Date: October 2008

Details: Variety does seem to be the Spice of Life!

For the most part of 2007, Quest Baits 'Rahja Spice' was definitely King of the lake catching the most fish, with 'Special Crab' coming in a very close second. We noticed that by the end of that season there were flat spots in the catch numbers for these baits, and we put this down to the fish wising up after being hammered on these flavours for several weeks at a time.

For 2008, we made the decision to include Quests 'Liver B8' and 'Pineapple Crush' to the la Gléhias range of on site baits adding more variety of flavours, textures and colours etc.

Now the 2008 season is winding down, and after looking through the catch records for this year, adding more flavours to our stocks does seem to have paid off as catch rates have been higher on average than last year.

We estimate that roughly the same amount of fish were caught on the 'Rahja' and 'Crab', with catch numbers being bumped up a bit with many good fish being caught on the 'Pineapple Crush', and with 'Liver B8' out fishing all the others. This became especially highlighted when anglers who had ordered a variety of flavours had consistently higher weekly catch rates.

Although 'Pineapple Crush' took the least fish, in all fairness this flavour was the least sold. However, it also seems to have most regularly caught the bigger fish, being responsible for breaking the "Ladies Lake Record" twice this year.

The 'Special Crab' fished superbly early in the 2008 season and then slowed up a little around the end of May, but still worked well when fished in conjunction with other flavours on other rods. This bait was fished hard in 2007, as much as up to six weeks in a row, and on a small lake, the fish will soon start to get wary of it. I believed that the 'Special Crab' could have caught even more fish had it not been used quite so heavily, and this year seems to have proven exactly that. It has also been noted that more 'Commons' and 'Cats' are hooked on this flavour than any other flavour on our lake, so if you're after a big PB 'Common', make sure you've got some of these in your arsenal!

The 'Liver B8' worked much like the 'Rahja Spice' in the sense that it fished reliably well in all conditions, and kicks out fish when all else fails. For example, I have noticed that after a big cold down pour and a sudden drop in lake temperature that the catch rates can drop off a bit, but these two baits can keep the fish slowly coming in when nothing else seems to work.

When we are asked "Can we bring our own freezer baits?" (Maple-8's, KG1's, etc) we will always say yes, but do be aware that while some anglers have emptied the lake on their own baits, others have failed abysmally. For instance, plain prepared hemp can help your baiting no end, but oddly, Garlic hemp seems to act like a Carp repellent on our lake and 'Tutti-frutti' has never done well at all here.

We are extremely happy now with the selection of boilies that we sell here at la Gléhias, and are fully confident in our fishes love of them. When ordering baits (or bringing your own), we would suggest you bring a mix of at least two or three flavours, maybe one predominant flavour with one or two other flavours to back it up.

Quantity wise, 5-6 kg of 20mm boilie per man per week seems to be about right, and if you are using our 5 and 7mm pellet, again 5-10 kg should see you through the week. If you are going to use smaller pellet, particles or method mixes, you will probably need closer to 10-20kg per man per week of this as the silver fish and Tench will be able to get this away. For 2009 we will be adding a 9mm carp pellet to compliment our already extensive range of baits at the same price as the 5 and 7mm carp pellet.

We are aware that every lake behaves differently to different baiting so please don’t hesitate to call us if you have any questions at all.

Cheers and Bon Pêche

Lee

Date: September 2008

Details: An Unbelievable August

What a month we've had here at la Gléhias; a staggering 110 specimen Carp have been banked and 4 Lake Records have been smashed along with many, many PB's.

Thanks to Tommy and Thomas Chantler, all three catfish were seen inside of one week after not seeing any for over a year. The smallest is now known to be 40lbs, and the largest is a monstrous 53lb'er (now named Top Cat or TC) which has put on an unbelievable 14lbs in the last twenty months.

