SHILLINGLEE DAY TICKET FISHING NEWS 2012

End 2012/early 2013.  It has now been a year since the Wakefield family took over the ownership and running of Shillinglee.  It has been a very interesting year and we have enjoyed getting to know all the syndicate members and day ticket fishermen (women).  We look forward to 2013 and wish you all a happy and healthy new year and look forward to seeing you all back at Shillinglee in the near future. 

Many thanks to Andy and Phil for their excellent work as bailiffs during 2012.

30th December. Lee landed the last fish of the year at Shillinglee with a very nice 22lb Common Carp. Well done Lee. 
 

13th December.  The Main Lake is frozen today and is expected to remain the same tomorrow.  The weather forcasts suggests rain at the weekend with slightly higher temperatures but we will keep you updated.

9th December.  Five new day-tickets fished at the lake over the weekend,  all of whom enjoyed the beauty and tranquillity of the surroundings and who had read about Shillinglee in the recent article in Angler's Mail magazine.  It is always nice to welcome new fishermen (and women) to Shillinglee.

No Carp or Tench caught over the weekend but lots of fish moving around.

8th December.   Dave landed a beautiful 13 lb Pike, a stunning specimen.

30th November.  It's Andy's birthday today so hopefully the big carp will make it a happy day for him (and for PJ) ! Good luck guys....

29th and 30th November.  Mick stayed for 2 nights and landed a beautiful 30lb + Mirror carp and another 27lb Mirror....well done Mick on a very successful trip to Shillinglee.

27th November.  An intrepid day ticket fisherman caught a stunning 9 lb Tench.  A very nice sized specimen.  We have not had many Tench out over the last few months, so many congratulations.

21st November.  Dave P caught a very nice 5-6 lb Pike, a beautiful specimen.

13th November.  This week's edition of Angler's Mail includes an excellent report on Shillinglee main lake and surrounding ponds.  It also includes a video of the fishery. Use your Smartphone to watch the video or visit www.anglersmail.co.uk

2nd November.  Harry landed another nice fish, after an long lay-off due to school studies and being away for much of the summer, this time a 13lb 5oz Mirror Carp.  He went home with a big smile on his face. 

Lee also had a good night's fishing,  landing a 14lb Common Carp.  Well done Lee.

28th October.  Ryan fished at Shillinglee for the first time on Sunday and enjoyed it very much. Although the carp were hiding, he did manage to have a small 5lb Pike and also lost one.  He  will definitely be coming back for another go.  Andy also caught a 30lb+ Common Carp on Saturday afternoon. 

24th October.  Water flows into the main lake from the surrounding ponds are high but all pegs are in operation.  The autumn colours around the lake are a wonderful sight so when you are fishing take some time out to enjoy the beauty of the surroundings.

23rd October.  Anthony, a day ticket fisherman landed a stunning 10 lb Pike.

20th October.  The main lake had its 10-year inspection and the dam its annual inspection on Saturday and was given a clean bill of health.

19th October.  Alex opened his account for the new Pike season with a magical haul of fish, comprising a beautiful 29 lb specimen, then a 17 lb, a 14 lb, a 12lb an 8lb  followed by a few Jacks. Well done Alex.

7th October.  Richard caught a Jack Pike, his first of the season. 

Water levels are slowly falling after the heavy rainfall of the last few days.

This weekend was a busy one on the main lake, including several new fisherman to Shillinglee, all of whom enjoyed their fishing and the beauty and tranquility of the surroundings.

3rd October.  Having had a successful day of Pike fishing a few days ago,Lee landed a stunning 30+ lb Old Lady Mirror Carp, followed by a very nice 17 lb Common.  Well done Lee.

Water is now flowing at a steady rate from Silverdale, Canal Pond, Foxdale and other spring-fed sources into the main lake.  Water levels are quite high but all swims are in operation.

