H&C

“With England’s footballers now out of the World Cup after a very disappointing show, footy fans/anglers are cheering themselves up by lining up on the banks at Bury Hill to enjoy some great fishing and of course the sparkling weather that the country is experiencing right now. The smaller lakes, Milton and Bonds are really fishing well with visiting anglers catching crucians and tench in big numbers whilst those targeting hard fighting carp are having some great fun on Bonds lake. The biggest piece of advice I can pass on to our day ticket customers, especially when the conditions are bright and sunny with flat calm conditions, are to seek out the fish by fishing really tight up against the reed lines margins or place an accurate cast up tight against the over hanging features around the islands that run down the middle of the lakes. Fish will always search for some shade after long spells of sunshine only really coming out to play when the sun disappears behind the trees in the late afternoon. The Old Lake fishes much better early doors when the fishery opens at 7am in the week and 5.30am at weekends and bank holidays but also the last four or five hours of the day when our evening tickets kick in at 5pm do anglers really get some great action in the way of some big carp and bonus tench. Tench have been feeding well in the margins on the Old Lake and after following some advice and pegs to fish for the tench earlier this week, Colin Dobbs and his pal Mike Henderson both from Basildon in Essex had a great day catching tinca tincas right under their rod tips. After sorting out some bait for them in the onsite tackle shop, I pointed them in the direction of two shady pegs along the front bank where I knew some big tench were holding up and more importantly feeding well. With small balls of green swimstim ground bait cupped gently in the margins, I suggested that both anglers fish slightly over depth using a single piece of sweetcorn on a size 16’s hook to 3lbs hook length and a 4-5lbs mainline. With a small 2AA waggler float flicked just over the top of the feed on a running rod and reel set up both anglers were soon into the tench catching over a dozen between them with the biggest going just over 6lbs, big smiles and happy customers all round. The Dukes Head fishing club at Wallington in Surrey held their latest club match on Milton last Saturday and all enjoyed a great days action in superb weather, with the winner boasting a great catch of 51lbs from peg 26 which included a cracking net of crucians, big roach and a handful of nice tench. Top Tip: In bright, hot and flat calm conditions which can make the fish feeding habits very finicky and lethargic, it is best to scale down your terminal tackle by using lighter lines than you would normally use, smaller hooks like 18’s and 16’s are best plus feed little and often rather than large amounts all at once. Last Sunday I was on the Royal Military Canal near Hythe fishing the first round of the Kent Angling Canal for my team NDP10 along the Seaview to Seabrook section and, with temperatures in the 30 degrees it was going to be rock hard, especially A section which I was competing in. I fed two lines, one chopped worm and the other pellets in the hope of a nice bream or two, as I knew one really good fish should be enough to win my section. Further up the canal the bream are always shoaled up in numbers so I knew I could not compete for the individual honours on the day but it was team points I was after and set out my stall accordingly. The first two hours passed by without too much to cheer about and the only action in my section was one of the anglers managing to completely fall in the canal taking most of his tackle with him. Happily apart from some embarrassment on his part he was okay and not hurt but it left him scrounging bait from other anglers as he lost all his bait in the mishap. Of course, we laughed, wouldn’t you? My only proper bite of the match, which saw my float lift right up in the water (a lift bite) resulted in me bumping off the fish, probably a bream and, as disappointed as I was, I got my head down to try and catch as much as I could as my whole section apart from one bream which had been caught was still up for grabs. As I studied the canal I could see the odd bubble over my chopped worm line; ‘Eels,’ I thought to myself. Apart from one small eel and a few silver fish caught sporadically through the match I had to try and tempt the eels to feed and give my weight a boost. The plan worked as I managed a late flurry of four eels but it was not enough to win the section, as I was just six ounces short. Good news further up the bank from my teammates was excellent as we had three section winners and despite one of our lads coming last in his section our joint effort of 37pts gave us victory by one point in the end. Oh and the chap who fell in from head to foot, yes he jointly won my section having the last soggy laugh in the end. ‘Tight lines,’ Russ Evans”

“I recently took a nice chap called Keith fishing for a one to one lesson on our Milton Lake as he wanted to catch some tench and crucians. I took him to my favourite peg 20 on the lake and showed him how to prepare the bait, as we were going to fish with soft expander pellets on the hook. Armed with a few red maggots, some pellet micro feed to get the fish interested in the first place, I showed Keith how to tackle up his 13ft rod with a small light waggler set up and size 16’s hook. I then spent ten minutes demonstrating one of the most important parts of setting up, plumbing the depth accurately. Keith was a good pupil and I knew we were going to have a real good lesson and catch a fair few number of fish as the evening went along. I always fish for the first half hour, as I can then demonstrate where to put the float in the swim and how much to feed and how often plus it helps to show how to kick off the peg and get the fish to feed confidently. As per normal, the crucians were in a finicky mood lifting the float up and down without taking the bait properly. I stressed to Keith that this was normal crucian activity and after a while they would settle down and start to feed with confidence after they had got their heads down on the micro feed. Every now and then a tench would take the bait and a terrific bend in the rod would be seen until it succumbed to the landing net. Now it was Keith’s turn to have a go and in the next three hours, with me by his side, I witnessed an angler having the best fish catching action of his life. Keith was