Last years bad weather really messed up the spawning season and made it drag on and off for months and this probably hampered the fishing a bit, but after two good spawnings this year the fish are definitly packing the weight back on for the autumn. Carp averaged just above the 26lb mark which is actually not bad for summer weights, and the heaviest Carp landed in August was Golddigger at 37lb which was captured by 'Bluebell Lakes' manager Dave who was fishing here with Fox consultant Matt Ridley.

Lake Records broken this month include; the "Ladies Lake Record" now at 34lb 12oz, the "Men's Lake Record Catfish" now at 53lb and the "Juniors Lake Record Carp" was broken twice at 35lb and then two weeks later at 36lb 4oz by Jack Evans(14) who may also have been awarded the "Juniors Lake Record Catfish" title if he had called me to confirm the fishes weight, estimated to be 40-46lb as his scales only went to 40lbs.

It was also nice to see a pure white Koi at around 11lbs and an orange and black Koi at just under 14lb showing me that they are growing on nicely along with approximately 15-20 other Koi yet to be seen on the bank. Small Grassies are now beginning to show a couple of times a week as they near double figures as four were seen last month at just under 10lb along with several others caught mainly on float between 5 and 8lb. on the subject of smaller fish, 40 small Carp of around 2- 5lbs were moved last month from Lake Lauren and put into Lake William along with 40 small Grassies to get to work on the weed which appeared after it finished filling back in February.

Bait wise, roughly 65 percent of all fish were taken on Quest's new Liver B8, Special Crab or Rahja Spice, while the rest were caught with Quest's Pineapple Crush, Mainline's Maple-8 or Terry Hearn's Source.

September is looking like the fishing will carry on as brilliantly as last month as the fish seem keen to pile on the weight this year and are feeding stronger than ever at the moment. In fact, it's likely that we will see two or three fish well into the mid 40's for March, April and May next year.

Can't wait!

Lee

Date: August 2008

Details: Juniors Lake Record Blown out of the Water!

Jack Evans (14) of the Warren party on holiday with his uncle, aunt, cousin and friend came to us on Saturday the 23rd of August with a desire to land a big Catfish, he knew the chances of doing so were slim as he was really only geared up for the Carp. Incredibly he managed to land one on the first night from the Gorsebank with a 25mm Halibut pellet. Unfortunately Jacks scales only went to 40lb so he didn’t get an accurate weight of the big fish (estimated to be around 46lb), and because he didn't call me to weigh and photograph it he lost his chance to claim the "Juniors Lake Record Catfish" award.

However, it's not all bad news as the lucky lad managed to bank another monster the following morning. This time a big 36lb 4oz Mirror known as "Halle", it was tripped up at 11.00am on the Sunday morning with an 18mm Rahja Spice boilie. Jack called me this time to claim his award and it was my pleasure to give it. Jack gets a personalised bottle of low alcohol Bretagne Cider with a champagne style cork.

Well done Jack!!

Date: August 2008

Details: Another Fat Cat Hits the Bank!!

A second big Catfish has been landed within a week here at la Gléhias. The 40lb Moggy was landed by Thomas Chantler who tempted the monster in with a 20mm Quest Baits Liver B8 boilie. Being a very light coloured fish, with distinctive granite-like markings, it was noted that this particular Cat hasn't been seen on the bank since being stocked in October 2006 at 29lb 9oz.

The big fish was taken from under an overhanging tree on the dam wall close to the barbeque corner where the water is around 6 feet deep and was landed at around 10.30pm on Sunday night. The current Lake Record Holder is Thomas's dad Tommy who took the record Catfish just last week at 53lb.

Thomas has also had approximately 14 other carp ranging from 18lb to 28 lb – so far……

Well done Thomas!

Date: August 2008

Details: Squids In for a 53lb Cat !!!!

Tommy Chantler and his family came to us on Saturday for their 2nd visit in two years. On arrival Tommy vowed to get a Catfish on the bank before going home, and with only three Cats in the lake he had his work cut out. Despite being hooked most weeks, no one had managed to actually land a cat in over a year, and that makes this catch even more special.