2nd October.  Alex caught 2 more Jacks while Theo landed an 11 lb Pike and 3 Jacks.  A very good start to the season.....the main lake is a beautiful sight at the moment.  A number of swims have been cleared of troublesome lily pads over the last few months and the program of improvements to some of the pegs will continue over the coming months, as will improving the pathways around the lake, subject, as always, to the weather!   Please let us have any photos of your catches so we can add these to the website.

1st October.  The long-awaited Pike season is now upon us and some early success for some keen anglers....Alex was very happy with his 15 lb, 12 lb 8 oz and 6 lb Pike, along with 5 Jacks.

16th September.  Richard also caught a 30+ "Old Lady" Mirror.  He was a happy chap.

15th September.  Richard landed a beautiful 30+"Old Lady" Common.

14th September.  Phil caught a nice 8lb Tench, but unfortunatly the carp are still eluding him.

10th September.  The Sussex Wildlife Trust is conducting a series of pond surveys in the area and carried out a short survey on the Main lake and surrounding ponds today.  The Trust commented that the lake was in superb condition and benefited from a wide range of flora and fauna in the surrounding area.  We await a full report in the next few weeks. 

8th September.  Mick entered the fray and was delighted to catch a 21lb 8oz Mirror.  Well done Mick!

7th September.  Andy stepped up again and landed a beautiful Mirror at 17lb 4oz, followed by an equally stunning 13lb Common. 

6th September.  Andy continued his run of good form with a 15lb Mirror.  Andy is definitely on a roll at the moment! 

1st September. Andy performed extremely well at the weekend, catching six very good-sized carp - a 12 lb 4 oz common,15 lb common,10 lb common and 17 lb common, followed by a very impressive 30+ lb old lady mirror, followed by a 16 lb mirror. Well done Andy !

The main lake continues to look in tip-top condition. A program of improving some of the muddy pathways around the lake has been started and will continue over the next few months.

With the light rainfall over the last week or so, flows from Silverdale and the other ponds has slowed to a trickle.  However, the main lake is looking stunning and a great place to spend a day's fishing.

26th August. Sean performed well again, catching a 15 lb Mirror and 24 lb Common Carp.  However, he was close to catching an even bigger specimen the next morning but she escaped just a few feet away from his landing net. A great pity, but Sean was still smiling from his two catches the day before !

23rd August.  Mick caught two very nice Roach, one at 1 lb 8 oz and the other 1 lb 12 oz.
Dom caught a 7 lb Tench but unfortunately no Carp on this occasion.

19th August.  Sean, who has been very successful in recent times on the main lake, caught a combination of 15 lb Mirror and 14 lb Mirror Carp, so he went home happy.

18th August.  Andy landed a 5.5 lb Tench, one of the few Tenches that that been caught in recent months on the main lake.

16th August.  Chris caught a very nice 14 lb Common Carp which was a beautiful specimen.

11th August.  Rob landed a stunning 8lb Mirror Carp and a Tench. 

6th August.  Alan caught a 6.5lb Tench.

3rd August.  Sean landed a beautiful 19lb Mirror Carp.  Charlie also caught a 1lb Roach.

25th July. Derek a day ticket fisherman landed 2 Golden Rudd. One was 1lb 8oz and the other was 2lb 2oz.

20th July.  Andy landed a lovely 20lb Common Carp

18th July.  Theo caught a beautiful “Old Lady”. One of the biggest fish that has been caught this season. And a 12lb Common Carp.  

12th July.  P.J.  caught a 16lb Common Carp.  Andy caught a 19lb 4oz Mirror Carp.  Derek landed a monster Roach at 2lb 3oz and two at 1lb 8oz and 1lb 12oz.  Taylor caught a beautiful 25lb Common Carp.

11th July.  Dave landed a great 25lb Leather Carp.

8th July.  Richard caught a 12lb Common Carp.  Sean had a good days fishing, and landed a 24lb Common, an 18lb 4oz Common and a 17lb 8oz Common.

