All waters are fishing better than ever at the moment with warm weather encouraging the fish. The Main Loch continues to improve and more people who habitually fished the Carp ponds are trying the Main Loch for the first time, enjoying the change and variety of fishing. The Island and Top ponds are still fishing very well though, with 20lb catches commonplace and some reports of estimated bags up to 50lb including carp over 4lb. Many people are commenting on their new ‘personal best’, either as a total or individual specimens. The Main Loch has never fished so well and the number and size of fish to be had has much improved over last year. Weights with up to 30lb are reported more and more including beautifully conditioned carp from 1lb to nearly 3lb. Quite a few nice Tench to over 3lb are being caught too. Skimmer Bream are the other main attraction. The Skimmers & Ide are rising high in the water at times and can be taken as shallow as 2ft deep. Maggot and pinkie are No.1 bait for silver fish but many people are fishing for carp just past the margins using pellets and worms too. The Island Pond is very popular for pleasure anglers and match anglers too now that the Monday Evening Opens have started. Stef Hunter broke the Monday Night match record with 23lb 7oz and that shouldn’t stand for too long! Carp are feeding well and the fact that some of the ghost carp are well over 4lb and the F1s are going over 3lb shows why pleasure catches have been estimated up to 50lb. The Ide are getting really big too with many fish nearing 1lb. Tench are thriving and among the small ones are some of their bigger brothers up to 3lb. Pellets are important for the Carp and Jelly Pellets are very successful and easy to use too. Maggot, sweetcorn and worms can pay off when the Carp have seen a few too many pellets. The Top Pond is giving great fishing for mainly F1 Carp which are growing fast with more fish topping the 1lb mark. If you get it right you can catch one every cast. Pellets now catching best with maggots and sweetcorn are as backup baits.