The 53lb Giant Tadpole fell to a small whole squid fished on a size 1 hook tight in to the Gorsebank and was landed at 5.30am on Monday the 4th August making Tommy the new "Lake Record Catfish" title holder.
Already this week, Tommy's son Adam (15) has taken the "Juniors Lake Record" with a 35lb mirror and his wife Clare has upped the "Ladies Lake Record" to 34lb 12oz. What can this record breaking family do next?

Well done Tommy!

Date: August 2008

Details: Lady's Lake Record hits mid 30's

Congratulations go to an amazed Clare Chantler who landed a massive Mirror of 34lb 12oz to claim the "Ladies Lake Record" at 4.00am on the 4th of August.

The rain belted down all night until the buzzer screamed off and then it kindly let up while she landed the PB fish and it started raining again straight after it was released. The big beast came from the BBQ corner and was taken on a single Quest Baits 20mm Pineapple Crush boilie with no background baiting at all.

An all round great result, Well done Clare.

Date: August 2008

Details: Junior Lake Record tumbles

Adam Chantler (15) on holiday with his family, landed the big fish known as Halle at 35lb midday on Sunday the 3rd August.

The Chantler Party arrived late on the Saturday evening and it was a bit of a panic to get the rods in before dark. Adam's first fish came that night in the shape of a 27lb mirror and the next was the 35lb PB breaking monster, both fish were taken on the superb Rahja Spice. What a great start!

Well done Adam, Keep em coming!

Date: May 2008

Details: Shaun Gave Lee the Runs All Night!!

I know it sounds a bit sad, but I was really excited to hear about Shaun's new Liver B8 recipe from Quest Baits, and couldn't wait to give it a good testing. When you watch fish as closely as I do, your gut starts to tell you what baits should work well, and I was well pleased to be proven right.

The new B8 arrived here at la Gléhias last Thursday afternoon, and after looking at the 5 day weather forecast, decided to try it over a couple of sessions from Saturday onwards. My son William (9) and I got down the lakes and set up for the night just before 7pm. I put out 3 rods into some of the usual likely spots and a 4th rod out into the middle of nowhere; all using the new Liver B8 20mm, on 25lb Mantis, stiff all the way to the size 4's.

I then set about baiting up around my hookbaits. For this I had pre-soaked about 2kg of 7mm carp and 5mm halibut pellet in lake water for about 2-3 hours along with about 30 broken boilies mixed in. This was to moisten them just enough to get the pellet slightly sticky so when it was balled in, it still broke up roughly back into individual pellets with a nice cloud around it to create some instant attraction. I only baited up around the first 3 rods as I wanted to see how effective a Liver B8 would be on its own in a particularly difficult spot out in the middle of the lake.

By 10.45pm I was getting regular beeps on my 1st and 3rd rods which were out in the reeds so I knew at this point there were carp grubbing about in these swims and it was now just a waiting game. At 1.40am, a slowish run came from my 3rd rod that turned out to be a Common of 23lb 6oz - the smallest fish of the night's session.

By around 2.00am my nerves were on knife edges as the first 3 rods were now getting knocked about regularly. At 10 past, a screaming run came on rod 1 which was planted at the inlet and, being unable to sleep, I was on it like a rocket. Annoyingly the run stopped as I touched the rod, so I decided to wind it in to check the bait and re-cast back to the inlet.

By about 2.30 the same rod was off again and this time I connected with the fish, a pristine but bad tempered 26lb Common. I renewed the boilie and re-cast to the same spot again.

3.20am and I'm out of bed again, rod 3 is already running and I don’t know for how long as I had managed to fall into an incredibly deep sleep! I strike and ARGHHH, I felt the fish for a moment and then ping, nothing there. Still, I put the rod back in where it should be and go back to bed. Amazingly, William is sleeping through all of this!!

