fishing report week ending 25th February, 2007

Hello everyone,

Well February is nearly at an end, the nights are drawing out. I don't know about you but I can definitely feel Spring in the air. It was nice to see our banks busy at the weekend as familiar faces returned for some good sport. Here is the fishing report for last week.

Main Lake (pleasure)
The main lake is fishing really well for silvers and bream. The biggest bream out last week was a good seven pounds. Just for the record the biggest catch I can recall from Pendle was a 14lb bream. This 7lb bream was caught on worm with ground bait feeder ringers. Dark ground gets the bream going but with it still being winter its is still a slow start. Maggot feeder is still proving successful for our silvers. Casting round the 30 yard mark using a long pole to get small roach using loose feed of caster and pinkies has worked this week.

Main Lake (Carp)
Early morning has seen some low figure carp come to the bank. Anglers have found that fruitie pop ups have worked well - in fact orange and pineapple have been the most successful. The biggest fish out this week has been a 20lb mirror caught from peg 61/62. There was a really nice ghostie caught from peg 56/57 also. Pegs 71/72 has also seen a couple of common carp averaging 10lb/11lb again being caught on orange pop up boilies. I love this time of the year its so full of expectation for what might be caught next. I had hoped to report a 40lb plus last year. We did see a 39lb 8oz but this year I think judging by what we saw in the netting exercise ...I will be very suprised if we don't report a really big fish.

Doughnut Lake (pleasure)
More and more pleasure anglers are starting to fish this lake. It really has turned round. As you all know it takes time to establish a lake and this little fella is really coming into its own. We have had a lot of happy anglers fish the lake reporting that its fishing well for carp and tench. These are showing to the long pole with a little ground bait and loose feed. Mr. Alan Johnson caught the biggest bag of silvers last week averaging about a 35lb plus bag. Another angler called Mr. Wood had a nice 30lb bag, whilst Mr. Welsh caught a 20lb plus bag. Mr. Johnson came back to report a nice 12lb bag after a short session on this lake. Corn meat and maggot seems to have done well on this lake.

Fly Lake
The milder days are starting to give good dry fly sport with the deadly little black. Nat with daddy long legs has also done well. Many anglers do like the lure fishing and the old favourite cats whisker and montanna are the choice with fritz being retrieved with a slow figure eight or a varied retrieve. Buzzers and bloodworm are also being used successfully. Just to remind everyone that its the Trout Masters Competition "fish off" next Monday (5th March). Our fly lake will be closed till 4.30pm so that the session can take place. May I take this opportunity of wishing all those in the competition the very best.

Here are the averages for the Fly Lake.

Monday 4.1
Tuesday 1.6
Wednesday 2.5
Thursday 1.6
Friday 2.6
Saturday 1.5
Sunday 1.7

GENERAL
I was reading an article this week in one of the journals relating to our sport and it was saying just how therapeutic it can be. I know of a doctor that fishes our venue on a regular basis and he always says that if he sees a "stressed out" patient he tells them to think about taking up fishing as a pass time. The doctor in question says that fishing can help relax you and the fresh air is so beneficial. I have also just read in this article that over 80 per cent of people have not even considered trying the sport. Talking about health matters I also saw a very interesting article explaining how fishing can help cancer patients recover. It was aimed at ladies who have sadly had breast cancer. The evidence is so great that a "Casting for Recovery" scheme is being set up around the UK to provide idyllic retreats for ladies affected by breast cancer. Apparently the the casting action used in fly fishing is recommended by physiotherapists for joint and soft tissue mobility. The scheme started in the States in 1996 and has helped thousands of ladies. My sister had breast cancer five years ago and one of the things she has to do is to do regular arm exercises. I have written to the secretary of this organisation to see if there is anything Pendle View can do to help ladies in a similar situation in this country. I was thinking that Lisa (our wonderful fisheries superintendent) may be able to help teach the ladies the sport. Its always nice to think that the business we have can have so many hidden benefits that can help people.

Well folks thats all for now - hope to see you on our banks soon.
best wishes.

Lin at Pendle View