41 Species!
Posted: 7th Aug 2016
At last we have had a change in the weather with a heavy short downpour on Thursday this week signaling the first of any rain for 8 weeks! We had a mixed group this week making the lake booking, with Mick, Paul & Steve opting for swims 1,3,5.....followed by Julian dropping into 4 to accomodate his marquee arrangements for himself and Sally his wife, but I honestly think it was for all his tackle and BBQ equipment!. We also had young Finnlee accompanying his dad Paul so it was a busy week for numbers of people!
Now Julian & Sally are both avid "birders" so they had both scope and "bins" at the ready all week making the most of what species are still around and haven't migrated. Over the week they recorded 41 different birds with the highlight being a family of Hawfinch that seem resident down at the lake along with a male Hen Harrier hunting the far meadow overlooking the lake.....once again it gives wildlife enthusiasts an idea of what can be seen with a little effort!
Regarding the fishing front it turned out a good week, the change in the weather did make a huge difference sparking the fish into feeding towards the later part of the week. We are now seeing a huge head of Roach & Tench in the lake so we are ready for a lake draindown this winter. If small soft baits are used they will pick the rigs up or whittle them down so hardening the boilies with a little airdying along with 18mm hookbaits seems to slow them down somewhat. With a good 30 Tench caught this week on the carp rods with the smaller soft baits and a good few over 7lb+, combined with Paul landing 4 Roach all spawned out of 1lb 8oz each it gives you an idea how much bait they are consumming, so a few extra kilo of boilies, or using pellet and particle to keep them busy can help.
23 carp landed this week with a a good 6 lost, it turned out well for most, with new pbs set and 3 fish of 47lb + being landed it was nice to see a few of the better fish feeding again after the slow results over the last month with the very hot weather. no less than 7 fish over 40lb+ along with grassies to 40lb 8oz.....& 7 stockies under 20lb not included. Julian had a hard time in Peg 4 but you do need them in front of you to catch!
Once again building the swim and getting the fish feeding is still the key, hookbait choice and even where you fish is of less importance than your baiting stratergy. Paul had a clear plan from the start which he stuck with and kept his spots going, he fished well and the effort paid off even though his father in law took the largest fish of the week at 47lb 8oz followed by another of 47lb from peg 1.....did he use your bait Paul:)
We are now starting to experience the change in the seasons with August signaling a drop in night time temps making way for cooler mornings and steaming lakes, heavy dew & that slight Autumnal feeling in the air!
We have 4 return customers on the lake this week, so let's see how they fair, and let's hope the cooler mornings will now start to wake the carp from their summer slumber.
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Team Sanctuary