November 2011

 

 

The mild weather in early November allowed carp and pike anglers alike to reel in numerous good catches from across our region. At Stonar Lake there were mammoth bags of carp reported to the C&DAA HQ in Sturry. Bradley Lennell netted ten carp to 10lb and four bigger fish to 21lb 9oz and on a return trip three more to 10lb and nine more doubles to 23lb 6oz. Shane Mason's nine double figure fish included a mirror of 23lb 10oz while Les Lennell and Dan Evans both caught fish to 10lb and a number of bigger common and mirror carp. Martin Hendy used a pole and fishing with just a size 18 hook and 3lb line Martin landed a superb 19lb 14oz mirror carp after a superb scrap. Double maggots were the successful bait. Shane Mason and Terry Culley both recorded twenty one carp to 10lb and a number of bigger fish including Shane's mirror of 30lb. Other notable carp catchers at Stonar included Richard Smith, Roger Gosman, Steve Harris and Caroline Maunders. Andy and Kate Cox landed over twenty sizeable carp while Carol Curtis caught two commons of 10lb and another of 15lb. Trevor Curtis' 27lb mirror was a great follow up to his lively bream of 3lb. In addition to the big carp bags Gavin Stewart landed a haul of roach and rudd weighing a total of 14lb 7oz that included an excellent rudd of 1lb 6oz. At Fordwich Lake the north bank featured again as the top venue for carp anglers when three 24lb fish were taken by Gary Hills, Steve Kemp and Steve Simmons. The trio of anglers caught their carp on fishmeal boilies at long range. Colin Burrows fished at the Trenley Lake 'deeps' to hook four tench and fifteen bream to 6lb, all taken on feeder-fished worm. The River Stour was also well worth a try as Dick Callaway found at Grove Ferry. Dick reeled in 18lb of roach using a simple stick float and maggot baits. At Plucks Gutter ten members of the White Hart Club from London weighed in 140lb of roach and skimmer bream fishing upstream with the best bag of 22lb recorded. Several quality roach of over 1lb were hooked. From the same venue David Clarke banked four pike to 15lb all on paternostered dead baits. By the middle of the month even better and more plentiful fish were landed from the River Stour at Plucks Gutter and Fordwich. At the 'Gutter' Alan Cain reeled in 30lb of roach to 1lb and several skimmer bream of two to three pounds apiece. Alan used a stick float and maggot baits for all his fish. Ray Fuller fished with dead baits to bank one of the best pike of the month with a lively 15lb fish. Alan Barry favoured his lures at Fordwich on the river and his perseverance paid off with a superb 18llb 8oz pike caught on the man-made lure. Iain McDonald's legered paste from the same venue led to three big bream and seven weighty chub to 5lb 8oz to add to his super record of chub and barbel from the river during the past few years. Lots of fish were being recorded from Minster lakes. All methods proved successful and the best fish at that time from the popular waters was a 19lb 6oz mirror carp hooked and carefully landed by Paul Clarke using pole fished paste bait. Stonar Lake continued to produce fine catches. Nearly fifty big carp were caught in a week-and-a-half and the spoils were shared by members Les Lennell, Martin Whitey, Ashley Keen, Shane Mason, Chris Batten, Dan Evans, Mark Dale, Ian Pert, Wayne Mills, Richard Smith, Gary Fuller and Justin Haywood. Other anglers at Stonar caught various species of fish and most notably Colin Drew with lots of rudd and roach as well as common carp. Craig Backshall's haul included a fine bream brace of 7.5lb and 7lb, along with a 22lb mirror carp and nine more carp to double figures. Jock Whites bag included five bream to 5lb and six good carp to 21lb 8oz. Chris Wiles finishes our November report from Stonar with a splendid twelve carp catch that included a 26lb 11oz fish thought to be the best common carp landed from the sandwich stillwater.