23rd June.  Angus had an amazing weekends fishing, catching a 19lb Linear, a 22lb Mirror and a truly stunning Old Lady, Common carp.  This sets a new record this year for carp fishing.  Well done Angus! Whose previous PB was 18lb!

20th June.  Angus caught a stunning 21lb Mirror Carp.

16th June.  Grant, a day ticket fisherman caught a 14lb Mirror and two 6 lb Tench, a happy chappy.  Sean hit the headlines with a 21lb Leather Carp, a beautiful specimen.

8th June.  Andy landed a beautiful 24lb Carp.

With the heavy rains this week the water has been flowing again from the ponds into the Specimen Lake, and the rhododendrons are in full bloom. 

Several deer have also been spotted roaming between the woods and the land around Lakeside.

2nd June.  After the syndicate BBQ Richard was pleased with a 19lb and 9lb Mirror carp, while Keith remained in the headlines with a two 5lb Tench. 

1st June.  Andy caught a beautiful 17lb Mirror carp.  Maybe Keith had provided some inspiration from his performance the previous week ?

After all the spawning that had been happening last week, the fish have now calmed down and fishing can resume as normal !

29th May. Don caught a few nice 3lb Mirror carp in Silverdale, and also reported seeing a 7/9lb carp swimming around. 

28th May.  Alan caught an impressive 19lb Common carp. 

The lake is looking stunning at the moment with the temperatures in the high twenties. There is a lot of activity on the lake with spawning fish galore. 

23rd May.  Keith and Andy fished overnight and Keith, using Nicky's special bait concoction landed 3 Common carp - a 19lb,12lb and finally a 15lb. Other syndicate members have commented that he has finally used a hook on the end of his line since he has not caught a fish in the recent past! The 19lb Common was Keith's PB for a Common.  Andy sadly caught nothing but at least was witness to Keith's stunning catches.

22nd May.  Alan caught a very good sized Tench at 7.5lbs, but was still in pursuit of the elusive carp!

Simon landed a 5lb and 6lb Tench.  But like Alan, would liked to have caught one of our Old Lady Carp!

20th May.  Richard caught a nice 12lb Mirror Carp, followed by a truly stunning 24lb Common a few hours later. A beautiful specimen.

15th May.  The weather continues to be very wet.  Let's hope we see some sunshine soon.

14th May.  Clive landed a superb Old Lady, the largest carp caught on the lake so far this year.  Well done Clive!

11th May.  Andy caught a 5lb Tench and a 10lb Mirror carp.

10th May.  Dominic caught two stunning 14lb and 21lb Common carp.

5th -7th May.  Again the weather over the bank holiday weekend was not great but we still had some good fish come out.  Lee had 3 catches, 25lb, 15lb Commons and a 20lb Mirror.  Richard caught a 20lb Common and a 6.5lb Tench.  Theo had a low double.  A day ticket fisherman caught a 9lb Tench too. 

The weather continues to be very unsettled with some very heavy down pours.  We hope to see some sunshine soon. 

29th April.  We have had some good fish coming out over the last week, despite the weather.  Lee caught a 20lb Common carp,  Mark a 25lb Mirror, Simon an 18lb Common and Richard caught a 7lb and an 8lb Tench. 

25th April.  Dominic had a successful night fish catching a 16lb and 20lb Common Carp.

23rd April. Heavy showers seem to have put most people off over the last few days.  However, we have had several keen fisherman back on the lake today and Paul landed a stunning 5lb Tench this morning.

Let's hope the weather improves over the next few days.

17th April. A short day time session produced another beautiful 19lb 4oz common carp for Harry.

13th April. On his second visit to the lake Harry caught 3 nice carp, a 16lb common, 14 lb mirror and another 12lb common over a 24 hour period.  Not surprisingly, he was a happy chappy.

6th April.  Angus had a good session over Easter and caught 3 fish. Two doubles and a tiddler.  All stunning common carp.

We say farewell to Robin and Christine and family who are leaving Shillinglee after many happy years. They have developed and improved Shillinglee with the many changes you have seen over this time and we all wish them well in their new home. They will be greatly missed.

