Easter crackers

With the fantastic weather the lakes have come alive, we had a visit from Martin, Kelvin and Ian on Saturday. The guys only wanted pop over for a few hours social and barbecue, as the host i cooked and netted the fish. Ian as an experienced match angler was into his first fish a nice mirror within 30 seconds of starting.

Next Kelvin wanted a try and the north devon Dogfish expert soon found an obliging Common Carp munching bread in the margin, a short battle and a nice feisty common was landed.

Ian was off looking for a few feeding fish and soon notched up a brace of commons in quick succession, think he was in his element.

Ian went on to catch another couple of fish before the lads had to head off, not before eating a few rounds of sausages in baps. I had planned to do the night fishing for Eels having changed my mind about heading to Cornwall in search of them, traffic was crazy. Chris turned up for a couple of hours fishing and decided to have a go for Tench then go on the crust during the evening. The bright sun and heat of the day deterred the Tench but back on the top lake the evening saw the Carp in a feeding frenzy for floating crust. Chris managed 6 fish to 14lbs in the few hours before dark, i was once again netsman as my eel rods remained motionlessness.

Chris also managed to hook one of the recent stock fish and for a smaller fish it fought like a little demon, a real fish of the future and his only Mirror of the session.

With the darkness enveloping us Chris managed one more small fish before heading off and leaving me to my Eels.

The night wasn't as dark as i hoped with the full moon lighting up the lakes like an orbiting spotlight, i had 2 good takes on my livebaits both being dropped 23.00 and 02.30. The eels maybe still a bit finicky, hopefully my next trip will prove productive. I did manage a couple of carp during the night on Dyson rigged worms, however i too managed one of the new stockies at first light a stunning Linear Carp.

This will be another cracking fish for the future, i packed up my kit and fed the lake with 10 kilo of feed, then added 5 kilo to the stock pond. Ian had left me some maggots and i decided to have a quick 30 minutes in the Golden Lake to see how the fish were doing. It didnt take long and the quivertip was indicating a bite, i managed several 3 inch Golden Orfe before connecting with a better one. Its nice to see that they have bred a few times already in this fairly new lake.

The heat finally beat me and i just about mustered enough energy to mix up a tank of weed killer and spray the fence and track. Its a hard job in those conditions but it should only be needed twice a year if done properly. I did see the first Snake at the lake as a Grass Snake darted from the lake up the bank and into a hole, i did manage a blurry picture as it disappeared into the hole.

Well that was Easter and i will keep this blog updated as much as possible with any catches or news.