The New Lagoon has been open for a week now and there have been anglers on there almost every day. Tony Crossley had a great day in the week, catching an estimated mixed bag of around 150lb. Keith Whitlock and Peter Meakins also had big mixed bags with lots of Roach 10oz and over. Anita Ayling and Lisa Bedford enjoyed a lovely sunny day’s fishing, catching several species, including large Tench & Bream, Roach, Rudd and a decent sized Eel. Some cracking pictures taken by the girls too.  A few Barbel have been showing to nearly 3lb and Carp to 9lb also showing, especially when the feed starts going in. Maggot seems to be best to avoid the Carp early on, with  Corn and bread finding decent sized other species. Aaron Mcginty, who is fairly new to the sport, really enjoyed what the New Lagoon had to offer on his first visit, catching several stunning Carp, some Bream and Tench and a total of 26 fish. Aaron also had his PB Carp. Well done Aaron and some lovely photo’s.

Remember to call Norman on 07400217140, to pre-book for a session on the New Lagoon.

Since the weather has warmed up in the last week, the Carp in Barden have woken up, with plenty of twenties, a couple of thirties and two forty pounders coming out. A few decent Tench have also been caught and the odd big Bream showing too.

Yesterday, Ted Bryan caught one of the specimen Tench from Barden Lake. After a fantastic fight, Ted slipped the net under a super 9lb 2oz fish which stands to take this season’s Tench Cup.
Just to remind members that all specimen claims run until the end of this month.

Ian Seamer and Keith the ‘Beard’ had a cracking day on the Old Ballast Pit today, catching lots of Bream, a nice Tench and a Pike. The Bream and Tench total weighed an impressive 92lb 8oz.

Whilst I was putting the new sign in tonight, one of our new members was enjoying some good sport on the Ballst Pit, catching two of our new stockies and a decent Bream.

If you have any catch reports that you want posted, please email me on the club address and I shall ensure you get a mention.

Today, Ted and Larry continued with the levelling and grading of the seating area at the Lagoon, the weather stayed fine and a good day’s graft was put in to achieve a lovely finish and the area was then seeded. Hopefully with a bit of rain that’s forecast, the seed should soon germinate and start to grow and give us a lovely lush green finish. The main sign was also put in this evening by myself and Rod Craft and other new signage for the Ballast Pit and New Lagoon was being set this evening. A reminder for anybody wanting to fish the New Lagoon this weekend, please call the new number which is 07400217140 or my number which is 07974488040. After this weekend all fishing will stay by a booking system on the new number only. Members will not be able to just turn up and fish.
Please could all members refrain from walking across the newly seeded area.

We have a few spaces left for Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd April for the fishing on the NEW LAGOON. Please contact Austin on 07974488040 asap if you wish to fish either of these two days. Any days after this will still need to be booked but will be on a new number which will be published very soon. Please remember, you can only fish the NEW LAGOON by pre-booking. Do not just turn up on the day as you will be turned away. Please use signage on site for rules.

Martyn Hill had the biggest and nicest looking fish of the day at 8lb 5oz

8 Committee members/helpers had a trial fish on the New Lagoon on Sunday 19th March to gauge the growth rates and quality of the stocked fish ready for the official 1st day of opening on Satrurday 1st April. The weather conditions were not ideal as the wind was strong but it did stay dry and everybody had a great day fishing.
Considering all the Carp stocked less than 2 years ago were 2-4lb, they certainly seem to be growing very well as we caught samples to 8lb 5oz and all fish were stunners. There were seven Carp caught and chipped and then introduced into the Ballast Pit where they will grow into double figures fairly quickly. Other species caught on the day were Roach to 14oz, Rudd to 12oz, Tench to 4lb+, Bream to 4lb+, Crucians to 1lb+, Perch and a Barbel of 2lb 13oz. It’s fair to say that this will be a real pleasure fishery without the commercial pressure and a good growing on water for young fish.

This was another well turned out event, being the last official match of the river season. It was probably the best also as there were multiple decent weights and everybody wighed in. The winners with a combined weight of 13lb 4oz were Stuart Cottingham & Trevor Oldfield, in 2nd place were Ditch Howard & Pat Galpin with 11lb 6oz and in third place with a combined weight of 10lb 11oz were Tony Crossley & Larry Howard.

This was a very good turnout and was no surprise as Ken was a popular chap amongst the match boys. Fishing was very good for 5 anglers but very poor for the other 18.

1st place with a very respectable 57lb 5oz was Stuart (Snowy) White which mainly consisted of Bream, 2nd place went to Martin (Carp angler) Pearce with 21lb 12oz, 3rd place went to Larry(Golden Peg) Howard with 17lb 14oz, 4th place went to Dave Milns with 14lb 11oz and 5th place went to Roger Trask Jnr with 12oz.
Everybody had a good day, even though the weather was atrocious and all the lads donated towards the raffle which was donated to Kens partner.

This was the last of the Houghton Cup series and the river was not in good condition on the day, hence the low turn out. Tony Crossley had already sewn up the title as nobody could catch him on points but the faithful few braved it and scratched around for a few bites. 1st place and 10 points  went to Dave Lee with 2lb 12oz, 2nd place and 9 points went to Mick Smith with 1lb 12oz and 3rd place and 8 points went to Larry Howard with 1lb 6oz.
For all other placings, visit the match results page to view.

BALLAST PIT – The recent stocking has improved the pleasure fishing during the week with bags reported of mixed silvers. Lee Wakeman had a cracking day’s fishing on the pit today, bagging 8olb of Bream. Another angler had 3 Carp and a dozen plus Bream so things looking promising for next weeks Memorial match.

BARDEN LAKE – Carp fishing is still slow but a couple of fish out over the weekend.
Pike fishing has really picked up with several multiple catches reported. Jason Craven, Neal Rogers and Austin Battell had 14 takes, 9 fish, 3 doubles, the best being 19lb 6oz between them.

If you would like to see your catches posted on our website or in the Freshwater Informer, please email me your catch report etc to abattell@hotmail.co.uk