Churchwood Fisheries Diary

Diary...

April 2008

Just a quick update for the beginning of the month. Richard 'BB' Grimes fished two consecutive nights during the 1st week week of the month on Churchwood Lake. The weather was starting to look promising and the carp began to cruise around the upper layers. Richard landed 3 carp during each 12 hr session weighing in at 27lbs, 24-08lbs, 23lbs, 18-08lbs, 18lbs and a 14lbs. All the carp came on the 'Churchwood Specials' (CW) bollies that can be purchased from the fishery. These were fished tight to near and far-side margins in 2-3 feet of water.

Unfortunately I managed to wipe the camera's memory stick before saving them although we managed to save a picture of the 27lbs Mirror. This was such a shame as the 24-08lbs fish was an absolute stunner and not a known fish. I believe it was from the stock pond last year or the year before but weighed only 18lbs back then. If it was the fish then its doing extremely well now it has some room to grow. The 23 pounder was a fish known as 'The Italian' and was in mint condition as was all of Richard's fish. It's during this time of year that a fishery owner is very interested in the condition of all fish captured thus knowing if their precious stock have weathered well throughout the winter months. The volatile weather conditions are also concern to the fishery owner during the early spring days as this is when the carps immune systems has yet to be at full strength and are therefore at risk from the many nasties that exist within their habitat.

James Sumner landed a 26-08lbs Common from Churchwood during one of the nights that Richard landed his fish. Lee Walford had a 13-08lbs Common, again from the same session. The carp were still digesting their dinner when we again experienced some very cold weather and some snow showers, this again pretty much killed off the action and certainly confused the fish. A group of lads were on the wrong side of this weather front and only managed a 16lbs common between them during a 3 day session. Lets hope for some improvement in the weather and more importantly some constant warm weather.

April, snow on Churchwood!

March 2008

The lakes were kept quite for a few weeks during the month as the owners were enjoying a much needed break. The weekend prior to Easter produced the best results. Ricky Cichon party enjoyed around 10 pick- ups between them, banking around half of them. Ricky had the best fish, that being a Linear of 27lbs. The best fish from Jenkins during March fell to Steve Francis who banked a 26-04lbs Mirror. The snow fell over the Easter Weekend which pretty much killed of the fishing. Temperatures fluctuated for the rest of the month and kept the carp very quite. The heavy rains ensured a decent flow through the complex although the water was cold and again the did the anglers no favors.

Regular OAP's double act 'Stan & Martin' (aka Laurel & Hardy) did manage to open their account for 2008 with Stan taking 2 carp during a day session. Nice one fella and hope you get many more this year.

February 2008

Not a great deal to report this month on the fish front, just alot of hard graft around the lake trimming up the trees and maintaining the banks and swims. The lakes froze over for a few days which pretty much made things very hard going for those brave enough to venture out onto the banks. A few fish still made an appearance although nothing of notable size. The best fish of the month was Nick Grimes who took advantage of a work party and fished one rod whilst trimming trees. A fish know as the 'Italian' picked up Nick's critically balanced plastic corn tight to the far margin in the first swim. The mirror pulled the scales around to 25lbs, nice one mate.

The Italian at Churchwood Fisheries

The end of the month is now already approaching and temperatures have again been fairly mild for the time of year. The snowdrops have began to poke their heads through the forest floor along with the daffodils and bluebells in the woods surrounding the lakes. If we can maintain this temperature for a few weeks then I would expect the lakes to turn on, especially if the cats decide to start their 1st munch of the year. Keep an eye open for the March edition of Carpworld as there should be a decent article appearing that Si Crow wrote at the beginning of the year. This will naturally attract much interest and therefore weekend bookings will continue to be filled very early. As I write this update the 1st date that Churchwood is totally free of bookings is mid June ! I suggest if you have any desires to fish Churchwood Fisheries this year then call to book a place for later in the year. That reminds me, I need to get my name down for a few weekends !! Weekdays and smaller parties for weekend dates still remain although these are also being booked fairly quickly.

