Make Sure You Bag It!!
Posted: 24th Aug 2014
We have had a mixed group this week comprising of Kevin, Claire & Willow the dog, along with two new guy's, Martyn & Ian. Now, Kev & Claire have been before so had a clear idea of how to tackle the lake. Marytn & Ian are France veterans and have been coming over the channel for 30 years+ but are used to fishing the large wind swept puplic waters, which can be very different that a small pressured venue.
I think good bait does make a difference along with how you build your swim throughout the week, being displayed in fine fashion this week. I had been talking with Kev about how many hookpulls have happened over the last couple of months, with the weed contributing to some of this partly because of fish weeding themselves, resulting in hookpulls. Also I think the rig presentation has been compromised which has hindered the rig entering the mouth correctly and poor hook-holds being the result. Kev decided to fish one of the rods on a bag with a short 5" hooklink, everything going inside giving 100% confidence of the rig hitting the lake bed and not being caught up in any strands of weed. Single Fishmeal bottom bait, fished over his patch, resulting in 10 pick-ups over the week with each night landing 1 or 2 fish, resulting in 10 fish on the bank. Tight baiting, little and often with a nice PVA bag fished over the top of the pellet and boilie clearly seemed to work. Of his 10 fish, 3 fish over 40lb+ but all low 40s, 30lb & 20lb fish making the rest of the numbers up. Martyn and Ian had a bit of a tough time, stacks of fish in front of Marytn in Peg 2 for most of the week but he failed to pick them up. Ian managed a 38lb, 30lb and a small grassie from Peg 3 in the gap between the far bank and middle weedbed. But with the lads fishing 1,2,3 it gave the fish far too much room to hide and they started to move into 5 as the week wore on for the peace & quite. Ian pinched some bait from Kev which resulted in the takes, a couple of small stockies were also landed which have not been added to the tally. The fish are still looking a little lean but slowly putting the weight back on after the summer, but all looking in good condition once again. I'm starting to think the fish have not been feeding hard at all over the summer, just browsing on naturals in the weed as and when suits. August has been one of the most consistant months for the last 7 years but this has not been the case this season, I'm hoping September/October will come into its own to make up for the weight loss and inconsistant fishing. A few answers this week which has been a positive, & once again good to see anglers putting in a little thought reaping the rewards.
On the change over this week I had time to clear some of the weed beds out in front of Pegs 3 & 4 which has now made each Peg more than fishable and less places for the fish to hide.
A group of regulars have turned up this week settling for Pegs 1,2,4,5 so well spread out covering most areas of the lake. Barry had a 36lb mirror From 1 this morning and lost a fish. Stacks of fish have moved back into Peg 2 over all the bait Martyn put in last week and making the most of a free meal!! Pete took a nice soild mirror of 40lb 4oz this morning just after breakfast from a small hard spot only 40 yards out from the front of Peg 4. Arthur decided on a good nights sleep and just baited up instead of fishing.
Nearly all the fish last week came through the dark hours, but with two fish being banked first light this morning lets hope they will swing to daylight hours again.
I forgot to mention about the Goshawk incident a couple of weeks ago for all who are interested in the Wildlife around the lake. It's not the first time one has been seen hunting the lake margins, and Keith had mentioned he thought it was a Gos trying to snatch a Coot from the lake out in front of Peg 4, narrowly missing and then perching in one of the Willow trees for a good 5 minutes contemplating a second attack. I then went onto finishing my rounds only to be confronted by Jayne my Wife crying when I returned to the house, looking down to see her holding one of the Doves we rescued with its chest ripped out? I was confused because the aviary is directly outside the house and being made of very small (25cm) mesh. My initial thought was a Weasel had found its way in and killed the bird, but Jayne said she could hear a hell of a comotion in the front garden, only to look out of the window while a bird was clinging to the mesh wire frantically lashing out with its talons and literally in a frenzy to get inside. Jayne was convinced it was Goshawk, being far too big for a Sparrowhawk, but the crafty girl managed a few pics on the Ipad, confirming it was a juvnenile Male Goshawk. It managed to grab one of the doves through the mesh killing the bird instantly and causing a serious wound on one of the other birds, which is hanging in there at present. It just goes to show the secret is in the name "The Sanctuary" because you never know what can show up from week to week.
That's all for now folks.
Team Sanctuary
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