The weather hasn’t helped us very much but a 17lb 10 oz Common was banked in mid-April and a 24lb Mirror in early May by Mr S on luncheon meat at the caravan park end (Mr S if you read this, can you send a photo please?).

Mr K had an interesting day with lots of gudgeon finished off with a 1lb 8oz Rudd.

The water voles have been busy and the banks are riddled with holes so watch your step. They have also stripped the willow shrubs on the banks so it looks as though there will be lots of rodent reproduction going on under your feet as you fish. Something to contemplate during those quiet moments.

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The weather is starting to get better and the water in the pond has warmed up a bit and the fish have had a good rest and may have forgotten what a hook looks like, so we have decided to open on Friday 3oth March…. tight lines!

28th October……..Winter closing.

The pond has been fishing really well over the last few weeks, probably because the depth holds the warmth and this keeps the fish active. Mrs H our lady of the lake has decided that the fish need a rest and we will be closing after this weekend until March next year.

We will be closed on Monday 31st October.

A very big thank you to all of our regulars and to those of you who have recently discovered us. We look forward to seeing you all next Spring .

 

8th October 2011

The last few months have been quite busy with  a good number of doubles caught as evidenced by the photographs below.

 

The young man in the first and third photograph comes with his dad who is in the second photo.

Now I’m not going to express an opinion as to which one of them is the better angler.

I will merely ask you to look at the size of the fish that each one has caught!

September has been good and particularly good later in the day although 20lb plus fish are regularly seen parading the margins throughout day. 

If you keep changing tactics and bait you will stand a decent chance of hooking one of the biggies.

The top tip is to abandon the big chunks of bait and go for a very small cube of luncheon meat on a size 14 hook.

 Also, bait a length of margin rather than just one spot.

If you bait one spot the smaller fish will swamp it and the larger fish won’t get a look-in wheras if you bait a length of margin

 the bigger fish that are cruising around the margins will have something to hoover-up and they are more likely to show an interest in your swim.

As the year drawato an end the fishing gets variable but remember that Villa pond starts late and finishes late because the depth of water retains its heat.

On a cold breezy day we will get something called an inversion where the water on the top is cooled by the weather and its warmer down below.

When this happens fish deep in the morning and early afternoon but look-out for fish coming to the top from mid afternoon onwards as the water in the bottom of the pond warms-up the water on top.

If the sun comes out the top will warm-up quite quickly and there may be an increase of insect activitywhich will condition the fish into feeding on the nymphs as they swim to the surface to hatch so it’s worth trying a maggot or two on a small hook.

Keep a look-out for columns of small flies over the water or visible signs of hatching on the surface.

So what’s the message here?

The fish are all there and if you are m not catching change your bait and your depth until you make contact.

After that, make only small variations and only one variation at a time.

 

 

 

 

Cheer up mate you’re supposed to smile when you catch a fish like this!

 

 

 

 

 

This is before he went into hospital for work on his ticker and he’s looking a lot fitter now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 8th  July

June was an interesting month with only a couple of days of spawning and some variable days. Towards the end of June Mr C broke the record for the number of fish caught in one day at “well over 200″ (he understanably stopped counting!) mainly carp.

A Red Letter Day for Mr C (a diferent Mr C) who came late-ish in the afternoon and immediately started catching good fish including this one at 22.5lb. It was a

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