March -in like a lion but no beasties yet

Hi all. By popular request an update as to how the spring fishing has been so far… Well…You may recall last season was brilliant with lots of pike into the twenty pound bracket and I was really excited at the prospects for this year. However, so far this season the big lake has been very quiet indeed with sport quite patchy at times and many other boats struggling to catch anything at all. Mostly though we have met more than our fair share of fish but curiously at the time of writing we have yet to boat a twenty pound fish. I lost a definate upper twenty a week or two back but otherwise a typical day has seen fish to over eighteen pounds but little above this size. No real answers, but asking around it seems the bigger fish are conspicuously absent in the northern end and lots of anglers have not bothered going out. Even the bank anglers have moved to other places.! Having said that on the good days we are getting four or five superb fish averaging well above fifteen pound which in the main are hard fighting and big enough to make most anglers smile a bit. Of interest though is that most have come to slow wobbled deads with minimum weight on the rig- an underated method but one which is proving its worth this season. Not a method for the idle anglers who want to sit it out and wait, but on dificult days a slow twitched bait does seem to have the edge. Still lots of time for the bigger specimens to show up and I’m never a man to have doubts about catching big fish. you just have to keep the faith !!. I usually manage a birthday beast from one of our local lakes and as things warm up and the days get longer other waters will start producing both big pike and those great early season trout will be on the prowl. We might even sneak a spring salmon out of the Eden! Trout fishing starts mid month and the early olive hatches are always worth getting out at mid day to make the most of, with typical hatches starting around eleven and continuing till around three – all very civilised fishing and great fun. Meanwhile for the next few weeks I’ll keep hunting those elusive monsters. I’ll let you know how I get on and if your out there, give us a wave.

Good luck with it all, Tarra

Its That Girl Again- Ellie and her best so far!

Its That Girl Again- Ellie and her best so far!

Me,,,I just like to watch em go back...

Me,,,I just like to watch em go back…

A distictively marked pike for Kev Appleyard

A distictively marked pike for Kev Appleyard