Uroy Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 I've been a member of a club for over two years now . The club has three waters and all are tough going . The lakes will go 3/4/5 weeks not doing a fish then they'll throw a couple up and switch off again . One lake went 7 months last year without doing a fish and another lake went 4 months before producing fish again . How would you approach these lakes ? I realise that's a very general question without you seeing the lake and knowing about them but had anyone any experience of fishing these types of tough waters ? There is a good stock in all lakes . My only theory is over feeding by the club hierarchy that make no secret of the desire for bigger fish than we have at present but surely there's a way to scratch a bite . Ill not say now what I've been doing as I'd like to hear you guys ideas or thoughts on how you'd try and buy a bite cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salokcinnodrog Posted August 18, 2017 Report Share Posted August 18, 2017 I think that some waters contain so much natural food that the fish switch off, and it isn't helped when some fish only seem to be catchable at certain times of the year or moon phases. Add to that locating fish and it can be months before a fish is landed. We seem to be having the same problem in the Lee Valley at the moment, (stocks may not be as high as yours), although it is throwing up occasional fish, but not the big ones. I think there is so much natural food, the carp are feeding on snails, mussels, even daphnia, in and around the weed and are not picking up bait. Add to that when it does get hard less anglers fish. Usually at the start of the new season (tickets still run June to June), every angler, his son and dog fishes the lakes, now it's gotten harder this week the sum total who fished was 4! You may find a fish is caught, but because the angler is on his own no-one else knows about it, so nothing has come out. B.C. and yonny 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud9 Posted August 18, 2017 Report Share Posted August 18, 2017 If they are feeding the fish , then I would look into what they are feeding , what areas the feed is going in and the time's it's being provided, as a starting point. If you believe that the fish are preoccupied with natural foods then maybe have a look at the snail based range of products , I think it essential baits that do them .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salokcinnodrog Posted August 18, 2017 Report Share Posted August 18, 2017 32 minutes ago, cloud9 said: If they are feeding the fish , then I would look into what they are feeding , what areas the feed is going in and the time's it's being provided, as a starting point. If you believe that the fish are preoccupied with natural foods then maybe have a look at the snail based range of products , I think it essential baits that do them .. Lol! You haven't seen some of the fish staying in the area near the inflow sluice, just hanging mid depth feeding on daphnia. They don't come out for up to 3 months, staying in an area around 15 metres by 10 metres. Dynamite do Hemp and Snails I watched the coots clearing up a weed patch this week, feeding on it constantly for four days. On another weed bed I hit with an overcast, I pulled back a slug of weed as thick as my arm, you should have seen it, thick with snails and mussels around 2mm maximum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 On 8/14/2017 at 22:11, Uroy said: One lake went 7 months last year without doing a fish and another lake went 4 months before producing fish again . ....... There is a good stock in all lakes Are you 100% sure of that mate? On 8/14/2017 at 22:11, Uroy said: My only theory is over feeding by the club hierarchy that make no secret of the desire for bigger fish than we have at present but surely there's a way to scratch a bite So the club are feeding the lake? What are they feeding? Pellets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uroy Posted August 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Thank for the input lads . So the club are feeding high grade pellets regularly in the margins. The stock is high as you can see them ..... on the no fishing side 😂 . As far as I'm aware boys are fishing over beds of the pellet that the club feed with as we can buy them but also with pellet and boilies of their own choice . The thing with all the lakes that gets me is that they just go dormant for such long periods of time but they're all different types of lakes so it's not as if they're all deep and switch off once it becomes cold . Im leaning towards trying maggots and worms now . Maybe spending an hour in each free swim and casting maggot feeders or pva bags around hoping to pick one up . Obviously I'll walk round first and look for fish but if none show I'll try different areas . Due to nature of these lakes I've lost heart in just sitting it out on one peg for the session . Especially if it's been 5/6 weeks since a fish came out. On these lakes the fish rarely show except in two areas on two of the lakes . One is a no fishing area that included no casting into the area either and on the other lake the weed is so thick towards where they show you'd struggle to get them back the 100 plus yards to the bank . Pre baiting isn't allowed either yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Jeez, sounds tricky to say the least..... You cannot ignore the pellets if they're fed regularly, they must accept them. Maggots and worms is a good call if you believe they're on the naturals. Under the circumstances with the lake doing so few fish I would get together with the other members and work together by establishing a really good food bait (boilie). It sounds to me that if the lake shuts up shop for weeks at a time then even the top rods can't hope for more than a few fish per year. If you get them feeding on a decent boilie and everyone uses it then everyone is upping their chances. It also gets round the pre-bait rule to a certain extent.... every time one of you fishes your applying the food source...... The biggest challenge would be getting everyone on-board. I'm amazed that the clubs pellets aren't doing the job........ it's a ready made pre-bait situation..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uroy Posted August 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Yeah the top guys are getting 4/5 fish per year and they're on it most weekends . Unfortunately I can't see people working together as everything is cloak and dagger lol . My next outings will be worm and maggot as the boilie & pellet thing hasn't produced for me . Ill try roving different areas and keeping mobile. yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 8 minutes ago, Uroy said: Unfortunately I can't see people working together as everything is cloak and dagger lol . For sure mate I can imagine.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekskii Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 9 minutes ago, Uroy said: Yeah the top guys are getting 4/5 fish per year and they're on it most weekends You sure the stock levels are what you think they are? 4/5 fish a year to the top rods? Cant see it being a 'good' stock Personally my focus points would be getting a good idea of the lakebed and finding suitable spots to fish and also seeing where the fish are fed and if possible, fish these spots! the fish associate them with food so put a bait on them! jh92 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uroy Posted August 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Yes that particular lake was stocked two years ago and the year before that and you can see them against the no fishing / no casting to bank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginger9991 Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 The no cast banking........Can you phyiscally cast to it from the other bank? I know its probably a bit naughty but i would be putting a rod on the far bank after dark B.C. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekskii Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 SO really what the situation is is that the club are feeding the fish from the no fishing/casting bank really heavily and the fish dont need to really go anywhere else to feed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 If they're feeding the no fishing bank then I'd walk away mate. Not a real fishing situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uroy Posted August 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 No they feed it all over . The fish seem to lye by the no fishing area a lot . Maybe no pressure there , no lines and little disturbance. People do catch it's just the feeding windows are so small and so infrequent that I'm puzzled as to how to catch them when they seem to be off so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekskii Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Do fish get caught all over the lake? Or just close to the no fishing area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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