At 4.45 I had a short run from the 1st rod again, but this stopped before I could even unzip the door, I was so shattered that I decided to leave this where the fish dropped it.

One hour and many beeps later, rod 4 tore off with such force that it pulled the front of the rod sideways off the buzzer! This one REALLY had the hump, and didn't get any happier as I struggled over the next 15-20 minutes to wear it out and get it in the net. The struggle was well worth it as it turned out to be one of the lake biggies; a Mirror named Golddigger, this time coming in at its heaviest weight yet of 40lb 7oz. This is a new PB for me and certainly made up for all the lack of sleep.

At this point, having weighed and photographed the fish and got my rod back in the water, it was now 6.30am and I had decided to pack up at 9.00. Just as well really as I got another screamer from rod 3 at 8.50. An unknown deep, thick-set Mirror of 27lb 14oz - a lovely fish to end on. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Shaun's new bait turned up more unknowns not seen since stocking, and I've a feeling the Cats should love it too!

I will get some much needed rest today and go back again tonight as there were fish still lumping out over the baited spots even as I was winding in!

Total weight of Carp landed in one night 117lb 11oz.

Thanks a lot Shaun; I got next to no sleep at all!!!

Lee

Golddigger at 40lb 7oz	Golddigger	27lb 14oz Unknown Mirror

Date: April 2008

Details: 'Big Bazza' does it for 'Big Baz'!!

Sixty something Barry from Fulham London is the first to receive the 'La Gléhias OAP Record Carp Award', started this year. Here for the week with his wife Fran, daughter Tracey and two grandsons Charlie and Jamie, Barry hooked into the big 36lb 12oz Mirror just as the sun went down on Wednesday 9th April, beating his previous personal best by around 25lbs!! This meter long lump hadn't been seen since being added to the lake back in February 2006, and Barry took great pleasure in naming the beast 'Big Bazza'.

Well done Baz !!

Lee & Tracy :)

Date: March 2008

Details: Lady's Lake Record Smashed in First Week!!

Congratulations go to a very happy Linda Hemborough of the Beveridge party, who took the Ladies Lake Record Carp title at 8 o'clock in the morning on the 28th of March with a lovely Common of exactly 27lbs, upping her PB by almost 10lbs!!

Her partner Nigel has also beat his PB whilst here with a distinctive known fish called Cod coming in at 33lb 8oz.

Well done to both of you!!

Date: December 2007

Details: A GREAT BIG THANK YOU….

to all of our customers of 2007 for making our first year such an incredible success. It's been hard work and quite hectic at times, but it's also been entertaining, great fun, and very rewarding – and we've made some great friends along the way too. We can say in all honesty that we feel very lucky that every single person who chose to stay with us here at La Gléhias were a real pleasure to have, and we look forward to seeing some of you again over the next few years.

Looking back over the year's feedback, we can see that many, many PB's were smashed several times over each week, and lake records were broken with regularity throughout the year. We have seen many anglers and non anglers alike going home very happy, some people even complained that they were going home heavier than when they arrived! (a real compliment, thank you - TJ), and all this gives us great encouragement knowing we must be doing something right.

And finally we would like to wish all of you all a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year, and hope 2008 brings happiness and good fortune to us all as we look forward to the next season.

Cheers and all the best,

Lee, Tracy, Lauren, William and Sam (aka Spud).

Date: October 2007

Details: Nemo does it again for the Ladies!!!!!!

On holiday here for the second time this year with her husband Peter, Debbie Wright had her eye on the ‘Ladies Lake Record’ title (and the accompanying bottle of wine) from the moment she arrived.

Bankside regular and true gent ‘Nemo’ obliged Debbie by gracing her un-hooking mat in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Taken on two Mainline pineapple boilies, ‘Nemo’ came in at 20lb 6oz - a good few ounces heavier than when back in September, Dawn Timbers kick started the ladies lake record with the same fish!