Martin Wakefield and his family are now taking over the reins at Shillinglee and look forward to meeting you all over the coming weeks.

A portable toilet has now been positioned in the car park for use by all who fish at Shillinglee. This will be serviced once a week by the company supplying it.

1st April. Phil caught a nice 6lb Tench which was followed the next day with a similar-sized specimen by Paul.

30th March. Lee caught a stunning 28 lb Common to add to his three nice carp of two weeks ago and Andy landed a beautiful 26lb Mirror the same day.

13th. March. Simon with his second visit of the year landed a pretty lightly scaled mirror and 2 hours later a 12lb.fish that could easily be the daughter, they looked so similar. Lee also had luck with three nice carp from 21lb. to 12lb.

27th.February. Another good weekend for Colin with a 26lb.Mirror his best from Shillinglee.

18th.February. The pike certainly think spring has arrived with Rob landing three nice doubles and Theo a brace with the biggest beating his P.B. at 17lb.7oz.

17th.February. The ice has finally gone, is spring on the way?

7th.February. Well frozen will put on news page once the thaw starts.

29th.January.The Carp seem to have woken up with Lee happy catching a cracking 25lb.Mirror And Colin pleased with another mirror at 15lb.Theo who fished on Saturday found the pike nibbling but not taking the bait until about 4 in the afternoon when he broke his P.B. Pike at 14lb.10oz.

14th.January. A strange week the beginning was spring like today a heavy frost, but the lake looks stunning with no ice. Not many anglers about, but the ones that came caught fish. Paul started of on Monday and caught three Pike all doubles and came back Friday for more.

6th.January. What a blowy start to 2012,but today is stunning with everybody on the bank catching fish. Toby had the best of the day with an 18lb. and 14lb. Pike. Hopefully the weekend will continue the run of good fishing.

30th.December As we approach the end of 2011 The carp have started feeding giving Colin a good end of the year with a brace of nice commons. Some healthy Pike fishing has produced a good number of fish, the best being a 13 lb. cracker. Lets hope the new year stays ice free.

 20th.December. Yesterday it looked like we would be frozen for Christmas. Yet today around the lake it could be a spring morning. Very strange weather. The forecast looks good for the Christmas break so hopefully see you on the bank.

14th December. Plenty of rain at last but not many anglers, I think they must all be Christmas shopping.

1st December. Temperatures still double figures, looking back to this time last year we were frozen solid. The carp and Pike seem to like the mild weather with some good fish caught. James landed one of those lovely ghost carp at just over 15lb. Theo took a good picture of the 11lb. pike he caught, I will put the picture on the sight shortly.

 22th.November.A misty damp but mild week. Carl enjoyed the change in the weather and landed a lovely 24lb.Mirror Carp. Pike and perch still giving good sport for all.

14th.November.The autumn colours this year are stunning, only matched by the beautiful golden shine of a 25lb.leather caught by Colin on Sunday. The pike continue to delight and this weekend a few nice Perch were taking the bait.

.7th.November. A funny old week, mild as you like then buckets of rain. The pike loved it, with some cracking fish being caught by most of our pikers. The Carp were far more picky with Rich landing a couple of good fish mid week but once the rain arrived they went and hid. However, today I saw a couple of good fish feeding in the shallows.

30th.October. Some good Pike continue to be caught. Today a first timer to Shillinglee landed a lovely female at 21lb. She fought like a demon, tail walking much of the time.

24th.October. Richard an old supporter of Shillinglee returned this weekend and broke his P.B. of 25lb. when he landed one of the big girl commons. Lucky him, he certainly had a grin from one side of his face to the other. A first timer to Shillinglee also broke his personal best Tench with a cracking specimen at 8lb. 

21st October. A good week for our Pikers, Matt who is a regular caught three nice Pike today the smallest was 9lb.3oz. and best at 16lb.3oz.Nice Perch also showing.

