News from 2010

28th.December Still frozen solid, mind you if the temperatures stay as they are at the minute we may be back in circulation in a week or so. Happy new year to everyone, lets hope the fishing is good through the year.

.29th.November. First time we have been frozen up in November. Looks like bread and dripping for Christmas. Will keep the news page updated.

28th.November. 8am. The lake is very cold but apart from a small amount of thin ice down by the dam the rest of the lake is fine. Will update daily while this cold snap continues.

9th.November Another cracking Pike caught at 18lb on Sunday. Dan sat out the rain on Tuesday to catch a spanking 29lb.lightly scaled Mirror Carp (picture to follow)

2nd.November. Another 17lb. Pike. (picture to follow)

27th.October.How often does it happen. Nick has not fished Shillinglee before. He promptly lands a 16lb.Common then a nice Tench, and at 5 this afternoon he lands one of the largest of our big girl mirror carp [picture to follow]. Many of our regulars are trying so hard to land our big girls with no joy. Thankfully they all enjoy the real challenge of catching wild English fish and its because it is hard they keep on trying and in the end succeed. Well done Nick.

 18th.October.Carl had a good day on Sunday landing a 21lb.common and a 24lb.common.

16th.October. Paul is back for his first session of PIKE fishing this season and again he hits into a stunning 26lb.specimen,  I was lucky enough to be with him as he landed the beauty. Picture to follow.

3rd.October. PIKE season starts with a bang with Rowan and his young son Brandon catching 4 pike with the best at 16lb.8oz. Dan landed one of the big girl commons and a couple of doubles which rewarded him for sticking it out in the most wet conditions.

 27th.September.Leather week! Taylor breaks his personal best with a stunning mid thirty leather .The following day Carl lands an equally cracking leather carp at 26lb, together with a 21lb mirror. Kevin returning to Shillinglee after a couple of months took two low twenties one mirror and one common. Paul also made his day with a lovely 24lb mirror.

17th.September.Been away on our hols. Andy and Phil looked after the lake and recorded catches between them of three different 30's a 25lb.and a couple of doubles. September looks to be a month to remember.

5th.September. A cracking start to the month with Paul catching a big common just 3lb. below the lake record .following this with a nice 23lb.mirror.David ended a lean spell with a lovely 18lb.mirror and Keith continues landing lovely Tench. Autumn is looking promising.

22nd August. According to several of our regulars the carp record is about to be broken yet again. Twice in two weeks big fish have been lost at the net simply because they were just to heavy to land on your own. Bearing in mind that all our regulars will only lift fish if they know they can handle the fish safely. We will see fairly soon no doubt. I have been asked to report the actual weights of the big carp but as already mentioned we feel it best for the welfare of the fish not to be specific about the sizes above 30lb. Sorry.

2nd.August. Carl really is on the button catching one of our big lady commons, first time caught this year. Well done Carl your sticking power is paying off.

1st.August.  Carl is back into catching form, landing a 22lb common and an 18lb.Mirror,a good start to August.

28th.July  Domonic has done it again landing another big lady Mirror. Well done Dom.

18th.July. Ben has been looking after the lake for the past couple of weeks. Dan and Dom have both caught big Carp and a good number of high doubles, and mid twenties  being caught, all around the lake. It does make me chuckle when one of our regular anglers puts all the time skill and passion into preparing a swim and immediately he leaves, a new angler reaps the rewards, exactly what happened this weekend, with the new angler catching three good carp the best being 23lb. Better not tell Sean!!! I am still amazed at the quantity, and the weights of the Roach Rudd and Tench that are being caught.

28th June. Justin broke the lake record with a stunning Tench at 10lb 3oz.well done Justin. Dan with his reel fully locked up could not believe it when line was still screaming of the reel. Only to lose the fish when nearly in. Still he went home slightly happier after catching a pretty 18lb.Ghostie.

14th.June. Carl had another cracking day with a stunning silver common at 28lb.8oz. A mirror at 24lb.and another at 17lb .Really good Tench Rudd and Roach are being caught all around the lake.

11th June. What a week for Tench Roach and Rudd. Kevin took the honours with six Tench over 5lbs.the best 7lb 9oz. He even had to go in the lake to land one. (picture to follow]. No exaggeration but dozens of Rudd and Roach were caught that weighed over a lb. With a Rudd at 2lb.2oz.If only more anglers would come to fish for these real fish of dreams.

 June 7th.By all accounts a few fish were nearly caught. How often have I heard that? Steven who has not been to Shillinglee for several months landed the best of the weekend with a 26lb 8oz mirror. Carl had two fish at 24lb and 25lb both commons and Dan landed a common carp at 21lb.Some nice Tench were also caught together with some stunning rudd and roach.

June 1st.June started well for Paul with a  Pretty 20lb Carp.

May 29th  Andy Dan and Carl all caught nice carp yesterday with  Charlie and Andy taking nice Tench. Good start to the holiday weekend.

May 23rd. Firstly I must correct the last entry. Richards best was 21lb 10oz.not 23lb  and he ended up with 12 carp that weighed in at over 140lb.This is exceptional for Shillinglee where the fish  hide away and are extremely wary of baits with hooks in them. Even more amazing he had both rods go off and landed two big carp at once with a combined weight of over 40lb.The Tench are being caught steadily also with some good weights recorded and not forgetting the Roach Rudd and Perch all are taking the bait. Yesterday saw a lot of spawning and not much caught.

