Summer arrives and the action takes off! Now the weather has warmed the water up nicely the fish have responded and started to reallt get down to some heavy feeding. Tim had a hectic session landing over 20 fish in an over night visit. The fish as usual showed perfect condition and colours. Tim fished swim 3 and cast to the far bank.
Glen and Barri have both had good sessions with mirrors to 17lb and koi to 12lb. The cats have started to actively feed and 13.5lb being the biggest to grace a net this year, not the biggest by any means but still a good cat to see on the bank.
I even managed to do a night session with my son Ben, his first fishing trip and what a session it was. I was using the CW Baits Smokey Herring and Refined Salmon Oil boilies which the carp seem to love as much as the CW Red freezer baits. We landed 10 carp, 8 of them low to mid doubles, 1 linear around 8lb and the best fish of the 12hr session was a 21.5lb mirror which is now the new lake record.
The water level is a bit on the low side at the moment due to water being taken out but with all this rain it will son be up to the normal level

Ben with his first carp, well done son

The CW Baits Smokey Herring and Salmon Oil shelf life boilies are available to buy online at www.carpfishingpellets.co.uk and discounts are as usual available to members.

Tim's first night session of 2008 and what a start, 7 cracking carp to 15lb with 4 well in to double figures. Tim braved the rather wet, chilly conditions and was rewarded for his efforts with the seven perfect condition fish. All fish came from within 2' of the far bank margin in relatively shallow water. An excellent productive session for a cold and wet March.
CW Red baits have been producing fish in all conditions now from the heat of the summer to the icy cold waters of the winter. The CW Red boilies are available to buy online at www.carpfishingpellets.co.uk and discounts are available to members.

Success for Tim on a cold and windy February Day

Tim fished to the far bank on his own homemade boilies to land 3 lovely perfect condition carp, one of the usual suspects, a common and a mirror.

Well that is the end of February, now let the warmer weather gradually bring the fishing to life. The winter period has been a very interesting time of year as regard to fish captures and the amount of fishing hours that have been put in on the bank. During the past four months carpenwater has seen very little angling pressure which may have been the reason for the continued success with multiple fish catches on most visits. I have had fish to just short of 20lb. On every visit I have landed some very nice fish including a few of the resident ghost carp and koi. 90% of the fish landed have been tempted by the CW Red freezer boilies fished with carp pellets in PVA mesh very very close to the far bank.

The aerator is now back on to help the fish get back into the swing of things, it will remain on constantly for a few weeks then it will go on a timer. The aerator is situated in the corner opposite swim one so it will not be in the way.

Making the most of a mild sunny day in February



Nearly half way through February already, where does the time go?
Heavy frosts, high pressure and bright sun during the day may not be the best of conditions for fishing but, the fish in Carpenwater seem to have gone against all the rules and are feeding well. I fished on Tuesday with Barri and enjoyed some excellent sport landing 5 mirrors to just over 9lb and a lovely 12lb2oz ghost (the bronze). All fish took the CW Red boilies fished with either 3 bait stringers or PVA bags of CW Red paste. The far reedbeds in swim 3 and swim 2 producing most of the fish.

January has been and gone with the lake seeing little activity on the bank due to the cold unpredictable weather. A few fish did decide to have a little nibble when the conditions tempted the carp out of a dormant state and it was nice to hear of one of the resident koi venured out on to an un hooking mat. Far reedbed in front of swim 3 producing most of the takes on CW Red boilies.

A few days of frost and the constant low air temps has been enough to freeze the lake for the first time in a few years. This put an end to my planned fishing trip so, I will have to wait for some mild weather to rid the lake of ice. The fishing had been a bit on the slow side prior to the freeze but we still have not had any blank sessions.
As I have not been able to fish it has given me the chance to have a good tidy up and take the old wooden fences down. I plan to put up some camo net screens around the swims to help reduce the cross winds and help reduce shadows on the water, this should enable the fish to come closer in during the day.
The syndicate is now full again for 2008 which has some new members to fish with the existing members from 2007. The lake will really start to perform as expected in 2008 with a lot of the carp reaching the upper double bracket and some of the faster growing fish exceeding 20lb. The catfish have gained a great deal of weight during 2007 and if they carry on the same for 2008 we will have some very nice fish to aim for.
We have a new feeding plan to implement for 2008 which wil involve our new design pellets which we have designed to aid the development and health of the fish. The pellets are in boilie form but will break down over a 24hr period, this will allow the carp and cats time to find them before they breakdown into powder. The pellets will provide a mid protein content, high nutritional value food source which can also be used as hook baits to fish with. We are currently working on a machine to produce the baits in bulk but until then the rolling table will have to do.

