Never mind a bivvy – bring an igloo!!

Joy Lake- 2009 Review

2009 has ended just as it began here at Joylake – frozen solid!

Unfortunately the weather has meant the postponement of our planned winter netting until later in the year – watch this space for further updates......

Anyway, we wanted to go back to the warmer months of 2009, and a record a few of our fondest memories from our first year with Angling Lines:

The season got underway in April and saw the first appearance of the year for ‘Two-Tone’, our most distinctive ‘30’, to Nick Cruse – (his new PB!) Nick cast a bright pink pop-up into the margins of ‘Pads’ swim after spotting a feeding fish & it tore off with it after less than 5 minutes!

Nick Cruse with Two – Tone @ 32lb 4oz.

May – belonged to the younger anglers (and the young at heart!). Odessa St Youth Group made a very brief visit (24hrs!) to us, which resulted in a new PB for Ross Myers (30lb 12oz) and master class from Carp Tours Roy Fulton who banked 2 upper 20’s and a double in around 12 hours of fishing.

Next to impress was 15 year old Tasha Ryan, fishing with Dad David. Tasha finished the week with 10 fish (1 x 30lb, 6x 20lbs and 3 doubles) although Dad did manage a couple more!

As for the young at heart, Ray Collins patience paid off (eventually!). He stalked a fish in the Point Bay for an entire day, and just as the Sausage and Mash was about to drag him away, a 30lb 13oz mirror finally came to the net, (I heard the cheers from the kitchen!!).

 

Young Tasha Ryan with a lovely mirror of 28lb 8oz.

And the Young at Heart Ray Collins with his new PB of 30lb 13oz.

There wasn’t much cheer around for Dan Spooner and mates Chris & Craig on their journey to us from Calais. A mammoth 13 hour road trip involving breakdowns, several major wrong turns and a dodgy sat nav meant a very weary group arrived late on the Saturday. Thankfully the Joylake Carp set about cheering them up, and all 3 of the lads had 30’s (all new PB’s), and plenty more fish to help make the trip a very worthwhile one – although I still dare not show my face at the garage that we had to recover and bump start the Transit Van from!!!

Throughout the early part of the season Quest Baits Surf n Turf was undoubtedly the bait to be on, however with the onset of summer the fruity flavours started to come into their own, Quests Pineapple Crush more notably. Surf n Turf still accounted for a good number of summer carp, as did Mainline Activ8 and also maize, but the Joy Lake carp certainly have a sweet tooth come the warmer months.

After the carp spawned in late May, June and July saw a lot of hot weather and high pressure, which slowed the fishing at times. This didn’t stop more PB’s hitting the banks for the likes of John Kemp, Peter Mills & mate Glyn, and also the two Toms (Broxup and Bamber).

However one of the best weeks of the year had to be when Duncan Maugham arrived with son Mark (aged 15) and three friends also 15 years of age, in early August. Now I must confess I had anticipated a tough week (for me!) with four 15 year olds to cater for – especially if the fishing was slow. Thankfully the Joylake carp played their part again, and the lads (not forgetting Duncan) proved to be fantastic company, and more than a match for their seniors in both carping and banter!! Everyone had at least one 30, 4 out of 5 caught new PB’s, and Duncan’s son Mark had a truly remarkable hat-trick of three 30’s within 12 hours of fishing! And then there was Duncan’s eel.....

A hat-trick of 30’s for Mark Petch!

The long hot summer continued well into September, with the water levels down by over a foot in some places. This didn’t seem to put the carp off feeding though, as plenty more PB’s, Vinny and Aiden O’Hara, James Winter and Ted Handley to name a few, hit the banks. Most of the runs were now coming in the early hours with the days fairly quiet (ideal for catching up on some kip after being rudely awoken by screaming alarms in the night!!).


As always though, the ladies have to have the last word (!), and one of our final guests of the year Christine Ward showed the boys how it’s done with three 30’s, three upper 20’s and a double from the super consistent Stump swim, during October.

So what will 2010 bring? Plenty more PB’s for sure, hopefully the first 40lb fish under our management, and definitely many, many, more memorable moments to write about!
For now though it’s time for long, cold and wet days working on the swims, cabins, trees etc, but at least we know if 2009 is anything to go by it will be well worth it!!
Wishing all of you a Happy New Year and we hope to see you here in 2010.
Neil, Caroline and Family.