Woodpecker Pool Newsletter May 2011

Hello everyone and welcome to the first newsletter of the 2011 season and we hope this finds you all keeping well.
I dare say some of you were wondering what was happening that you have not received one sooner.
Well we had two unfortunate cancellations for April and we had booked a week away ourselves for the first week of May so our season only got underway on the 7th May.

I have managed to do a little bit of fishing with a couple of friends in March be it only for a few hours but we managed some nice fish with mirrors to 33lb 8oz, a lovely common of 29lb and a couple of good catfish of 77lb 8oz and 81lb, really good sport and the fish were all in great condition, pictures of some of the fish are on our 2011 galleries on the web site, so if you would like to see them please go to the site and have a look.

The weather this spring has been very settled, dry and warm and up until last week we had seen hardly any rain for the last ten weeks, according to the records it has been the driest, hottest April since 1900, good for me as I have not needed to mow the grass as often but not really good for all the plants and trees.

As I said earlier Sue and I had booked a week away to go fishing and we invited our really good friends Steve and Jan to come along as I have not fished with Steve for a couple of years and have really missed that, so I was really looking forward to it. We went to Claire and Mark's Kingfisher Pools, I have fished Kingfisher over the years on odd occasions but only for a few hours in the day and an odd night and Steve had never fished it at all so we were really looking forward to going there and spending the week trying to outwit some of the lovely fish that these lakes contain. I always say to people when they ask what I enjoy about my fishing that the most important thing is the company you are with, the being there and then the fish no matter what size they are, they don't have to be all monsters but I always hope to catch the biggest fish that is in there but that is in the lap of the gods, you put your bait out and work at it and hope that monster comes along if it does that is excellent but if it doesn't just enjoy being there and appreciate the surroundings and what ever you catch. We had a fantastic week catching some stunning looking fish, between us we had Mirrors to 37lb 8oz, Commons to 28lb 1oz, a new fish and personal best for me in the shape of a 29lb 8oz Grass Carp from the Bottom Lake and Steve also caught the Albino catfish.

Thank you Claire and Mark for a great week, the place and the fish are a credit to you both, we will return.

Anyway enough of my ramblings about what we have been doing lets get down to what has happened here over the last week.
We welcomed back Helen and Alan Brookes with Alan's brother Dave for his first time here, so how did their week turn out, firstly I have to say Helen is a non angler so she had ordered the sunshine and yes the sun shone for most of the week so one happy lady, the lads wanted the fish to play the game and they certainly did that, no nights fished and not always out at the crack of dawn, so how’s this for a catch of fish from a puddle as some fishermen call it!!!
A total of 57 fish of which 53 were carp, 3 catfish and the diamond back sturgeon. The catch included 25 doubles, 10 twenties including 2 Grass carp, 14 thirties, 5 forties (4 carp and the diamond back) 1 fifty catfish, 1 sixty catfish and 1 eighty catfish at 87lb which is the second biggest catfish caught from the lake so far. Lots of personal bests broken and the first time at Woodpecker that four 40lb plus carp have been caught in one week, these all fell to Alan very well done, needless to say you can imagine some of the comments from Dave to his brother!! The best Mirrors were 44lb 4oz, 43lb 12oz, 43b 4oz and 41lb 12oz,  best Common 37lb, best Grass Carp 27lb 14oz. The total weight was 1591lb for an average of 28lb.

A great start to the season and we thank Helen, Alan and Dave for their excellent company and laughs during the week, the way the chalet and everything was left so clean and tidy and we look forward very much to seeing you again in June.

You may be wondering about the amount of doubles caught, these are the smaller fish we have stocked over the last couple of seasons picked for their good looks and fighting qualities and are now starting to pack on the pounds so are not getting pushed out as much as they were last season, we expect most of these fish to reach the twenty pound mark by the end of the season hopefully, please treat every fish with respect as these are the future of the fishery.

You will notice in the pictures above we now have the new Nash Euro Cradles, these cradles keep the fish off the ground and also enable you to pick the fish up easier and also the fish is never far away from safety, we insist that these cradles are used for every carp capture and the photographs of the fish MUST be taken with the fish directly over the cradles, no carp are to be placed in the other cradles or on the flat mats, these other cradles and mats are for catfish only.
Just a few more reminders before I close, please remember coated hook links only, a minimum of 1 metre of tubing or lead core above the hook link this is to help protect the fish while playing and to help prevent lifting of scales and please don't forget the Klinic or Medi Carp for the hook holds or any marks on the fish.

Well that is it for this time, we are looking forward to seeing everyone coming this year and to another good season.

Until next time all the very best to everyone.

Sue and Doug