beaming as fish after fish graced his path including a personal best crucian of over 2lbs. I estimated that Keith had well over 60lbs in a four hour session, good going by any novice’s standards. I got as much pleasure out of the lesson as my pupil did and one of the most satisfying aspects I can pass on to anyone apart from how to catch fish and fish safety is how to have passion and enjoyment out of your sport. What a great evening’s lesson that was. The lakes at Bury Hill are fishing really well now that the spawning is out of the way for another season. Last Sunday on the Old Lake, Fairfields AC held their latest club match along the Long Bank with a nice 74lbs of mostly bream taking top honours. Feeder tactics and hair rigged 8mm halibut pellets accounted for the winning bag. Temple Lake our specimen member’s only lake has produced some stunning fish this past few weeks and Dean Jones had a cracking 37lbs plus Mirror Carp in the early hours of last Sunday morning, what a great catch. In my last blog, I mentioned that I had set up a Bury Hill midweek open match diary and these are the dates. If you are interested to book in please call me on the shop number 01306 883621. Draws are at 8.30am with fish times of 10am to 3pm ticket costs are £20 all in. 14 July - Old Lake Long Bank 28 July - Old Lake Front Bank 4 August - Milton Lake 18 August - Old Lake Front Bank 1 September - Old Lake Long Bank 8 September - Old Lake Front Bank 15 September - Old Lake Long Bank Last Sunday I was in match practice on the Royal Military Canal, near Hythe in Kent. Apart from a big eel, it was tough going but I am full of confidence that the team I fish for NDP10 will have a good start to the first round of the Kent Angling League, which runs all through the months, except December, finishing in March 2011. Individually it’s a good league for me and team wise we won three rounds last season and looking to improve on that this term. With some good weather forecast these next few days why not pop down to Bury Hill and have a go, with bream galore on the Old Lake, hard fighting carp of all sizes up to 14lbs on Bonds Lake plus stacks of tench and crucians plus big roach on Milton Lake, life just cannot get any better. ‘Tight Lines’, Russ Evans.”

“Milton Lake continues to fish really well with plenty of our regulars catching good mixed bags of crucians, tench, roach, rudd, carp and the odd big perch. Catch 22 held their recent club match on the lake last Sunda, and, although there were no massive weights, it still took a nice mixed bag of nearly 35lbs to win with Gary Smith taking the honours from peg 21. Opting to fish with a short pole in the margins and light pole tactics baited with soft pellets Gary kept the fish coming to win by at least 10lbs over his nearest club rival. Bonds Lake is starting to hit top form and anglers that really know their salt have been catching some incredible bags well over 100lbs with the average carp going 6-8lbs, which is a nice size for some superb rod bending sport. The Old Lake has been a little up and down after the recent spawning but a few of our night syndicate members have hade some cracking carp catches over 20lbs on baits such as Icelandic Red, KG1, Cell, Maple 8 and the new XLR8 frozen boilies. Bream and tench have been coming out to all methods around the lake with red maggots still working best until the water really warms up when baits like small boilies and halibut pellets really come into their own. Cold Northerly winds and the World Cup is clearly keeping anglers away from fisheries up and down the country. I speak to plenty of angling media on a daily basis who confirm that the angling industry is finding it tough going at the moment. In my experience it is par for the course and I am confident that when the World Cup is finished and the summer weather starts to pick up then the anglers will be flooding back to their favourite haunts and pastimes. The new season officially got under way on the 16 June, which now means the rivers are back open again so many an angler will be spending the first few weeks of the 2010/11 season back on the rivers trotting their favourite stick floats against over hanging trees, what a great way to spend a day and try and winkle out a big one. Back at Bury Hill, I have been busy putting together a new open match diary and I can confirm that the first match takes place on Wednesday 14 July on the Long bank of the Old Lake with a draw time of 8.30am and fish times of 10am to 3pm, tickets will cost £20 all in. You can call me on 01306 883621 to book in and put your name down. The matches are basically every fortnight but will go weekly as the run into the September two day festival gets near. I will also hold a couple of the matches on Milton Lake as it is fishing really well and the weights will be decent. I am also in the process of organising a winter silver fish league, again on Wednesdays and they will run through the months of October, November and December so when I have finalised the details I will post on this blog. On a personal note I have been keeping very busy with some more filming on my new dvd series ‘The Obsessed Angler’. I spent a long day at Bury Hill last week filming on the Old Lake before switching to Bonds Lake for some nice carp on the small groundbait feeder. It was action all the way and with the scenery around the fishery looking at it’s best with greenery and flowers plus the wildlife in abundance the images caught on film look fantastic. I also plan to make some short shows for Horse & Country TV to be screened on their excellent website with the emphasis on “How To” catch a variety of species like bream, carp, crucians and tench plus some good methods to use and why. I have to admit I like being put on the spot to deliver the goods and having to produce for magazine features and filming, is being put firmly on the spot as there is nothing worse than failing to catch anything of note with a film crew or photographer waiting in the wings for action. Thankfully to date I have always caught fish worthy of the importance of the day and long may it continue. Next week I have some coaching to do which I really enjoy doing; in my books, there is nothing better than helping others to catch, in fact as I was typing this blog I received a text message from the father of a young pupil I have been coaching and he informed me that his son has just won a three hour evening match on the pellet waggler with a superb 96lbs of carp, how satisfying is that! Until next time. Tight Lines, Russ Evans.”