May 20th. What a change in the weather. Richard is reaping the rewards of the warm sun with six carp ranging from 6lb up to 23lb. An  occasional visitor to Shillinglee landed a lovely low twenty linear carp which I was lucky enough to photograph hopefully will have the picture up next week. Tench Rudd and Roach all being caught. This weekend is promising us temperatures in the 80's.This may well start the Carp spawning. A sight not to be missed that asks the question.  Where on earth do so many big carp hide during the rest of the year?

May 10th. A chilly weekend with a cold northerly wind. Charlie braved the cold on Saturday and landed three lovely carp. Sunday remained cold and Sean who had been working hard to master Shillinglee finally succeeded with two stunning Carp.

May 1st.The bank holiday has started well for Graeme landing  24lb.7oz. leather a 20lb.2oz. Mirror and a 12lb.Ghost. Capped off with a superb 8lb.2oz.tench. Can it get better than that?

April 30th. Pike season has ended with a stunning fish. Paul who is fairly new to Shillinglee has been catching a good number of low doubles recently and yesterday he hit the jackpot with a 26lb.8oz. beauty. Dominic continued catching the Carp with a lovely 23lb.mirror on Tuesday .Good fishing weather is booked for the bank holiday so fingers crossed.

April 24th.Cold nights and wonderful days. Andy caught a lovely 25lb. Silver Carp. Paul who looks after this website came fishing for the first time this year and caught two low double figure carp from the shallows. Keith and Andy both caught two Tench each. all over 4lb. Rob also caught Tench . Spring must be here.

April19th.A good week for carp and Tench. Dan landing a lovely 29lb 5oz lightly scaled Mirror Carp. Carl picked up a 27lb 6oz.mirror carp together with a 7lb 8oz.Tench.Charlie and Richard both took low twenties in the shallows with 4 good mid doubles also coming out.

April 11th.Spring has finally arrived Carl and Dom both caught several nice fish. The best a cracking looking 26lb.Common carp.

April 6th. Easter went out in glory for Richard, after he landed one of the stunning mirrors. How heavy was it ? This will depend on whether you believe in modern  digital scales or if you are a supporter of the coiled spring. Firstly Richard used the spring scale and recorded a weight of 42lb. He then used his digital scales which gave a reading between 39 and 45 lbs. He thought the  batteries were on the way out so he replaced them, and recorded a steady weight of 39lb 12oz. So it is up to you guys  modern or old.  In any event it was a cracking fish and still with two months of feeding to go. Once Richard has mastered the art of sending me photos via the internet, we will have pictures on the site. Well done Richard, again it shows put the time in and you will be rewarded.

Easter Saturday. Wet wet wet. Andy landed a nice 21lb. common. Paul a 16lb.Mirror and Carl a 20lb. common, hope they haven't caught a cold as well.

Good Friday . Easter started well for Andy Charlie and Paul who all caught nice Carp with Paul taking the best a 24lb.Leather Carp. Pike also being caught together with some nice roach. Today Saturday has started with very heavy rain.

Week ending 29th.March.  The cold wet weather just keeps on coming, making the fishing hard. Despite this Carl took a stunning linear from the shallows just as darkness descended.

Weekend 20-21st.March  The warmer weather has seen the carp being caught with Dan taking a 19lb.and 25lb common in the shallows. Paul also landed a nice common at 21lb.With Carl also taking a 17lb.common and also just missing what he thought was one of the upper thirty commons. The Pike are all around the margins getting ready for spawning. Richard caught the first Tench this year at 5lb 8oz.together with a 16lb carp and a big pike that he reckoned was in the high twenties. Spring has arrived hopefully and with the clocks going forward next week things are looking up.

14th.March The water is still very cold but Richard was delighted with a 15lb.8oz.mirror that he landed at midday.

1st.March. Despite the very wet weather Carl landed two nice common carp at 16lb.and 19lb. A good number of nice pike were also caught this week.

13th.February. After much expectation from our anglers, and despite the bitter north easterlies. Two anglers set up under the oak tree. Put out a handful of freebies and at 9 am they landed Shillinglee's first forty pound Carp. It was a mirror and weighed in at 40lb.12oz. Carl who was fishing opposite, was nearly as excited as they were, as he has been working to catch one of the big mirrors all winter. He also has had success this morning with a 16lb.Mirror,amazing considering there is still some ice on the lake.

11th.February. Despite the bitterly cold north west wind, the pike are feeding with some nice doubles being caught this week. I  think the wind needs to drop and be a touch warmer to get the carp on the feed. Roll on the Spring.

4rd.February.  Lake is now free from ice.

24th.January.Graeme our first angler of the year caught a pretty 13lb.Common yesterday and with ice still on the lake he was happy. Lets hope this year, Shillinglee makes a lot of anglers happy.

 23rd.January. Finally we have lost most of the ice. Lets go fishing.

 
11th January. Graeme told me he "Had a wander round the lake yesterday and bumped into this chap fishing. Bloody optimistic if you ask me, but he seemed happy enough".