A well deserved personalised bottle of white goes to our new ‘Ladies Lake Record’ holder Debbie.

Well done Debs!!

Date: October 2007

Details: Lake William Slowly Starts to Fill

Lake William has now been fully cleared of the trees which were rooted to the lake bed and the lower part of the main sluice has been repaired.

Platform stilts and main cross joists are now in place for 4 spacious single swims of 5.5mx4.5m and 2 extra large double swims of 6.5mx5m. The lake now also has a small new island in the in the shallow end as an additional area to fish to, the island is approximately 9mx3m and has been laid out with two bays to face the anglers with a deeper gulley dug out in front of each, this should prove to be another great holding area for fish.

Although we have had little rain since the project began, and the water table is low, everything is on schedule as the 3.6 acre lake has already regained nearly four feet of water. Being spring fed, we expect it to take at least over the winter to fill completely.

The re-stocking of some of the smaller sliver fish has already begun with the gradual introduction of a ton of 6” Tench, Perch, Roach and Rudd. The bigger fish - Cats, Carp and possibly Sturgeon - are planned for stocking in around winter 2008.

Please click on the photos below to enlarge.

Date: September 2007

Details: And we're off!!!

Dawn Timbers Is the first lady to get herself a personalised white wine award for the Ladies Lake Carp Record, having landed a 19lb 12oz mirror known as Nemo at 3.50 am on the 6th of September. Dawn commented on how well Nemo behaved himself on the bank for the photos, a true Gent!

Dawn is currently here with her husband Martin who has had several fish from 18lb up to 28lb and broken his Common PB with a gorgeous 27lb’er. Also fishing with them is their son Kieron who has had several good fish from 24lb upwards, and broken his Carp PB with a lovely deep bodied 33lb 6oz Mirror.

Well done Dawn, Keep catching!

Date: August 2007

Details: New Award for Youngsters

Adam Goddard (14) of the Rooney party had a wish come true when he landed a 32lb 7oz beast on Tuesday 31st July after only having his rod out for around 15 minutes. The fish is known as Golddigger and is normally around 39lb in weight but due to heavy spawning has lost over 6lb recently.

Adam and his family were so pleased with his catch that we felt we had to invent another award for the younger anglers (under 16’s); he was given a personalised bottle of low alcohol cider with a champagne style cork.

Well done Adam, you showed the big boys how it’s done!!!

We have also decided to do a similar personalised white wine award for the ladies, so come on girls get catching!

Date: July 2007

Details: Work Begins on Lake William

The second lake at la Gléhias has been gradually drained down over the last two weeks and the bulk of the stock of small fish have been transferred into Lake Lauren. Rumours of a large Catfish in it by the locals have been squashed as only small carp, roach, rudd and tench were found to be present. Features found on the bottom include 3 hefty tree stumps, 4 large gravel bars and 2 large gulleys. The lake already has many marginal features such as large over hanging trees and bushes and is reed lined the whole length of the back with a spectacular forest behind, these will make great holding spots for the fish and provide anglers with excellent areas to fish to.

The lake has a sunken forest in it and needs to be cleared as this would make it near impossible to fish, it also has a leak on the main sluice close to the bottom and this will be repaired while it is empty. Plans are to construct up to 6 large decked fishing pontoons approximately 5m x 4m in size to jut out over the deeper parts of the lake.

We are planning to stock a large head of carp of around 10-20lb’s to grow on with the occasional lump of between 30-40lb’s and also around 15 cats of around 15-20lb’s with a couple of 40’s. The initial plan of large pike has been scrapped due to concerns of the species being too fragile for repeat capturing. Along with the large fish, we will be putting back an extremely high number of roach, rudd, tench and perch, partly as the staple diet for the cats but also for the anglers who want to fish for other coarse species in between the carp and cats.