Yes winter is here now and the fishing has slowed down to a couple of fish a session but this is a good thing as the bigger fish now have the chance to get their heads down for a feed. The fish that have been coming out all look superb showing off lovely shades of gold and orange and any knocks that they encountered during the spawning have now healed perfectly.
A new conformed lake record of 19lb6oz has just been landed by Phil during a very cold and frosty night session. The fish could not resist one of the pro-stim baits wrapped in amino pro-stim paste presented at the bottom of the far marginal slope. Phil also landed a few other fish between 8lb and 10lb from the same spot on the same pro-stim baits.
It is now the time to think about renewing your memberships for 2008, so do not forget to renew as the waiting list is long and the places will be handed to the next in line. Closing date for membership renewal is 24th December.

First frost has arrived signalling winter is well on the way and the weather will be getting colder. The fishing will probably slow down for a bit while the fish get used to the lower water temperatures but once adjusted they should have a steady feeding spell before the winter period sets in. The cold should kill off a lot of the natural food leaving the carp looking for other food items, this is when the bigger fish normally slip ip and take anglers baits.
The fishing this month has been very consistent and a lot of fish have graced the nets of all who have fished. Phil has managed to fish four 10hr night sessions so far this month and landed more than 25 fish including some lovely big scaled mirrors. Average size of the fish has been low to mid doubles with the odd fish around 17-18lb. All fish have been on the new pro-stim boilies which he has been developing over the last six months. The boilies contain natural immune stimulants and essential vitamins to help the carp combat the winter period when their immune systems are at an all time low. They also contain prebiotics and probiotics to promote healthy digestion allowing for a healthy intestinal function. The boilies are available to buy but will need to be pre ordered prior to your visit. The boilies come in 14mm and are prices at £7.50 per kilo.
Last weekend work was carried out at the lake by way of the reeds having a good trim and the sanctuary area cleared. All the reeds along the far bank have now been trimmed to form an even marginal bed making it much easier to fish to. the wooden platform known as the island is now visible again making it much easier to fish to and bait up. The sancturary area has also been cleared of snags as a lot of the cats hooked had been lost in the many branches which hide under the water level. All the branches have been removed and most of the floating reeds making it much safer for playing the cats so, hopefully a few more will be landed next year. In the afternoon we run the net through to give the fish a health check and see how much weight the known fish had grown. In the last most crucial stage of the netting disaster struck and the net got snagged, allowing lots of the carp to escape. Once it was freed up we continued pull the net in and we could then assess the catch and the snag. As we thought the majority of the carp had slipped out but we did have a pleasant surprise by the amount of cats in the net as they normally swim under quite easily. The snag turned out to be a heavy old gate post which had probably been in the silt for years.

Phil trimming the reeds back and recovering lots of rigs!

Tim with a typical lovely perfect condition mirror

Phil with some of the cats caught in the net

We will be doing the netting again once the sactuary area has been totally cleared.
Thank you to Tim and Robert for helping out with the trimming of the reeds and the netting, cheers guys for giving up a normally relaxing Sunday.

Where has all the time gone? The last two months have been fishing really well with big catches of carp being reported on a regular basis. It is so good to see the lake fishing so well after all the trouble we had a few months a go with the water being contaminated and the loss of oxygen. All fish caught have been in perfect condition as usual and are showing no signs of stress or damage. The average size of the fish have been doubles with the odd bigger and smaller fish making an appearance. We seem to have a large amount of smaller big scaled mirrors coming through which look absolutely stunning, future pretty big fish.
The best baits have been boilies with luncheon meat and sweetcorn following close behind. No particular hotspots for the fish as they seem to be caught from any location on the lake but, the far reeds seem to be a little more productive.
Next month we plan to carry out a netting of the lake to check on the fish and monitor the growth rates. The reeds will have a bit of a trim too as they have been growing like mad this year and nearly taken over the lake! The swims did not get finished this summer as time was spent in other areas of the lake so, they should get done during the winter time with a bit of luck.
All in all the last few months have been very good and the lake is showing excellent potential for next year.