17th.October. Carl has a break in his busy work schedule, and fits in a visit to Shillinglee at the weekend and lands one of our starburst mirrors at 24lb. The Pikers are kept busy with a good number of doubles and some nice perch.

9th.October A happy chappie caught a stunning 26lb.Pike today, his comment said it all when he claimed it was the best fish in his 30 years of pike fishing, his enthusiasm was electric. and great to hear.

1st.October PIKE SEASON STARTS TODAY. A good first day with several nice Pike caught the best being 11lb.

30th.September. Another good week for carp with four good twenties and a nice selection of the mid doubles being caught. Domonic took the best of the week when he landed a big girl mirror. Keith ended his lean spell with a couple of Tench both above 7lb.

 18th.Sept. We have been away for a few weeks. As they say when the cats away the fish will play. Simon landed one of the big ladies. Andy took a superb big girl and loads of good double figure fish were caught. Richard and Paul catching four good doubles in the space of 4 hours yesterday. 

29th.August. A good week for some, not so good for others. Mick landed 4 nice carp the best a stunning 26lb.mirror. Theo started a new tactic wearing only boxer shorts and it seemed to work with three nice carp including a remarkable common. picture to follow.

24th August. Dan and Ryan visited Silverdale for the second time after much pleading to be taken fishing again after last weeks success. Once again they had a wonderful time catching the gorgeous Golden Rudd that abound in this small water. With mum throwing in a constant stream of small pinches of bread the fish were none stop over the boys floats. A small size 16 hook with the smallest flake of bread resulted in a bite every cast. Obviously all the whoppers got away but the boys were loving it. They have both learnt to cast now and are even getting the hang of carefully unhooking their catch. Any angler wishing to take a youngster for their first session couldn't go wrong on this little water 2 to 3 hours of fun catching their first fish and even the most games hardened youngster can be prised away from their Xboxes, for a little while at least.

21st.August.The last week has been fun. Taylor succeeded in landing 4 carp in a morning three good doubles in the catch very unusual for Shillinglee. Carl who was back after a while away has not lost his touch with a lovely 18lb. Common Carp. Good Rudd and Roach fishing continues.

14th.August. A cracking few days for Carp in particular. Several high doubles with Andy suffering indigestion from his lunch when he landed one of the big girl mirrors at 2pm yesterday. Clive on his second visit to Shillinglee this year, landed a pretty 18lb.Common. Simon continues with his success with one of our lovely golden Common Carp.

9th.August. Steady fishing for all species. Steve Andy and Phil all catching good carp at the weekend. Simon returned yesterday and landed a perfect 19lb.Common and an equally stunning 16lb.Ghostiem Most of the carp are coming from 10 foot out  from the bank. Tench continue to give pleasure to everyone. I think it has been the best Tench fishing for a long time.. After many years of me ranting on about the stunning Roach and Rudd, we are finally having roach anglers visiting us, Andrew from Merton saying" its the best roach fishing water he knows at present". Long may it continue.

26th.July The carp are buzzing Simon takes a superb linear carp at 20lb and two hours later a 26lb. leather carp. Ross returning after 10 years away lands a 20lb. mirror. His friend Theo also caught some nice roach and Tench.

25th.July. A good weekend for Carp and Tench. Dom after three weeks away working, returned on Saturday and landed one of the elusive big girls. She was a stunning Common Carp in top condition, which is not surprising as the last time she was caught, was over a year ago, prompting the question where do they hide for all this time? Dom also landed a large 7lb.Tench to crown his day. Andy continued the success landing six Tench averaging 5lb's he also landed two common carp both hovering around 15lb. Long may this good spell continue.

18th.July. Three nice carp caught this weekend. A pretty 15lb Ghost Carp landed by Richard,  a 17lb Common and a 12lb.Common put on the bank by Graham, together with some cracking Tench and the pole anglers have been taking loads of Roach and Rudd many well over 1lb.

