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Bovril Brothers Return

Posted: 11th Aug 2014

This morning had a very faint hint of Autumn in the air, with a cool, fresh start to the day combined with a heavy dew on the grass, and I hope the Carp are sensing a slight change in the time of the year!!! It's a full moon tonight so I would expect most of the action this week to take place in the daylight hours, but I have been proved wrong before now.

The Bovril Brothers left with 3 out of the 4 taking a new pb but the fishing was once again up and down. Daz in Peg 5 lost a good fish that straightened his hook out ( no need to mention the brand because it could only be one!!) but once again a huge amount of fish lost this week. Lee who fished Peg 1 was new to the group and a moment did not pass without this chap laughing and prank pulling all week.(one of lifes great guys) He spent more time in the lake than on the bank and also gave me the chance to sample a bottle of his homemade wine, which was absolutley stunning, the down side was his bait!!! Now he turned up with a bag of bait which I thought were Haribos, he had more flavours & colours than Willy Wonker and the fish stayed clear from his spots until Wednesday. I was scratching my head because the fish were stacked into Pegs 1 & 2 all week, showing, bubbling and leaving the water like hot chocolate. I mentioned that he drop the Haribos and just keep the baiting tight and use just the Sanctuary pellet (not a cheap plug) with a balanced fishmeal over the top, and the result was instant with him having double pick-ups on a few occasions and sometimes the rods had been out less than 30 minutes, the only down side was he lost a good 12-15 fish? I'm sure Lee would agress that his 13 foot, 3lb 3/4 rods caused the hook pulls and to be honest I have caught Tope on lighter rods. Every fish counts & I know I'm repeating myself, the fishing has been tough this June/July with the fish having so much natural food and places to hide so losing a good 20 fish in a week is going to have a huge affect on the final count, just a little thought can go a long way. Lee did manage a new pb of 40lb 8oz along with a pb Grassie of 32lb+. Matt had a short spell of action fishing Peg 2 for the day and broke his pb with a mirror of 37lb 14oz. Dan took a new pb of 42lb from the far bank in Peg 4 and Daz took fish to 35lb from Peg 5, but the fishing was tough going down that end of the lake with the fish not wanting to move much. The week total was 10 fish but it could have been far more if the hooked fish had been landed.

Most of the takes have been just a tightening of the swinger without a screamer so it's worth bearing in mind if this happens over the next few weeks. Tight baiting, plenty of pellet and chopped baits seems to be scoring, along with trying a pop-up on one rod. Good quality bait is a must and please don't try and save a few ££ buying cheap baits after waiting 12 months to fish here because you will only kick yourself. The pellet we stock is a 9mm high quality fishmeal at 2.80 euro per kilo which is priced very fair and cheaper than most pellet in the UK.

The weed is just on the turn and I have managed to clear the huge weed bed between Pegs 1 & 2 and reducing the beds between 2 & 3 & 4 so opening areas up that have not been fished for sometime. Lots of small tench, carp and 1" long crayfish are coming out with the weed which explains why the carp are so happy to stay amongst them.

The lads this week are regulars and know the lake well so I hope they can turn things around and convert runs to fish on the bank.

Pictured below is Dans 42lb mirror from Peg 4 last week.

Lots going on at the moment on the farm, we have more animals than ever before which is turning into a full time job!! A new blog will be coming soon which will splinter off from the fishery? but more of that very soon.

Over & Out

Team Sanctuary