January 2008 update continued

With the mild temperatures we were experiencing a quick call to Crowy to let him know he may be in with a chance of a fish and therefore an opportunity to finish his article on Churchwood soon had him traveling back down South from Yorkshire. Crowy decided to kill two birds with one stone and have a social with Glyn Leach, one of his Southern mates. Conditions were looking spot on and it was rude not to have a day off work and spend some time on Jenkins while Crowy and his mate fished Churchwood. Crowy was off the mark 1st with a cracking mirror around the 14lbs mark, not massive but a lovely example to help with his 'Open Access' day ticket fisheries article for Carpworld magazine, hopefully to be published in the March edition. Glynn struggled for the 1st part of the trip but then the fish moved down on the wind to the far end of the lake and he then managed to tempt two doubles during the final few hours. Meanwhile over on Jenkins I landed one of the fish that was high on my 2008 target list. To my knowledge 'Tom's Common' had only been out once to Tom Wager, who got to name the fish, since my ownership of the complex. It's an awesome looking fish with a lovely frame along with being in cracking condition. It pulled the scales around to 26-08lbs and was superbly pictured by Crowy, about time I got a decent trophy shot of one of my fish. I also managed a 19lbs common a few hours later. Cousin Richard "BB" Grimes took advantage of my generous offer and fished the night with my gear that resulted in his 1st fish for 2008, a 21lbs common. A big thanks to Crowy for making the effort to come back and hopefully a good article will result, hope to see you again soon.

A few other smaller carp have been out along with Mark Pickett catching a lovely 26lbs cmomon from Churchwood. Not a named fish but a known fish, this common was last out around 24lbs, so good promising signs so far this year that the carp are doing well in their weights. Cousin Richard managed to scrounge my gear again for an overnighter on Jenkins and again tempted a 20 pounder, an old warrior I named as 'Lumpy' due to the obvious, a golf ball size lump on one of its flank. This was actually the 1st carp Im caught when I took over the fishery 3.5 years ago, but then only weighing 14lbs ! With all of the rain it's not surprising that the mud is becoming worse and worse around the lakes. If you dont like these conditions I suggest you wait a while until things begin to dry out, thats if it stops raining ! If you don't mind a little mud then get your rods out and try getting in on the action. The carp are certainly having some feeding spells so you may be lucky enough to get on one. Summer bookings are already being received so if you were disappointed last year in not being able to book your desired dates then get in early and book now to avoid disappointment.
A new batch of 'Churchwood Specials' bollies have just been delivered and are already look set to become the bait to get on this year. You can purchase these bollies at £7 per kilo at the time of booking your session.

January 2008

Jason 'Wonky' Ruse returned on the 2nd Jan and smashed his PB and set a new best weight for Sallis at 32-04lbs. After losing a fish at the net a few days earlier on Jenkins Jason decided to take advantage of the mild conditions and low pressure readings. Jason fished at the top end of Churchwood in the pads and presented a Pineapple Pop-up tight to the far margin. The fish came early afternoon but unfortunately Jason was fishing alone and therefore only managed to get a pic of the fish on the matt. Sallis looked in great condition and was last out at the start of October weighing in at 30-08lbs. 32-04lbs is a new PB weight for Sallis which was a great way to start the year for us at Churchwood Fisheries. Jason also managed to get his hook straightend from another fish during the session. The carp have certainly decided to get their feeding heads on and I for one will certainly be trying to bank a few while they are at their top weights. Scott Hawkins also got an early 2008 overnight session in and was rewarded with a 19lbs mirror from Churchwood. This time the fish was caught from the deeper far end of Churchwood so basically carp are being caught from all over the lake and not just isolated to any one area. Strangely enough over on Jenkins last January things started to happen and some of the larger carp were banked during a mild start to 2007. The diary for 2008 is now open so now could be a good time to get your dates secured and booked for the coming months.