11th.July.Richard had both rods go of at once, a lovely Tench gave him a real fight then the second rod went off with a huge 2lb.Rudd.Simon had some fun on the canal pond where Tench are the main species however he ended up with a young carp but he was still happy. The big girls are jumping but are still playing hard to get.

1st July. Dominic's good fortune  returned, with him landing a pretty 20lb.Mirror,it stood out in that it had a bluish tint to its scales compared to the golden colour normally caught this time of the year. Big lob worms seem to be the bait on form for the Tench, with several fish caught over 5lb.

22nd.June. Angus after some fair time landed a stunning mirror carp at 21lb.His face tells the story.

11th.June.Yesterday saw a couple of nice carp both around 20lb. Graeme landed two nice Tench one at 6lb.15oz. the other at 6lb. A newcomer to Shillinglee landed a perfect 2lb.2oz. Roach a p.b. and the best witnessed Roach this season.

1st June. The bank holiday ended with some nice Tench. Charlie landing two, both around 6lb. Simon also caught Tench but his crowning glory was one of our stunning ghost Carp the first ghostie he has caught from Shillinglee, he has sent me the picture and I will put it on the site shortly. A first timer to Shillinglee who travelled down from Greenwich christened is first visit with a lovely 21lb.Leather Carp. June has arrived with some stunning weather, lets hope the fishing will be as good.

28th.May The week has been quite busy, Roach Rudd and Tench have been giving anglers good fun but the carp have had their heads down on the naturals that are abundant at this time of year.

16th.May We have been away for a few days and Ben has looked after things, by all accounts Tench fishing has been good with several 7lb.+ fish landed. This Saturday Theo landed his P.B. mirror carp at 22lb.10oz. Simon landed a 29lb Mirror last Monday from deep water. He fished the Canal pond on Saturday and landed a dozen nice young Tench. On light tackle he commented "what brilliant fun it was."

3rd.May. The bank holiday was reasonable for most of our anglers and was exceptional for one newcomer to Shillinglee. Within 30 mins. of casting he landed his P.B. Tench at 5lb. 30 minutes later he hooks into and lands one of the big girls, half an hour later cigar smoke was drifting over the lake. I wonder if it was a Hamlet.

29th.April. The wedding day was busy, with the morning producing 7 carp above 12lb. Phil landing the biggest at 24lb Domonic with a 23lb.and 12lb. Simon takes four fish ranging from 12lb. up to 18lb. Pictures to follow. Tench were also playing ball. The afternoon was full sun and the fishing tailed off. Looks good for tomorrow.

 26th.April. A true summers day in April. The bank holiday provided good fish on two of the days with three Tench over 8lbs. and five carp between 14lb and. 23lb.

 19th.April. The last few days feel like spring has arrived .No big girls have been caught but several have been teasing our anglers with tale jumps and  showing off. Carl landed a nice 18lb.Mirror Carp from the middle of the lake and Richard caught a lovely linear carp at 19lb.8oz. from the top of the lake. Mick lands the biggest Tench this year at 8lb.8oz. picture to follow. He also hooks into a lovely 18lb.common carp and goes home a happy chappie.

12th.April. The last few days has produced some nice fish. Bailiff Andy landed two mirror carp 21lb.and 24lb. both coming from the deep end. Simon yesterday at only his second visit to Shillinglee this year caught a cracking 27lb8oz. common carp followed by a 11lb. youngster from the Shallow end proving yet again that the fish are in both deep and shallow water. Tench fishing has really started with six fish over five pounds that I heard about the best caught yesterday at 7lb.8oz.

4th April A wonderful spring weekend Dan who has not fished for six weeks returned and landed a 17lb common and 22lb common on Saturday. James who last fished Shillinglee in July last year  caught a super 17lb.Ghostie and a 25lb.lightly scaled mirror. Well done to you both. The water is starting to warm up and plenty of fish moving about.

28thMarch. Warm spring days at last. Charlie made his first visit to Shillinglee this year and happily landed a 17lb.Mirror.Toby and his friends visited us today and caught 5 pike between them mostly male fish, the girls were probably laying their eggs.