“The fishery has experienced some unsettled weather this week, but those that have came out in the rain have enjoyed some good catches across the lakes. Around this time of the season the fish have or are thinking about spawning so feeding goes right out of the window leaving anglers frustrated. One of the main points I stress to the anglers is that it is important to fine tune their tackle, which is something I will cover over the coming weeks and months as we go through the weather seasons. On Temple Lake, which is for members only and not available on a day ticket, some of the syndicate have had some decent catches with a few mid-thirties coming out, but it can be a hard lake at the best of times as the fish are big and wise. You can always check out our website to view some of the monsters that have been landed. The bream and carp have already spawned but go a bit finicky soon afterwards. Looking at the past couple of days, I can see that they are back on the feed judging by the bubbles blowing down the middle of the lake; it's a good sign so don't miss out. Milton Lake has been on top form since winter with some really good bags of crucians coming out and, with a mix of tench as well, we have had some smiley faces from our customers. Bonds, now that the carp have spawned, has also produced some great sport and should be set for a good summer ahead. At weekends, which are the busiest time for the fishery, we also have club matches going on and these are held through a booking process on 01306 877540. During the week, I hold a few competitions where some of the open match anglers get their turn to show off their skills and in recent matches we have had some bags not far off 100lbs of bream and tench winning; great fishing by anyone’s standards. Later in the season - 21st and 22nd September to be exact - I am running another Bury Hill two day festival where 40 anglers compete on the Old Lake with the heaviest combined weight taking the title. This is turning out to be an annual event now, and all the places were sold out within 48 hours of me releasing the news and dates! It just goes to prove that anglers enjoy the event. I take part in the event myself, but it can take the edge off my fishing as I am wearing my organisers cap. I do enjoy the event though. Prior to the event, the fishery will be holding some open matches so all of the competitors can get in that final bit of pre-festival practice. At Bury Hill Fishery, we offer our visiting anglers the choice of three day ticket waters to choose from, Old Bury Hill, Milton Lake and Bonds Lake and all three offer varied sport. The flagship is the Old Victorian Estate Lake, which is well over 200-years-old, and some 12.5 acres in size offering 75 pegs to fish from. The lake holds carp up to 38lbs, bream averaging 4-6lbs with plenty bigger, tench touching double figures with 5-7lbs being most common. There’s a decent head of some very big crucians over 4lbs, perch, rudd and roach. In the winter months (1 October to 14 March) our predator season starts, and many anglers flock to the fishery to share in some great pike and Zander sport. The pike run up to 20lbs with the Zander going over 15lbs plus a huge head of double figure fish; the sport at times can be second to none. Milton Lake, offering 30 pegs is one of my favourite lakes in the country and offers some brilliant sport with stacks of crucians up to 3lbs, Perch well on their way to 4lbs, loads of tench at all sizes up to 6lbs plus some of the very best rudd and roach fishing you can get with the bigger specimens well over 2lbs. There is also a smattering of commons and mirror carp to add to the mix but if you wanted to bag up purely on small carp all day long ranging from 1lb to 13lbs then nearby Bonds Lake is the one for you. With 20 pegs and an island running down the middle of the lake, all manner of methods have accounted for some big bags. With all of the lakes reed lined with patches of lily pads scattered around, plus trees all around the fishery the scenery is beautiful and many of our visiting anglers have commented on how fantastic the fishery is, plus of course the fishing. With a good majority of anglers having a break from fishing during the old closed season dates of 15 March to 15 June, it gives them a good chance to respool the reels, clear out the old and replace with the new, plus the odd new rod to play with this coming summer. Personally, I am on the go all year round with some big up and coming matches to look forward to starting on 16 June with a Fish O Mania qualifier at Willingshurst Fishery near Shamley Green. The winner of the 130 peg match goes through to the £25,000 winner takes all 16 man final at Heyfield Lakes, Doncaster, where the final is shown live on Sky Sports. I have had a couple of near misses so I am keeping my fingers crossed my time to qualify will be coming soon.”