News Update: 17th March 2019
Since re-joining BHAA a couple of years ago, Karl Franklin has been enjoying some great sport fishing the club’s Sandy complex where he has caught from both Swan and McGregor Lakes. Over the winter months, he has focused his attention on McGregor Lake from where he regularly catches carp during daytime sessions. He began the week with a three-fish haul comprised of a 7lb common carp, a16lb 12oz mirror carp and a bream but finished the week on a high after bagging two more carp weighing 16lb 8oz and 23lb 14oz, a new pb from the lake. Elsewhere, the high winds experienced throughout the week had made fishing conditions far from ideal with a risk of falling trees.
Members are reminded that the club’s AGM will be held on Thursday, 21st March, at Biggleswade RUFC’s clubhouse.
Bailiffs have observed several members grossly exceeding the speed limits for vehicles when driving along tracks. This selfish attitude leads to the track surfaces being cut up requiring expensive repair work. Any persons found exceeding speed limits risk losing their membership if caught so please follow the club’s rules in future.
News Update: 10th March 2019
The unsettled conditions over the past resulted in an increased number of catch reports and signs that fish are now starting to feed more often.
Regular visitor to McGregor Lake, Robert Livock, caught an 11lb common carp fishing alongside some branches that had fallen into the water and later in the day added a 17lb mirror carp. Both his fish fell to boilies with only a minimal number of freebies being fired out. He returned later in the week to catch an 11lb 12oz common carp from the same swim. Alan Wilkie turned up for a short session and used Crafty Catcher baits to tempt a 9lb 13oz mirror carp followed by a 3lb 8oz bream. Baits were fished in conjunction with PVA bags filled with crushed boilies. Karl Franklin caught a small 3lb mirror carp followed by a 3lb 8oz bream. Several other carp were caught from around the lake during the week too.
The previous weekend, two carp over 20lbs were caught from Swan Lake but further details are sketchy. Anthony Pogmore landed a 12lb 4oz mirror carp during a day session using boilies fished in conjunction with PVA bags filled with squashed Peanut Pro boilies. Alan Wilkie fished the same swim later in the week and went on to catch one of Swan Lake’s largest residents, the big linear, weighing 36lb 1oz. It was a new PB for Alan and the fish fell to the same tactics he had previously used at McGregor Lake earlier in the week. Alan witnessed another big carp being landed by ‘Lee’, a 25lb specimen.
Members who fish the High Romper stretch of the Ivel at Tempsford owe Mick Usher a vote of thanks for single-handedly clearing the pathway to allow access to swims between the club’s footbridge and the cattle bridge higher upstream. New scaffold boards are to be installed on the footbridge after some existing ones mysteriously went missing.
Members are reminded that the club’s AGM will be taking place at Biggleswade RFC’s clubhouse on Thursday, 21st March 2019, when they will be able to raise any matters of concern with club officials as well as learning about developments taking place in the coming year and beyond.
News March 2nd
With water temperatures well up in the mid-40sF, an increase in catches would be expected but the past week has proven to be far from the case.
Karl Franklin had fished all day at McGregor Lake without a bite and was contemplating calling it a day when he finally had a run. The fish turned out to be a pristine 17lb 6oz mirror carp. Richard Bartlett fished at the lake on a windy day where he banked two double-figured mirror carp during a short session.
Kevin Webb was one of the few anglers to experience any action at Gingerbread Lake where he caught a 21lb 12oz mirror carp. Kevin commented that it was one of most beautifully marked carp he had ever caught.
Fishing News
Despite the recent uplift in temperatures, lake waters remain on the cold side with few fish feeding and catch reports patchy. However, a fourth carp over 30lbs was reported as being caught at Gingerbread Lake along with several smaller carp, including a 27lb mirror caught by Nick Page. Jason landed a 20lb common carp during a daytime visit to the venue as the finer weather brought more anglers to the lake side.
Swan Lake has proven to be an even harder nut to crack with no fish reported caught and little signs of anything moving.
The usually productive McGregor Lake has been almost as hard but Richard Bartlett managed to catch a couple of double-figured commons when he took his young son with him for a day’s fishing. Robert Livock caught an 11lb 8oz common and a smaller stockie of around 5lbs with only one fish being banked on each visit. Gordon West caught a 13lb mirror one day but blanked on a return visit.
The volunteer working group was at McGregor Lake again over the weekend continuing the work of removing overhanging branches that were beginning to create snags.
Fishing News
The recent mild weather saw anglers flocking to the bank sides in the hope that fish would begin feeding in earnest. Winston Pogmore made his first trip to his favourite stretch of the River Ivel at Tempsford in search of a chub or two. Fishing with link-ledgered bread flake, he soon hooked into a powerful fish that turned out to be a specimen 5lb 2oz chub. Later in his stay, he landed another chub of around 3lb 8oz and was unlucky to lose a good-sized roach.
The windier weather towards the end of the week resulted in a number of big fish catches from Gingerbread Lake where mirror carp weighing 39lbs, 38lbs and 37lb 8oz were caught together with other smaller fish. It is hoped more details of the captors and photos of the fish may become available soon.
Some pike anglers have been found to be fishing without unhooking mats and, in one case, without landing nets risking harm to any fish caught as well as breaching club rules. Both these items must always be used on club waters and any future incidents will result in the culprits being expelled.
