectic sport in the most stunning surroundings it's worth booking on. I won't sell the story of uncaught 60 & 70s but the lake does hold a few surprises and it's an unknown to myself how all the fish have grown over the years. What I can guarantee is unparelled sport and in the very near future it's going to be an incredible lake that is for sure.

So that's just a little taster of what is going on....still flat out with the shower block and it's all been clad, with the roof going on this week...so far so good!

Feel free to get in touch if you need to know more.

 

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