7 May 2017 – Catch report from: Alan and friends

This week we had the pleasure of welcoming another new group to the venue from Hampshire. The weather was bang on for bites on their arrival but so wild that they’d chosen to skip two nights rather than take a soaking and enjoy the comforts of the house. Alan was quick off the mark on the first night though with a lovely mirror of 33lbs and by the end of Monday he’d added three more low thirties to his scorecard which is great going for his first trip to the venue. Alan had really done his homework on the lake and followed our advice to the letter on rigs and setup so it was smiles all round when we met up on Tuesday.

Alan had also brought along his son Luke for the trip. Luke expected his normal way of fishing to be good enough but 72hrs in, he’d failed to connect with anything despite activity on his alarms. A quick inspection of the state of one of his hooks told me all I needed to know and after I sharpened one up for him he banked the sturgeon.

Click here to see all the fish caught this week.

Top rod this week: Adam with 13 Beausoleil beauties

Luke’s mate Adam was the most experienced angler of the group and spent the first 48 hrs fishing with his favoured lead clip setup but by the end of the 2nd night he knew he’d been done too many times and two had dropped off during the fight. With Alan catching a 30lb carp a chuck on the Beausoleil lead system, Adam made the switch and banked Moonscale at 33lbs within hours. Adam had total faith in his stiff hinge and snowman rigs so he simply coupled them with my lead system and it made all the difference. Adam was also skilled in the art of hand sharpening his hooks and during our Tuesday visit he had back to back takes when he banked Shorty at 39lbs, followed by a 28lbs common.

For the rest of the week, Adam’s experience shone through and he ended the week with a total of 13 carp including 8 x 30lbs+ and new king of the pond Mr Angry at 41lbs 2oz. Apart from getting all the essential technical elements spot on, baiting strategy was the key to his success and tiny bait boat traps coupled with dotting baits along the margin got them moving between bait and induced mistake after mistake from the carp.

“Over the moon!”

Mid week, Luke banked the fish of a lifetime in the form of a 90lb catfish. Things got a bit hairy during the fight as the cat made a move towards the wrong side of the island. Luke took the decision to get in the boat and then went on the ride of his life as he got towed round the lake. He managed to get into the Catfish corner swim and back onto dry land where the fight continued. No one wanted to have a go at gloving such a beast so they went for the netting option. It was very lucky that they did as the 25lb mouth trap chod element failed as it came over the cord!

Fortunately some swift work by dad saved the day as he bundled it into the net. With no catfish experience between them the guys did very well to bank it so big congratulations to the team. Alan also got his catfish experience later on in the week when he banked a “small” 56lbs specimen. They don’t compare with the battle royale of a 90lber but they don’t half hang on!

As well as fishing for himself, Alan was also helping his mate Noel who was more at home fishing the seas off the Hampshire coast. This type of fishing was very different to what he was used to and unfortunately he’d hit the wrong rod in the dark on the first night and blown his first chance. Despite the best efforts of the whole group who went above and beyond in an effort to avoid a blank for Noel, it just didn’t happen for him. Fortunately it was as much a social as anything else and he had a great time with the boys.