We expect to have the bottom of the lake cleared of trees and have the platform stilts set by the end of august and refilling by mid September. We aim to stock the lake late in 2008 to open for the 2009 or 2010 season. The lake will be ideally suited for up to 4 anglers who want drive and survive only at first, but long term plans are in place to provide accommodation as well.

click on the photos to enlarge

Autumn 2005 showing tree tops breaking the surface	Gravel bars on the far edge and the forest background	The deepest gulley can be clearly seen
Me attempting to upright one of the leaking outlets 10 foot down in the lake	The largest tree stump, normally with just the top exposed in 2 and a half foot of water	A view across the shallow end with 4 foot of water drained out

Date: July 2007

Details: Hi angling lines,

Thanks for a fantastic week fishing, we had a great time.

We had the food package, which was excellent and all home cooked food. We came home fatter than when we went!

Lee and Tracey were fantastic. They were both very helpful, friendly and willing to help, providing useful tips and advice on fishing and the local area.

We are looking forward to going back next year and eagerly await next year’s brochure so we can book our next holiday.

Regards,

Richard Pinnuck, on behalf of the Pinnuck party 7th – 14th July 2007.

Owners Comment: So glad you guys had a great time. Thanks for taking the time to write in. We enjoyed having you all here and are looking forward to seeing you all again soon. P.s. Let me know if you want that Tartar Sauce recipe! Tracy & Lee :)

Date: July 2007

Details: 9 out 10 Cats prefer Rahja! - (Probably)

9 out 10 Cats prefer Rahja! - (Probably)

Russell Irons of the Pinnuck party came to la Gléhias in search of a PB Catfish and brought with him some lovely smelly purrpose made baits, ranging from fishy meatballs to 35mm crab flavoured pink pellets. He is also fishing for the Carp using Quest Baits Rahja Spice – known to work very well on our lake.

Having failed to find the Cats on the first two nights with his super smelly baits, he had just got all his rods in on the third evening ready for the night ahead, when fifteen minutes later a slow, gentle bite occurred. Suspecting it was a big Carp tentatively picking up the 20mm Rahja on his middle rod, Russell lifted into it to find he had hooked what he came for.

The angry Moggy took around 20 minutes to bank and came in at 38lb 11oz smashing his previous PB and setting a new lake record, excellent stuff!

Well done Russell!

Date: May 2007

Details: Catfish Lake Record Broken

The Simkiss party arrived on the 19th of May and have been faced with the challenge of fishing a lake waiting to spawn combined with bad fishing weather for the first two days and nights of their holiday.

The group had struggled the first few days to get many runs and had only managed to get one fish on the bank. Having lost several fish, including a large Catfish estimated to be over 45lbs, it soon became apparent that the Carp had something else on their minds….. So, with a change of tactics and a bit of heavy baiting, the Cats became the targets for the nights ahead.

The plan paid off on the first night of this approach with Lee Simkiss landing a new Lake Record Cat at 36lb 1oz from the gorse bank at 4.00am. The Moggy was tempted by two hair-rigged 25mm halibut pellets fished over a 2.5kg bed of 5 and 7mm halibut pellets and using an 80lb braid rig it was certain to make it to the unhooking mat.

Less than fifteen minutes later another of Lee’s rods tore off, and this turned out to be one of the smaller Carp named Nemo at 21lb 7oz, the same fish he had caught 3 days before at 21lb 8oz - What are the chances of that?!!!

With two days and nights to go, let’s see if they can find that elusive 45lb Cat. (Watch this space).

The group are currently planning a return trip in September.

A well deserved bottle of wine!

Well done Lee.

Date: April 2007

Details: The Wine Starts Flowing For Lake Record Carp

James Barr and his party have been fishing the banks of Lake Lauren since 21st of April and have been soaking up the sunshine during the hot days early in the week. With temperatures hitting 102 degrees, the fishing has been a bit slower than normal during the day and the fish have been mostly hitting the banks at night. On Tuesday, it started to cloud over, and by nightfall it had started to rain, and because it was raining the fish decided to keep the anglers up all night!