20th.March. The weekend has been stunning but the nights were cold and clear the moon was huge,  apparently it is the nearest to the earth this week which is having an effect on the tides, I wonder if the fish sense this, certainly it has been good for some, with Carl landing a 17lb and a 24lb common on Saturday. Steve a fairly new angler for Shillinglee cast out Sunday morning within 30 mins. had landed an 18lb.8oz. common, and at lunch time Carl lands a lovely lightly scaled Mirror at 24lb. Pike also were caught in the margins.

18th.March.  Doms back and lands a pair of mirror carp one 11lb. the other 15lb. both striking in their condition and scale patterns, Big girls for the future. 

10th.March. Andy a fairly new angler for Shillinglee, has been putting in the time and it is starting to pay off, with an 11lb. mirror carp on Tuesday and 18lb.common carp today. Well done Andy.

  8th.March. Paul arrived yesterday the sun was shining, he was confident that the weather was right for Pike .Rather than sitting in the winter sun he chose a shady spot  in the laurel, where the temperature was not much above freezing. I thought he was mad. You wait and see he said. I want one of your big twenties today .He certainly did that , landing the biggest pike since the 40 lb pike four years ago . It came in at 27lb.8oz. It was in peak condition and gave Paul some real sport. Next time Paul feels that confident, I am going to buy a lottery ticket.

7th.March. The weekend was bitterly cold some of our best anglers were struggling, finally late Sunday afternoon a 16lb.Common was landed in its superb golden syrup winter colours.

4th.March. Back to cold and north east winds. Toby and his friends caught several nice pike between them, the best being 11lb.

 24th.February. The carp continue to play ball with three more good doubles landed, the best being 19lb6oz.

22th.February. This last couple of weeks have been challenging for our Carp anglers, but perhaps all is about to change. Today Dominic was back, and succeeded in landing his P.B. Mirror Carp, she was one of our big girls, caught mid morning. Dom tells me he caught the same fish 18  months ago and it weighed 33lb. then. We do not publish fish weights above 30lbs.but I can say it has packed some weight on in the last year. He also landed a very pretty 10lb.Mirror  and a 15lb.Common Carp. Well done Dom.

 18th.February. Another good week for the pikers, with three fish caught over 10lb. The best today was 12 lb.4oz.

12th.February. We have been away a few days and Ben has looked after things, by all accounts the fishing has been good. Toby had success with five Pike including three doubles the best being 15lb 8oz. Yesterday an angler returning to Shillinglee after two years and lands a nice 18lb 8oz, common carp. Already today a nice looking pike was landed near the outflow culvert. The fish seem to like this milder weather and so say all of us.

 6th.February A very windy weekend but one Carl will remember. He landed three carp two high doubles and a striking mirror at 25lb.(picture to follow)  Three newcomers to Shillinglee opened their account with some nice pike the best being 14lb. But perhaps the best of the weekend was the roach angler that landed several large roach, and the one I helped with must have been nearing 2lb. A true Red Fin Shillinglee  special.

3rd.February. The lake looks wonderful, fish bubbling, birds singing and ice gone, almost spring-like!!

30th.January.The beginning of the week saw a very coloured lake, by the end of the week it was bitterly cold, despite this Paul landed his first carp of the year a lovely youngster weighing in at 16lb.. I do not adam and eve it, The lake is partly frozen again, still ice free swims available.

17th.January. Very wet week but the pikers liked it with several good sized fish being caught, the best was on Friday with this 18lb.beauty.

8th.January.   Domonic is our first angler for over 6 weeks, he lands four Carp from 13lb. to 23lb.His comment says it all. "Its good to be back catching fish." Four newcomers to Shillinglee were pleased with the Pike they caught which included 10lb and 13lb specimens.

7th.January. Finally we are there. So as they say" Lets go fishing."

5th.January.We are nearly there with the ice melting fast, I think it will be clear by Friday. Perhaps surprisingly I saw a good sized fish in the boat house today.