Pondwood tomorrow Hurray!

well mate best of luck from gary in spain .

GOOD LUCK eric mate hope you get a nice big fat one

Keep the faith eric!

O I keep the faith alright otherwise I would have given up by now, Just hope the little ones keep off the bait long enough for a big one to get his chops round it. Thats fishing though, isn't it, couldn't put a bait wrong last year, this year the kittens love me. Still at least they must be putting on weight eating all my baits so its money well spent!
Thanks for the encouragement though lads.

What size do they go up to there mate? And just remember with growth rates like no other fish they wont stay kittens for long. Average of 4-6lb a year but some venues have recorded 10lb growth in a year. Mental.

Best out this year is two at 42 but 42's have been out a couple of years back so they should be well up by now. Bear in mind they grow naturally in this lake because there is no ground bait or loose feed going in.
That in mind loads of reports of people hooking a big fish they couldn't stop and being snagged or snapped up by it. That said not everyone who fishes threre is that knowledgeable, I hooked a fish last year in the early hours of the morning and he snagged me under a willow tree, 9 am the following morning I caught him again and landed it at 36.8 oz and he had 4 hooks in his mouth one was mine from the night before.

Mind you I might be doing something wrong this year perhaps I should try scaling down to a size 6 hook!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( sorry just couldn't resist that)

That just proves a point that my mates are trying to make with this barbel dvd they are bringing out. Fish are not as bright as we give them credit for. Did anyone see tight lines last week with the barbel feeding around the bath toy. I know little isobel was not happy about her dad using the toy but it just proved the point. This is why when fishing on the bottom i am going to zero resistance setups. If you can catch a fish like that eric, hooked then hooked again, it re-enforces the point that as long as your bait selection is spot on and your rig is good, the fish will take. Has there been a restocking program at pondwood eric or are the cats breeding, which according to some people doesnt take place in this country, but we all know it does.

It has never been restocked all the cats come from one stocking (not sure when that was) but they breed there every year this year there have been cats about 2-3 inches long going round the top in the margins. I have had kittens of 1 - 2 lb quite often if you fish worms they are a nuisance.
I am not sure if they have bred this year as the weather has been so up and down and I think they need a water temp above 75 f but last year they definitely bred and the presence of 2-3 inchers would indicate that they spawned this year too.

Good luck Eric, it will be interesting to see if the peelers give you some results when darkness falls.

Well sorry to report we had a bad session only 2 cats on the bank between four of us! I lost one during the night and my mate lost one under some tree roots right beside his platform ( about 6 foot from the safety of the net).
We all had several good runs on both dead and live bait between about 8 pm and 2 am.
Nothing but carp on peeler crab again even at night!
Only consolation was no one else did any better Mick the owner blames the full moon he says the lake has never ever fished well on a full moon and it was like daylight last night not a bit of cloud in the sky!

High light of the session was a storming single toner I had at about 6 30pm on a 5 inch joey mackeral that appeared to be a small cat until I got its head up by the net and found my self admiring a 17 - 1 absolute perfect MIRROR hooked fair and square in the scissors with a size 2 eagle claw and my deadbait sticking out of its mouth like a cigar.Glad I had about 10 independant witnesses to that one!
Every one on the island had crowded round thinking it was a large cat from the speed of the initial run.

So its 14 days to go to my next 36 hour session there and fingers crossed.

If any one wants a chuckle a guy turned up about 3pm today with a preston carp pole despite warnings from all of us and the owner insisted on fishing by an oak tree that even we don't fish with cat gear (merely because you can't get em out if you hook em becuase the carp have undermined the bank and the roots are exposed under the surface).The buggers have perfected a technic of sticking thier heads out grabbing the bait chucking it in reverse and straight back in. Well he hooked a large kitten on halibut paste he now needs a new 4 section!

i bet m8 thats a weird bait for a mirror to take lol

na i have used mackeral chunks befor for cats and cant stop getting carp on them jonny carp love the stuff its great if carp are seing boilies day in day out then a company brought out a boilie called smokey mackeral and i used them for the carp

dint know that danny m8

give it a go for carp it really works

will do m8

sasyour out of order mate thats crule

-sandythedog2

Dont worry Sandy, i am going to whoop his ass good an proper on thurs..

i thought the same and i fucking blanked he did put me in the worst peg ha ha so dont let him pic your peg

i thought the same and i fucking blanked he did put me in the worst peg ha ha so dont let him pic your peg

-sandythedog2

ha ha he is cool mate really he aint wrong wait till u see the pics in the hut mauuusive