Team leader James, hit into 3 Carp before coming across one of the real biggies. The 40lb 2oz lump known as ‘Golddigger’ was hooked in the shallows on Quests ‘Special Crab’ boilie and landed in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A personalised bottle of wine has been awarded to the new “Lake Carp Record Holder”.

All that precise baiting and rod planting paid off!
Congratulations and well done James!

Date: April 2007

Details: Fun starts with Lake Record Cat

Shaun Fox, a member of the Keith Judd party, has been breaking his Carp PB. In fact he broke it three times in one night up to 33lb and then broke it a forth time the following night with a mirror of 37lb 4oz, and if that wasn’t enough, the night after that he landed his first ever Catfish at 35lb 8oz and set a lake record!

We thought it was time this man slowed down to have a drink, after all every other fish he has landed is a 30+. So it was a good excuse to invent the “Lake Record Drink”. Shaun (the fish magnet) Fox is the first person to receive a personalised bottle of wine with the catch details and date on the label.

We have decided to continue this and award every angler who sets a La Gléhias Cat or Carp record a similar personalised bottle as well. And with several Carp and Cats in the lake heavier than the current lake records, we expect to be giving out many bottles early on, so make sure you let us know when you catch one!

Well done Shaun

Date: January 2007

Details: First Fish of 2007 Sets New Lake Record

On the 6th of Jan, I went down to the lake to try a bit of testing on rig presentation and had me a nice surprise. I put 5 rods out in regular hot spots all with differently presented end tackle i.e. some popped-up baits, stiff rigs, long hairs, light leads etc.

After getting all rods in the water I only had about a 15 minute wait and the first and only run of the day came (it had to be on the furthest rod away, about a 100 yard run to strike it!). It took about 5 minutes to get it to the bank, at this point I saw how big the fish was and then it decided it wanted a real fight, it hung on for another 10 minutes with my heart banging out of my chest before I managed to get it in the net. I really wasn’t expecting a result like this while experimenting, not only a new PB for me but also a new lake record at 40lb 2oz!

Incidentally, the set-up that caught the fish was a 22mm boilie cut in half with a pop-up grain of plastic corn on a 10cm soft braid rig with a long hair and light lead. Pop-ups don’t seem to produce many fish on our lake but they do seem to produce the bigger ones for some reason.

I am fairly convinced this record won’t stand for long as I know of at least 2 other mirrors which I suspect are bigger, and recently I have seen a common feeding in the deep margins which looked a fair bit bigger than the 40 I’ve just caught.

Good luck to all our guests in 2007

Lee

New Lake Record - 40lb 2oz

Date: January 2007

Details: One Last Carp for 2006

The weather had warmed up a little over the last couple of days and I had seen some Carp activity in the shallows this morning when I was feeding the lake. It looked as if it was going to be a dry day and I couldn’t resist having a dabble.

I shot back to the workshop and got my rods, tackle and bait and dashed back to the lake. By the time I got set up, it was 11.30am and the sky was black and I couldn’t see any sign of the Carp that were there earlier. I decided to stick it out for a few hours and see if I couldn’t winkle one out.

I put three rods out, all in the margins up against reeds with Quest’s Fruity Trifle boilies combined with pop-up fake corn on the hair to act as a visual beacon for the bait. I also scraped the entire surface off the boilies to reduce them to around 13mm and release a bit more scent in the cold water. Around each hookbait I put only four or five broken boilies for additional attraction - bear in mind I am competing with 8kg of high protein feed going in the lake every day in the winter just to make the fishing that bit harder!

By 2.30pm, I was sitting miserably in a hurricane with torrential rain, already thinking about packing up, when I noticed the line had gone slack on my third rod. This was when I realised I hadn’t turned the buzzer on! I reeled in the slack and struck it to find after a nice 15 minute scrap, a beautiful peachy 27lb 9oz mirror on the other end. Well worth sitting out in the storm for.