What a month July has been!
Firstly sorry for having to close the fishery for the past few weeks but, as the fish are the most important thing it was the only option. After the scare we had from seeing lots of the fish in the lake gasping at the surface we decided the first step was to get as much oxygen into the water as possible. We managed to borrow a farm irrigation pump to suck the water up and fire it back in to the water at high pressure. We also purchased a new high power aerator suited to a much bigger lake to speed up the re oxygenation of the lake. After a couple of days the fish where looking much happier and starting to roll and jump as usual. After a week of the re oxygenation all was back to normal again with the fish looking fine and feeding well in the margins. We decided to let the fish have a nice stress free time to recover and are now they are ready to make appearnaces again for the lucky angler.
The two main factors for the loss of oxygen was a contaminant which had made its way into the land drains which feed the lake and the big algal bloom which had died off at the same time. Luckily we had some aeration already running which saved the fish from suffocating.
Now the lake is open again it has been fishing very well with 15 carp landed today from swim 4. All the fish fell for boilies over carp pellets.

What a mixed up month May has been, hot weather to start with then a big drop in temperature, then loads of rain making the water level rise nearly a foot! Fishing was a bit patchy at times as the fish kept going in to a spawning frenzy. Things seem to have settled down a bit now and the fish have been on the feed again. I had some great action during a mid week night session, after several carp to 14lb and a lost cat I had to reel the rods in for some sleep! A sign of things to come now the weather is warming up. Nearly all fish came to luncheon meat with a paste wrap.
This weekend Tim had his first catfish, well done Tim those homemade baits had to work!

April has been a strange month for fishing with the weather being hot during the day and dropping very cold during the night, not ideal fishing weather. The fish have been coming out more during the day when the water has had chance to warm up in the sun. Last weekend saw the carp go into spawning mode creating havoc in the reeds and bank side vegetation. Quite a few fish have been landed considering all the up and down conditions, carp to 17lb4oz and catfish to 14lb. The best baits have been sweetcorn and boilies for the carp and pellets or worms for the catfish.

For a moment it actually looked as though spring had arrived, but then it all changed and the snow returned! It does look as though Spring is fighting to get here so hopefully the temps will improve and we will be back to the nice warm weather.
Fishing has been good with plenty of carp being landed, Tim and his son Robert had a good day on Saturday managing to land 11 carp including a nice red black and white Koi and Ghosts too. Half the fish landed where double figures which is excellent news.
The previous weekend Billy and John braved the wet and cold to enjoy some welcome sport throughout the session.
As the weather has been so wet the banks have got very muddy so, for the next few weeks fishing will be from the two ends of the lake and the far bank only. Once the weather has improved and the bank has dried the usual swims will be fishable again.

Cats on the move

Rain, rain and more bloody rain when will it stop! Looks as though we will have to get the pump running again soon before the lake overflows. In December we lowered the water level by 2ft, now two months on we will have to do the same agian, bet we still have a hose pipe ban this year too!
The fishing has been excellent for the time of year with plenty of carp coming out to the dedicated few that have been braving the weather. Most baits seem to be doing the trick with sweetcorn and pepperami top of the list.
It was that time of the year again to do our once through the water with the net. The idea is to have a quick check on the quality and health of the fish and also to turn the silt over to release any gasses which helps to improve the general water quality. As the water level is so high at the moment netting was made very dificult due to all the reeds getting in the way and lifting the net off the lake bed, allowing the fish to escape. However we did manage to net some lovely fish including some perfect little baby carp from last years spawning. The crucian carp have been doing well with all of them over the 2lb mark. Just for that added bonus two of the koi showed up to have their yearly inspection. Every fish we checked proved to be in spotless condition and looked perfect, very pleasing to see. So all in all a very good result.
Lets hope the weather continues to slowly warm up now ready for a mild Spring with plenty of fish having a good old feast.