Post by gusgreaves on Oct 8, 2006 21:33:19 GMT
Hall Lake (Catterick Complex)
This is without doubt the most surprising lake I have ever fished and is very likely to put a smile on your face if you attack it right. This 1.5 acre lake has produced some quite amazing specimen fish over the last seven years that I have been at Catterick Lakes.
In 1998 the lake was predominantly fished by carp anglers and I was told by one angler that he had landed a mirror carp of 13kg. however I did not witness it. About the same time another carp angler landed a large chub, which he was just returning to the water as I happened along. It weighed 8lb 4oz and would surely have given him a place in the Drennan Cup that year had he entered it. At this time the lake was gin clear and the 100lb of bream the society got free from Yorkshire Water in 1982 had never been seen. So I tipped six ton of well rotted horse manure into the shallow area of the lake and washed it in with a two inch pump. The following season the lake coloured up and anglers were reporting big nets of bream that no one knew were in there. Barble up to 7lb 12oz were landed with tench to 6lb and a perch of 3lb 6oz on, would you believe, double sweet corn and I also witnessed the capture of a 7lb eel.
So I decided to have a go myself targeting the carp with luncheon meat hook bait. Surprise, surprise, my first fish was a three pound roach! I have since found that the roach bream and tench in this lake love luncheon meat, perhaps because of the carp baits used over quite a few years. In 2001 the lake was netted and most of the carp removed into Howe specimen lake creating a silver fish only lake. In 2002 young Stuart Sexton and myself netted 300lb of roach out of the feeder stream just as they were returning to Howe Specimen Lake after spawning there and in 2004 skimmer bream and tench were added to the existing stocks of Hall Lake.
My protégé, the not now so young Stuart Sexton has more recently had some big bags of chub, bream and tench feeding heavy with chopped worm and caster.
If you have not fished Hall Lake, (named after the late Jack Hall a sterling worker for the society over many years) on the west bank by the large Alder tree at about 11-metre straight out there is a narrow channel running parallel to the bank. The bream and tench patrol up and down this channel. The channel is not significantly deeper than the rest of the lake bed but if you plumb up carefully you should find it. Alternatively if you sit for a minute or two you will see the bream and tench blowing on that line. The lake usually fishes best early spring and late autumn and often respond well to quite heavy feeding. Best recorded catch was a mixed bag of 77lb.
Gus Greaves
This is without doubt the most surprising lake I have ever fished and is very likely to put a smile on your face if you attack it right. This 1.5 acre lake has produced some quite amazing specimen fish over the last seven years that I have been at Catterick Lakes.
In 1998 the lake was predominantly fished by carp anglers and I was told by one angler that he had landed a mirror carp of 13kg. however I did not witness it. About the same time another carp angler landed a large chub, which he was just returning to the water as I happened along. It weighed 8lb 4oz and would surely have given him a place in the Drennan Cup that year had he entered it. At this time the lake was gin clear and the 100lb of bream the society got free from Yorkshire Water in 1982 had never been seen. So I tipped six ton of well rotted horse manure into the shallow area of the lake and washed it in with a two inch pump. The following season the lake coloured up and anglers were reporting big nets of bream that no one knew were in there. Barble up to 7lb 12oz were landed with tench to 6lb and a perch of 3lb 6oz on, would you believe, double sweet corn and I also witnessed the capture of a 7lb eel.
So I decided to have a go myself targeting the carp with luncheon meat hook bait. Surprise, surprise, my first fish was a three pound roach! I have since found that the roach bream and tench in this lake love luncheon meat, perhaps because of the carp baits used over quite a few years. In 2001 the lake was netted and most of the carp removed into Howe specimen lake creating a silver fish only lake. In 2002 young Stuart Sexton and myself netted 300lb of roach out of the feeder stream just as they were returning to Howe Specimen Lake after spawning there and in 2004 skimmer bream and tench were added to the existing stocks of Hall Lake.
My protégé, the not now so young Stuart Sexton has more recently had some big bags of chub, bream and tench feeding heavy with chopped worm and caster.
If you have not fished Hall Lake, (named after the late Jack Hall a sterling worker for the society over many years) on the west bank by the large Alder tree at about 11-metre straight out there is a narrow channel running parallel to the bank. The bream and tench patrol up and down this channel. The channel is not significantly deeper than the rest of the lake bed but if you plumb up carefully you should find it. Alternatively if you sit for a minute or two you will see the bream and tench blowing on that line. The lake usually fishes best early spring and late autumn and often respond well to quite heavy feeding. Best recorded catch was a mixed bag of 77lb.
Gus Greaves