Not so grim!
Heat sharpens fish’s appetites and puts them into overdrive
Record-breaking catches from venues in the north of Britain
MATCH records on commercial fisheries have been tumbling this summer – and nowhere more than in the in the north of Britain, where anglers have enjoyed some of the best fishing for many years.
Angel of the North Fishing Lakes near Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, is an excellent example, where a recent match was won with 405lb 7oz.
Angling Times spoke to Ann Adlington, owner and manager of the complex, to discover just why the fishing has been so good this summer.
“The water in our lakes is the warmest it’s been for 17 years, and this has caused the fish’s metabolism to reach peak levels,” said Ann.
“The result is exceptionally hungry fish that respond very well to bait, and pleasure anglers are regularly catching bags of fish in excess of 300lb.
“Simple tactics are all that are needed – use an 8mm or 10mm fishery pellet over 3mm or 6mm loosefeed. Just be careful to only feed small amounts of bait, otherwise you’ll get too many fish in your peg!”
The Oaks Lakes in Sessay, North Yorks, has also fished brilliantly off this summer, and in a recent match the venue record was broken not once, but three times – the three framing weights were all over 400lb. Best haul was a phenomenal 451lb 14oz by Adam Richards. The top seven anglers in the match all had over 300lb, and throughout the summer match weights across the fishery have steadily increased.
The match record at Lindholme Lakes in Doncaster, South Yorks, has also been broken this summer, this time by Andy Bennett, who bagged 427lb of F1s shallow on the pole from Benny’s Lake.
As on the Angel of the North Fishing Lakes, the water at these two venues will have been much warmer than it has been over the past few years, and this will have led to exceptionally hungry fish with a very high metabolism.
It’s not only catches of carp and F1s that have been taken during the recent hot spell, as fantastic bags of bream and ide have been caught at Broom Fisheries in Scotland. Owner John Wright said that while exceptional bags of silvers can be taken in hot
conditions, it can get too hot for them to feed well: “When it gets to over about 26ºC silver fish sport can tail off. In conditions like this it’s better to target carp. Anglers doing this have had more doublefigure fish than ever before, and it is likely that the long summer contributed to this,” he added.
Although the hot spell now seems to be over and we are entering autumn, fishery records are still being broken and fish will feed hard to fatten up for the winter. Get yourself Up North and make the most of these exceptional conditions!