Fishing report for Matt & Josh

Another superb week’s fishing with cats to 145lbs and carp to 53lbs!

This week we welcomed Matt and Josh to the venue for their first visit. Thanks to Angling Direct, Matt and Josh won the holiday along with a day’s tuition by entering the AD Win competition that was run last year. As fans of the channel, they were bouncing around the room when their ticket came up! We were super excited to meet them and after a tour round the lake we left them to settle in after a very long drive.

This week has been a week we will never forget. Matt and Ren were so welcoming and inviting from the day we arrived until the day we left. The day’s tuition with Matt is a must for any angler, a day that changed us as anglers for good. The location is stunning and calm, also the lake is incredible. It was the best fishing experience we have ever had.

After a productive tuition day, the guys were very quick on the uptake and wasted no time at all putting the plan into action. When I told them I was confident of seeing fish on the bank Sunday night, I’m not sure they believed me but when, after just 45 minutes, Matt’s Island Point rod was away, maybe I wasn’t crazy after all? What unfolded next will probably stay with the guys for the rest of their lives. 

They each had a carp PB of 25lbs and had never hooked a catfish before. And guess what their very first take was… 

Despite having no catfishing experience, Matt’s and Josh’s instincts weren’t good… they were excellent! In the early stages of the fight, the catfish got around the back of the island. As soon as they pass the tip, it’s usually game over as there are so many rocks and roots ready to cut you off. 

The guys then made a great decision: they took to the boat and headed off in pursuit and that got things going. The only trouble was that they were at the mercy of the catfish. Even Steve Redgrave would be hard pushed to row against a catfish that wanted to go in the opposite direction. At various points, the cat just curled up in a ball and went very heavy. It can feel like trying to pull the plug out of the lake and Matt was convinced that he’d hooked the bottom only for everything to move again and the show went on. 

They ended up in the Big Double, managed to get back on land and haul him up onto the mat. And this cat ended up weighing a whopping 145lbs. Huge congrats guys, that was epic 🏆

And this was just the beginning… By Wednesday,  Josh had banked 7 carp from the Big Double including Mr Angry at 53 lbs 8oz. Matt’s dream session continued with 6 carp and another catfish. Luckily the 2nd catfish was much easier to deal with than the first. 

Five of Josh’s fish came from a spot that he’d found along the dam wall margin. That area is never fished, it’s not a spot I know, but after exploring the lakebed together on Sunday and knowing how to find little margin spots like this, he set to work and was right on the money! Excellent work 👊

Like last week, the rest of the action came from the Snake bank margin and the back of the island. Up until Tuesday, the conditions were very similar to last week so that made sense. On Wednesday, the weather swung very wildly and the temperature went from an afternoon high of 17°C to 10°C without the windchill. With a savage NW wind, it made it feel very fresh! Following the change, the margins shut down and the only game in town was open water. The guys followed the weather, made the switch and the runs kept coming!

Bait & Rigs

Matt and Josh caught all their fish with the CC Moore Live System. They created a grubbing style mix using 3mm and 6mm pellets, 18mm Live System ran through a bait chopper, readymade hemp, sweetcorn mix and some Live System booster. A little lake water loosened the mix up and helped to distribute the flavours evenly.

The guys started off with small traps of 200 to 300g but at the end they were using 5kg between six rods. In total they used approximately 40 kgs of bait and caught steadily all week.

For rigs, they adopted the ever-faithful blowback multi, tied with 35lbs Armourlink and size 5 chod Twisters.

Very well done guys, it was a pleasure to spend time on the bank with you and what a week, enjoy the memories!

The fish gallery for March 2026 can be found here.