The last three sessions on the lake have also confirmed that the weight of the fish is well and truly on the up with many of them at least 4lbs heavier than last recorded, some as much as 7lbs over and we expect the weights to continue to rise further through to the spring.

Happy new year to all at Angling Lines and all of our customers,

Lee and Tracy 

Date: November 2006

Details: Quest Baits Testing causes Lake Eruption

Having recently spoken with Shaun Harrison at Quest Baits, we decided to try out a few of their boillie flavours in the lake to see which had the best results.

I always think of spicy baits for catching Barbel and Chub and as far as I know, no one had tried any in our lake, so first on the list was Rahja Spice.

On the 27th of October I set up for a 3 hour session as the sun was coming up, the first run came within 15 minutes and turned out to be a 24lb 14oz mirror, great start. Half an hour later came the second fish of 25lb 8oz. By 10 o’clock I was into my third and biggest fish of the session a gorgeous Mirror of 29lb 9oz, and finally at around 10:45 I finished with an 18 pounder.

I absolutely cannot wait to give this flavour a go on a river.

Two days later, again as the sun was rising I was set up in pretty much the same spot and ready to give Special Crab a go. As with both of these flavours I had been trickling a hand full of boillies in all around the lake each day for about a week before hand to make sure the fish recognised them as a food source.

This time I barely had a chance to put my third rod out when the first one screamed off, 23lb 4oz again a good start, however ten minutes later there were two rods going at once. I managed to land one of these at 24lb 6oz as the other managed to shake the hook out before I could get to it.

Still, I got all three rods back in the water and sat down thinking I’ve probably ruined the swim for a while with all that commotion, but it wasn’t long till my left rod tore off and gave me another good mirror of 26lb 6oz.

The short session’s final run came at 11:00 and I knew this was a decent fish as soon as I struck in to it, I was proven right when I weighed the two toned Leather in at 32lb 2oz.

All of these fish were caught just 15 feet from the bank on 18mm sized boillies and were fished over a bed of 7mm Halibut and 5mm Carp Pellet with a hand full of whole and broken boillies around the hookbait.

I was astounded by the effect of the Rahja and didn’t think the Special Crab would be able to match it, but the results speak for themselves. I have come to the conclusion that Shaun Harrison must have been a Carp in a previous life to develop baits so attuned to their taste!

We will definitely be stocking these flavours in 18 and 22mm for sale to our customers. I have yet to try Fruity Trifle and will keep you informed of the results.

Lee

24lb 14oz on Rahja Spice	25lb 8oz on Rahja Spice	29lb 9oz on Rahja Spice
24lb 6oz on Special Crab	26lb 6oz on Special Crab	32lb 2oz on Special Crab

Date: October 2006

Details: Pregnant Tracy lands pregnant shape fish!!!

It was a horrible rainy Sunday, and I kept waiting for it to ease up so I could get a couple of hours in down at the lakes. It wasn’t showing any sign of stopping, so at around 4 o’clock I decided to go anyway.

I set up 3 rods and planted them perfectly into areas which regularly produce, two of these spots were already fizzing and I thought “it won’t be long now….”

After 3 hours with not even a knock, Tracy turned up to see if I was coming home for tea any time soon. I wanted to give it another hour so she decided to wait with me.

Having promptly nicked my seat, my umbrella and my Carp mag, and gotten her self settled in for the hour, I decided to take a wander around to see where the party was at, cos it certainly wasn’t booming over my rods today!

I’d only turned my back for a minute when I heard the alarm screaming! I turned to run back to my rods, but at 9 months pregnant, I hadn’t seen her move so fast in ages, she was off her seat and had managed to nick my rod as well!!

My well placed bait had been snapped up by one of the new stockies – a gorgeous 26lb 10oz Com